The Athlete: SCOTT SMITH
Episode: Human Slingshot | Premiere: March 12, 2007

Perry's Thoughts:
This might have been one of the most complicated and dangerous stunts we have ever done on Stunt Junkies. The slingshot involved three huge cranes, hundreds of feet of rope, so many more pulleys than I care to say, and a 40,000-pound weight bearing down the end of everything. When we finally got it built, I knew that this was going to be an exceptionally impressive stunt. When the first test went wrong, we began to realize that it was not going to be as easy as we originally thought. After working all day and all night to redesign the giant slingshot, when we finally got ready to retest again, everybody was pretty nervous about Scott's safety. With the sun going down, one completely unsuccessful test, and only three successful ones under our belt, Scott decided he was ready to get on. I wasn't feeling good about it, but there was no more time left to test, and if this stunt was going to happen, it would have to happen then. As they counted him down, my stomach started to knot, and when they pulled the release, I watched the slingshot fling him 300 feet into the air. Scott very calmly reached back, pulled his parachute, and glided safely to the ground. I don't know that I have ever been so glad that a stunt was over.

Eli's Thoughts:
I had been hearing about this idea from Scott for some time; me and Scott have been friends since I've been skydiving back in 1992. He showed me a tape of this catapult system in Europe and I was completely amazed — what will they think of next? These guys were getting flung so fast it was hard to believe they were staying conscious. So when I heard we were going to do the stunt back at Perris Valley Skydiving (my home away from home), I was totally stoked. We met up with Scott at the Drop Zone and not long after the massive cranes started coming in: two 180-foot cranes and one 40,000-pound counterweight. Wow. The crew set up a miniature mock-up of the system at 1/10 scale size. To illustrate how the launch would go, Eric, the chief engineer came up with all the plans for fabrication of this new catapult. We did some launches with a Ken or Scott doll and I tell ya he went flying. So everything looked great, but with big toys like these it doesn't take much for things to go horribly wrong. As we set up for the first test they put a sand bag or "dummy" (the same weight as Scott), loaded the system and "3,2,1, Ka-bang!" The rope split in two and the sandbag went flying out of control. It was a very scary and horrific scene — if that had been Scott, he would be no more. We ended up finding out there were many problems with the system. Everything had to be just right with all fifteen pulleys, the rope, the bungee and the bearings. With stunt day approaching, the whole team knew a couple of sleepless nights were ahead. They identified the problems and went to work feverishly through the night. By morning, the whole system had a complete make-over: they reset the cranes, loaded the system and "3,2,1, launch!" Things looked good but not too much height. So another test moving the counter weight back slightly and once again another good test but still not to much altitude, only around 225 feet. So we asked Scott what he thought, we had already gone one extra day of shooting and the sun was getting close to setting, Scott said he wanted to see the sandbag go as high as possible — at least over 300 feet. He mentioned to me that he would rather see it go really well or horribly wrong on this last test so it would be an easier choice. The test went well; the sandbag did go higher but not a whole lot. With the sun setting fast, the tension was high all around. Perry had done everything he could to check, double and triple check the system. I spoke to Scott once again and reminded him he could walk away from this one, but he was calm, determined and ready to go. "Lets do it," he said, and so they set it up once again, only this time with Scott on the platform. You could feel the tension as the count down began: "3, 2, 1!" and "wooosh up, up and away!" He was up clear of the cranes and in the perfect body position to deploy his base rig. As I saw the pilot chute come out and the canopy deploy, I knew he had it! AAAHHHHH!! Everyone was screaming and yelling! He landed perfectly and I never thought I'd be so happy to see him. He had me on the edge on this one, a real nail biter. Well done, Eric, Troy, Larry, Perry and most of all Scott — you got more guts than I ever gave you credit for.