Kiwi stuntman Chuck Berry was back at the New Zealand International Air Show today after a bit of a rough landing yesterday. Despite his dare devil jumps, he insists safety is paramount.
Not content with a regular parachute, Berry has developed a stunt that involves jumping from a helicopter with a tent.
"It's exciting,” he says. “These are the things I always dreamed of doing and I love doing things that are different."
After drifting for a while, he lets go – free falling for a few moments before deploying his real parachute. Yesterday he landed well, but the wind had the final say.
"When I designed this stunt I was after something. It's got to be crowd pleasing and give them a little bit of jeopardy perhaps, when I release the tent. Then when I open my main parachute it lets them off the hook."
Still, Berry says he's very safety conscious.
"If you plan what happens and get out there and prepare properly and actually achieve the result you're looking for, rather than leaving it up to chance, that's what this is all about."
But sometimes chance has its way regardless. In 2007 Berry was doing aerobatics in a new hang glider when it all went wrong. He deployed his reserve parachute with three seconds to spare. The glider ended up in bits, but he walked away uninjured.
Berry's not the only daredevil at the air show this weekend. Top US aerobatic pilot Melissa Pemberton has been performing alongside her husband, Rex.
"My husband wingsuit skydives,” says Pemberton. “Then I barrel roll around him in the Giles and aerobatic airplanes. So you have formation between a skydiver and an airplane, and after he lands I go into a high-performance aerobatic routine."
Today she won her air race against the other international pilots, so she will face the Kiwi winner in the finals tomorrow.
As for Berry, he already has new plans.
"Oh I've got so many,” he says. “It'd take hours to go through all the other stuff I'd like to do."
The sky is the limit, but there are many ways of getting back down.
3 News
source: newshub archive
