Jet Pack-Wearing Daredevil Flies Across 1,500 Foot Gorge With No Parachute
Posted November 25, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What did you do on Monday afternoon?
Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t as exciting as what Eric Scott was up to.
The daredevil strapped on a backpack powered by hydrogen peroxide and flew at 120 kilometers an hour across the 1,500-foot Royal Gorge in Colorado.
The stunt, which was sponsored by an energy drink company, took a lot of preparation but just 21 seconds to actually accomplish, as the frequent flyer made it all the way across the large gap without a parachute.
The equipment, which is strapped on to the pilot like a backpack, was created by three friends in 2003, after one of them challenged his pals to build some flying gear from scratch.
The company they founded, Jet Pack Productions, has done this kind of thing before and that just-for-the-fun-of-it attitude has now become a full time business. They stage similar amazing stunts using their invention all over the world, picking up corporate sponsors to help pay for improvements and the cost of running their creation.
You can see video of this stunt and others here
You might say Scott was up in the air over his achievement, once he actually came down.
“This is a new jet-pack record,” he boasts. “It’s a height record 1,053 up off the canyon floor, 1,500 feet across, that is a world record. I don’t challenge anyone to go out and do this, I’ve been doing this for 16 years.
And he ends with a warning. “Yeah,” he says almost as an afterthought, “don’t try this at home.”
