Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Phoenix New Times Free
We’re aiming to raise $10,000 by April 26. Your support ensures New Times can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
A Utah man apparently has seen too many “extreme” Mountain Dew commercials.
Bill Heaner, a 49-year-old “professional extreme athlete,” plans on attempting a world-record-breaking stunt that defies all laws of gravity and common sense: he plans to jump out of a hot-air balloon, paragliding for a little while and landing back in the balloon as it hovers thousands of feet above the ground.
We only had one question for Heaner: “Are you fucking nuts?”
He was happy to provide us with an answer: “It’s just another day at the office.”
On March 21, Heaner plans to attempt this insane stunt in the Arizona desert, in the skies above Casa Grande.
Heaner will fly in his hot-air balloon until he is about 7,000 feet above the Earth. He then plans to jump out of the balloon attached to a paraglider, as his friend and a camera crew rapidly float the balloon back toward the ground.
After gliding for a little while, Heaner plans on stearing the glider back into the basket of the balloon, which will be hovering several thousand feet in the air but about 800 feet below him.
All of this will go off without a hitch? Heaner says there is about an 80 percent chance he can complete the historic stunt but says it’s definitely possible.
According to Heaner, jumping out of an aircraft and landing back in the same aircraft has never been accomplished before. There’s a reason for that: It’s crazy.
For more information on Heaner’s jump click here.