Splat! That’s the sound BASE jumper Jeb Corliss promises you won’t hear when he attempts to land a several-thousand-foot free fall without a parachute. The 31-year-old Californian and former host of the Discovery Channel’s Stunt Junkies has been developing an intricate touchdown procedure. He now claims he’s less than six months (and a $2 million TV deal) away from making the drop in鈥攚here else?鈥擫as Vegas. “It’s the equivalent of summiting Everest for the first time,” says Corliss. “Imagine doing that in front of a crowd of 500,000.” Key to his strategy are a wing suit (increasingly popular among BASE jumpers as they evolve toward gliding down mountainsides) and a customized runway. Though Corliss wouldn’t share specifics, 国产吃瓜黑料 reached several members of his team and other wing-suit experts to piece together his likely plan:
1. Corliss will jump from a helicopter at 2,000 feet and spread his arms and legs to engage the wing suit. Then he鈥檒l take a 45-degree descent angle鈥15 times steeper than that of an aircraft鈥攖oward the runway.
2. Within ten seconds, Corliss will reach 100 miles per hour鈥攖erminal velocity. He鈥檒l align his approach with aid from a series of weather balloons extending from the runway.
3. If he鈥檚 on course, Corliss will touch down inside the tube鈥攅nclosed to keep him from launching into the cityscape鈥攖hen slide to a stop. His top priority: Skid, don鈥檛 roll. Then he鈥檒l do it all again. 鈥淭he engineers have figured it out,鈥 he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to do this two or three times in one day.鈥
4. According to Corliss, the runway鈥檚 composition is essential. So what is it made of? 鈥淒ude, I can鈥檛 talk about that,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working with a group that develops deceleration systems for NASA.鈥
5. If Corliss doesn鈥檛 think he鈥檚 on target= for the runway, he鈥檒l make a sharp mid-air turn and pull an emergency chute while he鈥檚 still at least 200 feet off the ground.