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In the 3rd most difficult stunt of his
career, Johnny Airtime jumps and
lands on the roof of a box van driven at 55
mph by Greg Brickman for the
worldwide television series Stuntmasters.
This jump happened in 1991 in Devore,
California on the old Route 66 at
the end of a downhill, in the middle of a sweeper. Johnny
paced with the truck, then had to gas it
before getting to the ramp to compensate for the truck's S-turn.
Johnny's trajectory
took longer than Brickman's
S-turn, so Airtime had to lead
him a little. He landed right in the center
of the bull's eye target painted on the truck's rooftop. Here you can
see Brickman clipping the inside cone, which
was 60 feet from the launch ramp. This was not
a mistake, it was planned in advance, and everything went exactly
according to plan. Airtime wanted the truck
under him at the 60 foot point, when he was
reaching apogee. By the time the bull's eye
of the truck was 120 feet away from the
launch ramp, the truck was straight as an arrow, settled down and centered.
That's where Johnny first touched down on
the breakaway roof, leaving a splintered hole
in his wake, stuffing his Honda CR500 into
cardboard boxes inside. He said it was his softest landing ever. He would repeat
this stunt 8 years later, jumping at 60
mph and flying 135 feet for Guinness
World Records: Primetime. Photo: Charles
Ellenberger.
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