or he coulda went splat and the native wildlife got a free meal
it happened before my time so all i can say is that the cooper stunt was absolutely insane, even the most experienced military jumpers would have a hard time surviving what he did.
The military trains jumpers from high altitude and at high speeds.
With the new hard fixed wings they not only can jump from high altitudes but travel up to about 20 miles from the jump spot. I know this technology is new but still the military has been training for high altitude jumps for years.
I think the name is Colonel Kitchner, guy jumped from over 100,000 feet. Holds the world record.