Watch a man skydive 25,000 feet without a parachute (and survive)

[merrybigboy]

Technically Incorrect: Luke Aikins become the first ever human to leap from a plane high up and just dive right down.

You might wish your less-preferred political candidate would try this.

Please, though, don't try it yourself.

It looks rather, well, frightening.

For here is Luke Aikins jumping out of a plane at 25,000 feet. Without a parachute or a wingsuit. Without, indeed, any other sort of brace that might soften his landing.

He did, however, have GPS and lights.

These were to guide him toward a large net that was prepared to cradle him before he struck the California desert.

He was, after all, trying to achieve a world record. No one, surprisingly, had managed this before.

Aikins has skydived once or twice before. Well, the New York Times says he's done it 18,000 times. He did some stunts in "Iron Man 3."

I still don't consider that an excuse for risking life and limbs, just to be broadcast live on Fox.

Aikins is human enough to have admitted to People magazine that he'd had his doubts. He first thought the whole thing insane. After all, the 42-year-old has a wife and a 4-year-old son.

"Two weeks went by and I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking, if somebody said you had to do this how could it be done?" he told People.

The jump began with a few fellow skydivers, but their parachutes deployed at around 3,000 feet. Then Aikins was alone.

You know this story has a happy ending, don't you? But the view from his helmet cam is still utterly stomach-turning.

Perhaps that's why more than 3 million people have already marveled at it on YouTube. (The video has since been removed on copyright grounds.)

"He's kicking and moving," said the commentator as Aikins hit the net.

I hope that today he's kicking back and moving as little as possible. He deserves a rest.

 

http://www.cnet.com/news/watch-a-man-skydive-25000-feet-without-a-parachute-and-survive/