fascinatinghorror

The Story of Franz Reichelt

Added 2023-03-21 11:15:00 +0000 UTC

Here are a couple of other parachute-related stories I came across while researching Reichelt.

Frederick Law

Just a couple of days before Reichelt’s fateful jump, another parachute test took place in America… and this one was much more successful. Steeplejack Frederick Law leapt from the torch of the Statue of Liberty and managed to land safely on the island below.

It might not have been a particularly fun experience, though. According to this Popular Mechanics article he “dropped like a stone” for the first part of his descent, with the parachute only opening once he’d tumbled a fair distance.

But Law survived. And not only did he survive, he was also paid handsomely for his bravery. A motion picture company gave him $1,500 for allowing them to film his descent. It was a risky jump that couldn’t have had a more different outcome from Reichelt's!

A View to a Kill

In the video I mention that Parisian authorities were reluctant to allow more parachute experiments from the Eiffel Tower. That was the case for many years… but by the 1980s they had relaxed this prohibition enough to allow another “live” jump.

In this case it was for the purposes of making a film. In the classic 007 film A View to a Kill, an assassin escapes the Eiffel Tower by leaping from it with a parachute. Despite some truly terrible faux-French accents, it’s a spectacular scene, which you can view here.

The jump was, in fact, carried out by a stunt performer off the real Eiffel Tower. It followed 22 test jumps from a hot air balloon... and, you’ll be pleased to hear, went smoothly on the day.