Insane Adrenaline Junkie "Birdman" Releases Video Of His Near Death

Check out the image below this paragraph. No, that isn't some dude planking in a really weird warm-up suit on the side of the mountain in South Africa. What you're seeing is a daredevil that goes by "The Birdman" as he flies from a much higher point on that mountain range to the ground below using a specially designed wing-suit to allow him to glide/fly, sort of like a flying squirrel.

What this particular video shows is The Birdman, whose real name is Jeb Corliss, very, very nearly filming his own death. Corliss jumped from a peak and glided a good distance to a point lower in the range where a cameraman was going to film him pass by. The problem was Corliss had lost more altitude than expected and right at the point where he should've cleared the ridge; his legs slam into solid granite.

If you watch the video at the end the story, you will see Corliss tumbling briefly as he fumbles to get his parachute open as the ground rushes up at him. Seconds after deploying his parachute, Corliss slams into the ground, where he stayed until a rescue team arrived. Corliss reportedly broke every single bone in both of his legs and spent a long time in hospital recuperating and will undergo rehab. You can read what Corliss had to say about the incident below.

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.

[via Memeburn]