Flaming Wingsuit Jumpers Dazzle Downtown Dusk ~ It Was a RedBull Stunt
[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap] high-stakes stunt shoot conducted in the skies over downtown Los Angeles Wednesday saw pedestrians and evening office workers stunned by what appeared to be two stunt performers in wingsuits that shot a firetails.
The stunt ended with a parachute drop that allowed the performers to maneuver and spin, right after passing dangerously close to the top floors of the Wilshire Grand Center tower.
Los Angeles police confirmed the show was a film shoot. The names of the production renting the streets of L.A. are generally kept undisclosed, but take a look — my original guess was Iceman vs. Human Torch, but it turns out, the stunt was for RedBull, something called the "RedBull Air Force."
Still, Wednesday's display was an awesome sight. Without notice, the performers jumped from a helicopter at 4,000 feet, lit up their wingsuits and dove west. At about 1,000 feet, the L.A. Times said, the stuntmen activated parachutes to land safely down at the Fig & 7th open-air shopping center on Figueroa Street.
In the Twitter video below, "wows" are heard when the stunt crew convert abruptly to parachutes.
Wingsuit jumpers actually. pic.twitter.com/PBXWMVTbQJ
— Jordet (@Jordet) March 21, 2019
Once it appears the jump is over, some downtown observers are heard respectfully applauding the operation — this is Hollywood's hometown, after all.
Base-jumping in wingsuits is an extreme sport with sometimes fatal accidents. The stuntmen who took over the sky in downtown were named by RedBull in an Instagram post as Jon Devore and Andy Farrington.
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