A 32-year-old adventurer, Bear Grylls has succeeded in becoming the first person to fly a parajet higher than Mt Everest. He reached the amazing height of 29,500 feet. His achievement is 10,000ft higher than the previous powered paraglide record.
Gilo Cardozo was Grylls’s co-pilot. They took off at 11,600ft from their base camp in eastern Nepal under a parachute propelled by a four-stroke, unleaded petrol engine that was strapped to his back.
With 120lb of survival kit and oxygen on their backs and 18 months of training behind them, they soared into the freezing atmosphere at speeds of 75mph (120km/h).
At 28,000ft, Mr. Cardozo’s engine stopped and he was forced down but Mr. Grylls climbed a further 1,500ft.
Grylls said:
Moreover, he promises to never do anything as dangerous again.It was the hairiest, most frightening thing I have ever undertaken in my life.
Grylls is the son of the late Sir Michael Grylls, the former Tory MP. He was serving with the SAS in southern Africa when he broke his back in a parachuting accident. Three years later he scaled Everest and became the youngest Briton to scale Everest.
This expedition of Grylls was sponsored by GKN Mission Everest and raised $1 million (£500,000) for Global Angels, a charity which helps children in Africa.
Source: Gadling
