Brave and bonkers. Eric Scott and his jet pack have conquered the yawning Royal Gorge. Image: Flickr.
Facing certain death should anything go awry, a fearless American daredevil this week strapped himself to an 800 horsepower jet pack and hurtled out across a gaping chasm in the Colorado Rockies for the sake of setting a whole host of new world records.
More pointedly, with no parachute to rely on in the event of mechanical failure and only a mere 33 seconds of hydrogen-peroxide fuel to carry him forward, death-defying former television stunt man Eric Scott (45) has successfully conquered the 1,500-foot-wide Royal Gorge above the Arkansas River raging some 1,000 feet below.
Fear either makes people suck it up and get it right or they lose it, said Scott before cranking the jet pack's throttle and blasting forth into the jaws of fate. I'm the Evel Knievel that makes it to the other side.
Watched by hundreds of gasping onlookers this past Monday, Scott's ear-shattering and eye-popping trip across the terrifying gorge took a nail-biting 21 seconds and saw him hover gracefully to a landing before being rushed by support crew from flight demonstration company Jetpack International and attending camera crews.
The winds were blowing out there, said Scott after catching his breath. I tell you, concrete never felt so good.
Both Scott and Jetpack International are sponsored by the Denver-based Go Fast energy drink company, which was founded by Troy Widgery. Since helping bring Scott's dreams of jet-pack propulsion to fruition in 2001, Jetpack International has since grown to offer event and festival demonstrations across the United States for fees of around $25,000 USD.
After watching Scott blast across the gorge at a speed of 75 mph, a clearly ebullient Widgery said that the team's next target was The Grand Canyon, which will likely see the brave stunt man strapped to new technology capable of delivering up to nine minutes of total flight time.
Beyond the obvious safety issues associated with the jet-powered crossing, pack designer Eric Strauss, an aerospace engineer from Boulder, Colorado, hailed Scott as the best jet-pack pilot in the world, due to the very real possibility of stability problems fatally wrecking the attempt once over 60 mph.
Speaking with The Denver Post , a hugely relieved Strauss said that his lightweight 135-pound jet pack, the most technologically advanced flying machine in existence, was prone to extreme wobbling over 60 mph, but knew that Scott would have to exceed that if he was to make it safely across the Royal Gorge.
I knew he would have to reach his highest speed ever his highest and the pack's highest speed, said Strauss. He is so amazing.Click below to see Scott's high-speed success.
GuyNov 26th, 2008 - 14:19:02
That photo up top is not from Colorado, but from southern New Mexico! Those are the Organ Mountains viewed from either Las Cruces or Mesilla.
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