Saturday, August 28, 2010

Roberta Mancino Day 1


E:60 is traveling to Italy this week to shoot a feature on Roberta Mancino.  For those of you who are not familiar with Mancino, go to Youtube and check out some of her highlight reels.  Not only is she an accomplished fashion model, but she is also a world-class skydiver.  Several years ago she began base jumping off of some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, harrowing cliffs, and now has begun jumping out of planes wearing a wing suit. For the uninitiated, Mancino in flight looks more like a flying bat than anything else.

Our journey began Wednesday, August 26, with a trip to Milan, Italy before a four-hour trek north to The Dolomites in the Italian Alps to meet up with Mancino and her boyfriend, Jeb Corliss.  Together they are donning their wing suits to attempt a helicopter proximity jump…trying to fly as close to one of the tallest mountains in all of Europe without killing themselves. 

On Thursday, E:60’s cameras were rolling when Mancino and Corliss met with their helicopter pilot to check on the days conditions.  Unfortunately, they did not look promising, with strong winds and rain in the forecast.  They decided to take a site survey of the exact area where they intended to jump and their search for a suitable landing zone.

Corliss and Mancino located a small area off a road that took them to the base of the mountain no bigger than a football field and decided it would be big enough and easy enough to spot from a few thousand feet above.  By 2 p.m. the wind and rain as predicted rolled in and scrubbed their first attempt. They try again tomorrow. 

Submitted by T. Sean Herbert
8/28/2010