Video of the man who calls himself “The Birdman” crashing into Cape Town’s Table Mountain is getting some serious attention on YouTube.
Since being uploaded a couple of days ago the video has been viewed over 800 000 times.
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The Birdman’s real name is Jeb Corliss and he is renowned for doing BASE jumps with a synthetic wing-suit that slows his fall and allows him to glide long distances.
The Table Mountain video shows Corliss running off a peak on the mountain and gliding for a short distance before hitting an outlying ledge.
He then tumbles through the air and attempts to deploy his parachute before hitting the ground.
Corliss was hospitalised in South Africa after the jump, but is due for release today. His injuries saw him break most of the bones in his legs and had him confined to a hospital bed for nearly five weeks.
The Birdman took the time to explain how the incident happened on his Facebook page:
Well the answer is very simple. I was flying to close and messed up 🙂 I was going for a black balloon that was basically laying on the rocks and was going to try and kick it with my foot. In order to do this I had to fly low and flat between boulders. My left foot clipped a boulder that dragged me into a flat ledge that I took at the waist at full speed. If I had not clipped that boulder I might have made it, I might have still impacted. It’s very hard to tell from the footage. Everything happens very fast. But when you go for a flight where inches are the difference between making it and not making it well impact is very possible. I knew this and took the risk and paid the price for pushing way to hard. I take full responsibility for my actions and am just happy I still have legs to do rehab on.
Corliss has previously jumped the like of Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, Venezuela, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and into a half-mile deep cave in China.
Kids, if you ever want to do a crazy action sport, don’t let your mothers see this video.
