Skydiving Archives - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Escaping from a coffin while being dropped from a plane

Church deacon and escape artist Anthony Martin’s latest stunt was to free himself from shackles while locked in a casket that was dropped from an airplane at 14,500 feet (4460 meters). The following Fox News segment before the stunt has some details about what was being planned:

Following the stunt, WGN Chicago aired a segment with footage of the jump which you can view by clicking here (as embedding it into this post will have it start automatically!)

Apparently, Anthony did the stunt one other time 25 years ago. This time around, it took him thirty second to pick the locks (something he started learning to do when he was only six years old) and escape, but it wasn’t easy because the plywood casket whipped wildly from side-to-side and he also struggled to open the door.

Everyone involved in the stunt did land safely with no serious injuries. However, one of the skydivers ended up with a fat lip and a scraped arm after being slammed into the door of the plane as they exited while trying to steady the box.

So what was the point of Anthony’s stunt? To sell his new book entitled, “Escape or Die: An escape artist unlocks the secret to cheating death,” which chronicles his four-decade long career as an escape artist.

Videos: Skydiving cats and dogs

Pet owners will do just about everything with their pets, with some going so far as to take their pets skydiving – which should come as a surprise because not too long ago, the fur was flying over this Swedish ad for pet insurance showing skydiving cats:

Of course and as the following CNN segment from Jeanne Moos about the “controversial” ad reveals, the cats were not actually skydiving as some viewers had thought as everything was filmed in a studio (e.g. the cats were blown by fans to give them their slightly grumpy windblown look):

But before you think that nobody in their right mind would actually try skydiving with their pet cat, think again as Jeanne mentioned someone did try it and there is a video on YouTube to prove it:

That video seems to be an exception to the rule (as well as commonsense given how cats usually don’t like noisy places, like inside of airplanes!) that skydiving and cats do not mix. Nevertheless, a quick search of YouTube reveals several skydiving dogs, including Crasha, Big Arnold, Mindy (this video noted the world record holding skydiving dog has 73 jumps and counting) and a Pug named Bugsy.

It should be noted that dogs have been parachuted into war zones and for Artic rescue missions since at least the World War II era as this final video reveals (although their lands do appear rather hard):

With the above videos in mind, we would love to hear your thoughts about skydiving with a pet e.g. Would you ever consider doing it and more importantly, should it even be allowed?

Video: Mary Poppins-esque skydive goes awry

Yahoo! Sports’ ThePostGame has brought our attention to a video of professional extreme athlete Erik Roner attempting to pull off one of Mary Poppins’ signature moves – descending to earth with an umbrella. To do so, he hitched an umbrella to an air balloon and set himself free at a certain height.

Of course and if you have ever walked down a street against a strong wind, it takes little imagination as to what happened next as the air pressure turned the umbrella inside out. That forced him to ditch the umbrella and rely on a parachute:

No word on whether Mary Poppins packed an extra parachute in case the same thing ever happened to her; but then again, she relied a bit on magic!

Leading British wine merchant dies after a skydiving collision

Over the weekend, Patrick Sandeman, the 53 year-old co-owner of Lea & Sandeman wine merchants which has been called the best wine shop in London, died after crashing into a French skydiver (causing the pair’s parachutes to collapse) 50 feet from the ground. The incident happened above the Sibson airfield, near Peterborough, Cambs. The 28 year-old French skydiver was air lifted to Cambridge where he remains in a serious condition with severe spinal and lower leg injuries.

Witnesses are saying that conditions were still and sunny but there appeared to be too many skydivers in the air – a charge the skydiving company (UK Parachuting) is denying. The British Parachuting Association (BPA) along with Cambridgeshire Police are conducting a “board of inquiry” but a spokesman for the former has already stated that there is nothing to suggest that there were too many people in the air at the same time.

A parachuting coach who was waiting to board the aircraft was also quoted in the Telegraph as saying that there was a "normal number of people jumping" due to restrictions on the aircraft but parts of Sandeman’s and the French skydiver’s parachutes got tangled as they were moving and collapsed – causing both to fall too the ground (The French skydiver managed to land on his feet).

Sandeman was a fixture in the UK wine scene for some thim as his multi-million pound wine business was established in 1988 with partner Charles Lea and now has four locations in Chelsea, Kensington, Barnes and Chiswick, west London. He had also been named the London Merchant of the Year several years in in a row.

The FAA investigates a sex diving incident…

While mile-high club incidents have probably been around since the days of the Wright brothers, the USA’s FAA and local police were apparently investigating whether two skydivers may have violated the law after a video tape surfaced of them giving a whole new meaning to having a mile high. The explicit video, which began making the rounds at a local high school where it caught the attention of the local police, starts with the couple (the female is or was a receptionist at the skydiving school while the male participant is a professional umm performer who also goes by the name “Voodoo” plus he was a part-time skydiving instructor at the school…) in the jump seat of the aircraft and ends with them finishing up while skydiving. It was then posted on the age-protected blog of the male participant but it was quickly removed when police began investigating.

However, no criminal charges are pending since no minor were involved, the incident happened in the early morning and there was no one around to complain about public indecency but the male participant was fired from his part-time gig at the skydiving school (no word about the female participant’s job status…).

Meanwhile, the FAA apparently has reviewed the video and issued a statement saying that there are:

…no explicit rules regarding sex in a private aircraft. However, a pilot who allows any activity that could “physically jostle” him or cause him to lose control of the aircraft could be in violation of federal aviation regulations.

Apparently, the stunt was devised as a way to grab the attention of radio shock jock Howard Stern and it got mentioned on CNN where the surprised owner of the skydiving school assured viewers that the pilot was in complete control of the aircraft at all times and no one was endangered due to the incident.

(Again, no word on whether the owner of the skydiving school also fired his receptionist or told his pilot that such activities are against company policy…)