Heart-pounding video captured the moment a German skydiver became the first person to achieve an extreme death-defying stunt over the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Max Manow successfully executed what’s been dubbed as the world’s first mid-air plane hook maneuver – a stunt that allows a skydiver to continuously fly without needing to land and repack a parachute – over the Little Colorado River Gorge, according to Red Bull, which financed the act.
“We always thought about this idea but we didn’t really know what to do with it, then we saw this canyon,” Manow said in the 10-minute long video, which shows his five months of training leading up to the trick.
“The idea was to fly together with the plane into the canyon, turn on my back, connect myself to the plane and get out of the canyon. Hooking onto the plane is difficult enough, but being towed out of a canyon to a height where I can skydive again safely is an unknown.”
The footage shows the 35-year-old jumping out of a Red Bull adorned Cessna 182 Skylane in a custom-made wingsuit and free falling into the narrow gorge for about 30 seconds before grabbing onto a handle attached to the aircraft.
The plane, piloted by Luke Aikins, who serves in the “Red Bull Air Force,” ascends to an altitude of nearly 2,500 feet above Hell Hole Bend canyon when Manow is given the go-ahead to let go and freefall.
Moments later he opens his parachute and safely lands on a nearby cliff, the footage shows.
While the video was posted by the energy drink company on Tuesday, the maneuver was performed on Nov. 11, 2024. The stunt was achieved on Manow’s second attempt, the footage shows.
“I don’t really know what this will bring into the future of the sport but the idea was to create an endless skydive,” Manow said, suggesting his stunt will revolutionize and offer a safer alternative to wingsuit flying.
“Who knows where it takes us.”
