It looks like the city of London doesn’t want to be outdone by their next-door neighbor, the City of Lights, because they approved an insane request made by Red Bull. Red Bull, the popular energy drink, is known for sponsoring some of the world’s most incredible and daring athletes. I’ve featured multiple stunts their athletes have participated in including Danny MacAskill’s jaw-dropping postcard from San Francisco and two Red Bull planes flying through a hangar.
The Austrian freefall skydiving pioneers, Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel, just completed an amazing display of precision flying and insanity. Thanks to Red Bull and the city of London, the two became the first wingsuiters ever to pass through the city’s famous Tower Bridge.
According to Red Bull’s press release, the two “leapt from a helicopter west of the landmark on May 12 at 5.22am BST. Just 45 seconds later, the pair travelled 1,200m (3/4 of a mile) and landed safely on barges in the middle of the River Thames. Canon captured all of the light-speed action with 24 cameras in 14 different positions around Tower Bridge.”
They dropped from a height of 914m (3,000 feet), 1.2km (3,937 feet) west of the bridge, they reached speeds in excess of 246kph (152 mph) as they passed through the 65m (213 feet) x 32m (104 feet) ‘window’ between the iconic towers. See the two-minute video embedded below.
As you can imagine, this didn’t just happen overnight. According to Red Bull, “the flight marked the culmination of more than a year’s worth of hard work, with preparations for the flight beginning in July 2022. Once planning was complete, the Marcos moved to a training ground in Oxfordshire in April 2023, where they recreated the dimensions of Tower Bridge by flying between two carefully positioned cranes. These whopping 200 practice flights helped them define the specifics of the project, including that the optimum height to drop from would be 914m.”
Many of the comments on YouTube expressed my sentiments:
@Fineee-tl6sw: “I swear RedBull is just getting increasingly more insane.”
@Mr_Wiley: “That’s just insane. Props to the city for okaying this. That was a huge risk- but what a spectacle.”
@susbadger2848: “Redbull, drops a casual 2 min vid, for something that deserves a movie! keep up the insanity!!!”
@chrismackerdush7728: “Thing of magic. Definitely one of my top 3 Red Bull videos ever. This company makes the best advertising the world has ever seen because it doesn’t feel like advertising plus enables thousands of extreme sports athletes to make a living doing what they love.”
@mikedumas999: “Whoop whoop! Thank you, Red Bull, for supporting these extreme athletes. Without your support, we would never see these feats. Marco and Marco. Yesssss! Well done.”
KEEP READING
• How to save money with a secret third carry-on
• How to use your wireless headphones to watch in-flight movies
• 10 airport security hacks every traveler should know
• How to get the best coach seat on the plane
• The sleep hack every traveler needs to know
• Never get your valuables stolen on the beach
Want more travel news, tips and deals? Sign up to Johnny Jet’s free newsletter and check out these popular posts: The Travel Gadget Flight Attendants Never Leave Home Without and 12 Ways to Save Money on Baggage Fees. Follow Johnny Jet on MSN, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube for all of my travel posts.
