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This all reminds me of an anecdote an older skydiving friend told me. The Burt Lancaster film "Gypsy Moths" had just come out, and my friend and a bunch of skydivers went to see it at the theater. When the guy in the wingsuit bounces at an airshow --thumps-in dead-center in front of the spectators -- the theater audience got quiet. Then out of the silence a fellow skydiver in the theater shouted out "great spot!" :o

Yah, I have my doubts about that. But whoever built that giant net might get a bump in sales.

Yes, it's sad that the money for these otherwise very cool achievements often comes from corporate advertising/sponsorship. Once you strip that all away, and just look at the achievement, it seems worthwhile in the end. I had a friend on a few world record jumps that the King of Thailand paid for as his personal birthday present to himself. As the old Right Stuff saying goes "no bucks, no Buck Rogers' " it's rare, and wonderful, when a record is set with no fanfare (like when Alan Eustace broke the altitude record very quietly).

If there had been a pattern of practice jumps / approaches to the net that were often fouled by sudden, unexpected changes in winds aloft, it might inspire a hidden rig. But it's my understanding that wasn't the case, and the last 81 of 82 practice jumps he was dead center on the net. And as we know, jump 83 went very well! I don't think he had a hidden rig. But would not blame him if he did. He is a father.

I love what he achieved. But I gotta admit: the more I watch it, the more suspicious I get of those "handle" checks. Those are some very, very deliberate practice touches, at very interesting times in the jump. I only ever made several hundred skydives and I stopped doing practice touches very early on, and I never did it out of habit or "muscle memory". But, yeah, maybe he was just replicating his every move from the practice jumps. There's also a part of me that wonders if the highly suspicious last-minute SAG parachute demand being lifted was because the producers told SAG he had a hidden rig -- maybe a lie to just shut them up, and the practice touches were to help sell the BS. That would be funny as hell, now wouldn't it? :)