Human cannonball
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- For the School of Fish album, see Human Cannonball (album).
The human cannonball can be a circus act or it can take place outdoors and involve a lake or river. An individual is launched into the air by a powerful spring or compressed air. Real big guns from the second world war have been used for this purpose. Human cannonballs have reached speeds up to 70 miles per hour. The human cannonball will land on a horizontal net , the placement of which is determined by classical mechanics. In the British Isles the landing is usually in water and the human cannonball is usually a girl but in other countries it is more often a man.
The sound and smoke of the shot may actually be produced by an explosion (of a gunpowder or other charge), but this is separate from the launching of the person, and purely for effect.
A male holds the current world record for the farthest human cannonball flight is 56.54 m (185 ft 10 in), by David "Cannonball" Smith Sr. This human cannonball feat occurred on May 29, 1998, at Kennywood Park, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA. It is estimated David was traveling at over 112 km/h (70 mph) during the flight.
Not surprisingly, this is a very dangerous activity. Stephanie Smith, David's daughter, shown right, was injured at the Royal Adelaide Show on the 1st of September 2006 when she overshot her landing airbag. The extent of her injuries is unknown, but Smith underwent surgery at the spinal unit of the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Before this incident, her largest injury, two broken ankles, had been sustained while she was shot out of the cannon.
A human cannonball will usually lose about two inches from their height whenever they are fired. The loss in height comes from the backbone being compressed.
