Jeb Corliss is a seasoned wingsuit flyer: he’s jumped off the Eiffel Tower, the Space Needle, and even the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia with just flaps of material to keep him aloft. But when he jumped off Table Mountain, he hit one of its outcrops at full speed. Somehow, he survived.
You’ll have to watch until the end to the see the impact because this is in fact a trailer for an upcoming HBO documentary about the entire event. When you get there, you might struggle to believe that Corliss is still alive. He is. Just. Posting on his Facebook wall, he says:
I was going for a black balloon that was basically laying on the rocks and was going to try and kick it with my foot. In order to do this I had to fly low and flat between boulders. My left foot clipped a boulder that dragged me into a flat ledge that I took at the waist at full speed. If I had not clipped that boulder I might have made it, I might have still impacted. It’s very hard to tell from the footage. Everything happens very fast. But when you go for a flight where inches are the difference between making it and not making it well impact is very possible. I knew this and took the risk and paid the price for pushing way to hard. I take full responsibility for my actions and am just happy I still have legs to do rehab on.
I’m amazed he still has legs to do rehab on. Get better soon, Jeb! I can’t help wondering, however, if his helmet had something to do with the incident. At 0:20, we see a shot of it and it has so. Many. Cameras. Six, by my counting. Maybe pare that setup down next time Jeb. [Jeb Corliss]