Daredevil plunges 2,400 feet sans chute

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HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England, May 24 (UPI) -- A British man who plunged 2,400 feet in his wing suit and landed on cardboard boxes said he is the first to survive jumping from the height without a parachute.

Gary Connery, 42, of Henley-on-Thames, England, jumped from a helicopter Wednesday at 2,400 feet and used his wing suit to slow his descent to 15 mph before landing on a pile containing 18,600 cardboard boxes, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

Connery, a veteran of 880 skydiving attempts and Hollywood stuntman whose film credits include "Die Another Day," "The Beach," "Batman Begins" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," said he was the first person to jump from such a height and survive without using a parachute.

"I have been training and planning for this record attempt for many years now and I am so proud to have achieved a world first," Connery said.

"I am in a strange zone at the moment. It is an amazing feeling. I feel incredible, just completely elated," he said.

Patrick De Gayardon of France, who invented the type of wing suit Connery used in his attempt, died as a result of a parachute malfunction over Hawaii in 1998.