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A Slackline Record Is Shattered 1.5 Miles Off the Ground

Friedi Kuehne, Lukas Irmler complete slackline walk between 2 hot air balloons

(Newser) - A pair of German slackliners have crushed a world record, walking between two hot air balloons 1.5 miles above the ground. The previous record height was 1,900 meters, or about 6,234 feet or just under 1.2 miles, per News.com.au . Performing separately on Saturday, Friedi...

She Applied for a Daredevil Job. The Letter Was Lost for 48 Years

Taza Hodson ended up working as a stunt pilot instead

(Newser) - Taza Hodson applied for a job as a motorcycle stunt rider in 1976, and she wondered for many years why she never got a reply. "I was very careful not to let people who were advertising for a stunt rider know that I was female, or I thought I...

French Daredevil Falls to Death in Hong Kong

Remi Lucidi, 30, had knocked on 68th-floor window for help

(Newser) - A French climber was killed last week, apparently in a fall from the 68th floor of a skyscraper in Hong Kong, according to police and local media reports. Remi Lucidi, who used the name Remi Enigma in chronicling his daredevil exploits on Instagram , was last seen knocking on the window...

He Followed in His Famous Dad's Daredevil Footsteps

Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel, has died at the age of 60

(Newser) - Robbie Knievel, son of stuntman Evil Knievel and a daredevil performer in his own right, has died at the age of 60. Robbie Knievel died Friday in hospice in Reno, Nevada, after fighting pancreatic cancer, his brother, Kelly Knievel, tells the AP . Robbie's three daughters were at his side...

Watch These Slackliners Set a Heart-Stopping Record

Daredevils Rafael Bridi, Alexander Schulz made longest walk over active volcano in early pandemic

(Newser) - If walking over an active volcano via slackline is on your bucket list, you might look to Brazilian daredevil Rafael Bridi for guidance. Per UPI, Bridi and fellow slacklining enthusiast Alexander Schulz of Germany set a Guinness World Record for "longest slackline walk over an active volcano," which...

Daredevil's Latest Flight Does Not End Well

Franky Zapata says he's fine after he and jetpack plunge into lake in France

(Newser) - French daredevil and inventor Franky Zapata became world-famous in 2019 when he flew across the English Channel on a self-designed jetpack he calls a flyboard. His most recent flight ended with a scary, unplanned plunge into a French lake, though the BBC reports that he is "recovering well."...

World Record for Slackline Walk Was 'Total Serendipity Moment'

Rafael Zugno Bridi crossed 59-foot line between 2 hot-air balloons 1.2 miles above Brazil

(Newser) - Guinness World Records has officially recognized the highest slackline walk, at more than twice the height of the world's tallest building. Brazilian daredevil Rafael Zugno Bridi claimed the record after crossing a 59-foot slackline suspended between two hot-air balloons some 6,236 feet, or nearly 1.2 miles, above...

They Tried to Swap Planes Midair. It Didn't Quite Work

FAA probing Sunday stunt in Arizona, which led to one plane crashing; both pilots are OK

(Newser) - Update: The Federal Aviation Administration has launched a probe into a failed stunt in the sky. Cousins Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington, daredevil Red Bull skydivers who'd hoped to swap Cessna single-seat airplanes in midair, didn't see their feat go as planned on Sunday: One of the pilots...

'Something Went Terribly Wrong' on 'Extreme' Version of AGT

Daredevil Jonathan Goodwin severely injured after being smashed between 2 swinging cars

(Newser) - Maybe "extreme" versions of talent show competitions aren't a great idea. A stunt for America's Got Talent: Extreme, an NBC spinoff of the popular original, went awry on Thursday at Georgia's Atlanta Motor Speedway, and "it was so bad people on the set thought [the...

Guy Crushes High Wire From Eiffel Tower Across the Seine

Nathan Paulin walked nearly 2,000 feet on slackline more than 225 feet above the ground

(Newser) - When Nathan Paulin was a kid, he had a fear of heights. He's apparently gotten over that, since he spent part of the weekend traversing a high wire from the Eiffel Tower across the Seine. Reuters reports that the 27-year-old acrobat practiced for four years to make the nearly...

Daredevil Dad Dies Trying to Break World Record
Daredevil Dad Dies Trying
to Break World Record
obituary
Jun 18, 2021 8:16 AM CDT

Daredevil Dad Dies Trying to Break World Record

Motorcyclist Alex Harvill had just welcomed his second son

(Newser) - A daredevil practicing for a world record motorcycle jump died Thursday after he landed short and crashed. Alex Harvill, 28, had been trying to jump 352 feet, about the length of a football field, at the Moses Lake Airshow at Grant County International Airport in Washington state to break a...

'French Spiderman' in 'Triple Trouble' After Latest Stunt

Alain Robert climbed a 545-foot-high skyscraper in Frankfurt, Germany, wearing cowboy boots

(Newser) - German police say urban climber Alain Robert faces a criminal investigation and fine after scaling one of Frankfurt's tallest buildings on Thursday. Robert, known as the "French Spiderman" for his daring stunts, clambered to the top of rail company Deutsche Bahn's 545-foot-high office building in Germany's...

'Mad Mike' Hughes Dies in Rocket Crash

Daredevil wanted to take photos showing the Earth is flat

(Newser) - Daredevil Mike Hughes was killed Saturday when a rocket he'd built crashed in the California desert. "The parachute ripped off at launch," a witness said. "So the rocket went straight up in an arc and came straight down" with Hughes still in it, the Los Angeles ...

Daredevil Just Climbed This With Only His Hands

The Shard in London is one of Europe's tallest buildings

(Newser) - A free climber in London has scaled one of the tallest buildings in Europe. The man who climbed The Shard in London Monday morning was spoken to by police after he made his ascent but hasn't been arrested, per the AP . The building is 1,017 feet high, and...

Daredevil Dies in Fall From 62-Story Building

Wu Yongning had reportedly posted more than 300 videos of his 'rooftopping' feats

(Newser) - He was famous on social media, then went silent. Now Wu Yongning's fans have learned why he stopped posting in November. The BBC reports that the Chinese daredevil, known for posting videos of himself at the top of tall buildings scaled without safety devices, is confirmed to have died...

Daredevils Jump From Mountain Into a Plane

Vince Reffet, Fred Fugen pay homage to fellow French base jumper

(Newser) - Vince Reffet initially thought the stunt would be relatively easy. He soon learned that base jumping from a 13,000-foot mountain peak, gliding and hitting a target little bigger than a body is the opposite of easy. After two months of training, however, that's exactly what Reffet and fellow...

Daredevil Who Did the Unthinkable at Everest Is Dead

Valery Rozov was 52

(Newser) - Leaping from a 22,349-foot-high mountain proved to be as dangerous as it sounds for Valery Rozov: The Russian base jumper died Saturday in an accident on Himalayan peak Ama Dablam. The AFP reports Rozov's death came while he was undertaking a "seven summits" quest that involved base...

Daredevil's 'Very Peculiar' Death Leaves Cops Perplexed

For one, they have no idea what happened to Misty the boa constrictor

(Newser) - "I still have lots of questions," New York State Park Police Detective Sgt. Brian Nisbet tells the Niagara Gazette . For one thing, where is Misty the 7-foot-long boa constrictor? Nisbet is investigating the April 19 death of daredevil Kirk Jones, who was in his early 50s. Jones went...

2nd Attempt at Going Over Niagara Kills Daredevil

Police believe Kirk R. Jones was trying to go over it in an inflatable ball

(Newser) - A Florida man tempted fate twice, and the second time proved his undoing: New York State Park Police on Thursday said the body of Kirk R. Jones of Spring Hill had been recovered from the Niagara River near the mouth of Lake Ontario roughly two weeks earlier. Syracuse.com reports...

Wallenda's Teeth-Hanging Record Broken—by His Wife

Erendira Wallenda performs stunt 300 feet above Niagara Falls

(Newser) - Those wild Wallendas: Erendira Wallenda, the aerialist wife of Nik Wallenda, successfully hung by her teeth from a helicopter over Niagara Falls on Thursday, pulling off the stunt precisely five years after her husband walked a tight rope over the falls. The 36-year-old mother of three was tethered to a...

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