Yesterday, a British man made history by becoming the first person to jump from a helicopter at 2 400ft, without a parachute, and survive.

Okay, so Gary Connery may have cheated a little bit thanks to a wing-suit and more than 18 000 cardboard boxes, but give the man some credit! He jumped from a helicopter almost a kilometre up in the air without any guarantee of safely touching down on Earth.

It was so comfortable, so soft,” Mr Connery told Sky News immediately afterwards.

My calculations obviously worked out and I’m glad they did.

The flight lasted approximately 50 seconds and he waited until five seconds before he would’ve hit the target to flair his suit.

To prepare for amazing feat he spent weeks training in Switzerland and Italy and studied the flight patterns of kite birds.

“Kites steer by twisting their tail one way or another and I’ll be doing the same,” he told Sky News.

Connery’s no ordinary Joe though, he’s a Hollywood stuntman with movies like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Batman Begins under his belt.  His jump is a massive achievement both in the skydiving community and the general public, especially considering the former have been attempting similar feats since 1997, many laying down their lives in the process.

[Source: Sky News, Newser]