Skydiver Becomes First To Land Without Chute

hi all

just thought i'd share this with you, if you dont already know. i think its an incredible feat to achieve..!
also very brave too..! but knowing you have an emergency parachute strapped to you would definitely be comforting..!

A stuntman is thought to have become the first person to jump out of a helicopter and land safely without deploying a parachute.

Gary Connery, 42, used a "wingsuit" to make his descent from 2,400ft (730m) above Oxfordshire. The 42-year-old said he felt "elated" after landing on a pile of 18,600 cardboard boxes.

He was fitted with a parachute for the jump, which saw him accelerate to 80mph, but it was not deployed. The entire flight took less than a minute to complete.

www.bbc.co.uk...




what a rush that must be...!

He used a landing strip of cardboard boxes, known as a box rig, covering about 350ft (100m) by 45ft (15m).

so much kudos to that man..! what a feeling that must be... and an incredible experience too

peace, fluff x)

reply to post by fluff007


Wow. Looking at the photo all I can think of is the feeling you'd have when you are approaching the boxes, are too low to deploy your chute, and you know you are gonna miss your landing.

Gold brick?

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


ooohh that would not be a fun landing..! lol

i think he would have been able to slow himself down using the wings on his suit. as i doubt he would have hit those boxes at 80mph... even in a still pic it doesnt look like hes going that fast.

so depending on how fast you were coming in and if you were gonna miss your landing, then i think you would get away with only a few bruises and scrapes maybe..

sadly he is not the first to land without a chute.

Originally posted by SoymilkAlaska
sadly he is not the first to land without a chute.

Ok the first guy to jump intentionally without pulling a reserve chute, landing into cardboard boxes from 730 meters, does that satiate the pedant in you?.

Wouldn't boxes still hurt

I dont know how this mans balls fit in such a suit.



The guy can only slow down to 35-50mph, hes hitting them at some speed. In fact it looks like he doesnt slow down until the last second. Mad man

reply to post by RealSpoke


i really dont know, he obviously didnt have any minor injuries to complain about...
or maybe hes a hardcore adrenalin junkie thats slightly masochistic ....?

reply to post by n00bUK


incredible huh...?!

yeah he does seem to hit them at some speed, but when he walks out hes clearly not hurt...!
maybe it doesnt hurt as much as we think... or maybe we're all wussy's...!

reply to post by fluff007


Watched this today on the news-great stuff!

He was getting chucked about by turbulence,but still hit the boxes.
Cool stunt,the guy must have a cool wife to let him do it

Those boxes cost £22 000 you know.

My bro said it would have been cooler if the boxes were set on fire ,just before he hit them.

Originally posted by SoymilkAlaska
sadly he is not the first to land without a chute.

I think the first was Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade,a rear gunner on an RAF Avro Lancaster who,in 1943, jumped out of his burning aircraft at 25,000 feet,his 'chute failed to open,but he landed in the snow covered branches of a fir tree and survived to be taken prisoner by the Germans.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


i would love to give it a try.. the whole flying in the sky would blow my mind... but atm am not sure i wanna do it yet....
wow £22 000 ...? no way....!!

LOL @ your bro..! dunno how that would've gone done with health and safety

Ok First let me say that was pretty cool and pretty darn committed. That being said he did not "land" a wingsuit he crashed one into a bunch of shock absorbing boxes. I am certain that the turbulence people thought they saw was nothing more than trying to keep a very large surface area flying slowly. Kinda like flying a plane on the edge of stall.

I have every intention of flying a wingsuit off a cliff in Norway on my 50th birthday. Having done quite a few skydives I can safely say that the only thing that is a bummer about flying wingsuits is that I have to do a minimum of 150 more boring/expensive jumps before my friends will let me play with one.

reply to post by fluff007


Ballsy. Pretty damn ballsy.

My initial thought was "Huh?" until I read/saw that the jumper landed on cardboard boxes, which is still nuts.

Such a feat reminds me of daredevils filmed throughout the 20s and 30s (I think that timeframe is correct) who'd walk a hire wire or stand/sit atop an umpteen high pole for hours at a time. And they always seemed to exhibit larger-than-life smiles on their faces, just like that guy in the photos.

Anyway, congrats to the dude.

reply to post by Kovenov


yeah definitely a huge amount of mental strength in that guy...!
it takes enough to jump out of an aircraft, but only having a suit to guide you down...? and without the intention of pulling the trigger...? *shivers* bit too hardcore for me lol

yeah and those guys didnt have any safety back ups..! they were on their own...
so imo they had more balls and guts back then...! or maybe they were just enough to do it free style

I'm not usually impressed by this kind of thing but......this time, I'm impressed.

If you want a similar thrill on a budget try this. I live near this hill. It's too steep to walk down without slipping. Skip to 2 minutes 20 seconds for the action.