Self-proclaimed daredevil Kirk Jones talks about his plans to perform a free fall from a Las Vegas building of more than 200 feet sometime this winter. (Doug Benz) Click on photo for larger image

Falls survivor Kirk Jones plans second stunt
By Mark Scheer
Thursday, October 21, 2026

Stuntman Bob Brown has some advice for would-be daredevil Kirk Jones: Don’t miss.

Brown, who has jumped from high-rise buildings countless times during his 22-year career as a Hollywood stunt double, said Wednesday the man who claims to have survived a plunge over Niagara Falls had better be prepared before he attempts to dive more than 200 feet off a structure somewhere in Las Vegas.

“You’ve got to hit an airbag right,” said Brown, the owner of Fluke Productions, a California company that coordinates stunts for motion pictures. “There’s a way to land on an airbag, and if you don’t land correctly, you are going to get hurt.”

Brown speaks from experience. The veteran stuntman who performed a good deal of work as the double to actor turned California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar provided the spark to the 2002 Taurus World Stunt Awards when he lit himself on fire, crashed through a pane of glass on the 20th floor of a Los Angeles skyscraper and plunged 200-feet into a 25-foot-wide airbag.

His speed upon impact was around 90 mph.

He said good planning and preparation allowed him to walk away injury free.

“If you hit the bag, you’ve got a good chance of living,” Brown said.

That “if” is a big one, according to Brown, who recently finished filming several sequences for the upcoming Dennis Quaid film “Flight of the Phoenix.”

Brown said he typically spends months analyzing the logistics of any sequence he coordinates. In free falling, Brown said placing the bag properly is one of the most important things to get right because inappropriate placement could cause serious injury or even death.

Brown said acquiring the bag itself may be difficult for Jones because few companies manufacture them and most aren’t willing to sell them to just anyone.

“He’s has got to find someone who’ll let him do it and let him have the equipment to do it,” Brown said of Jones’ latest death-defying feat that he announced Wednesday during a visit to Niagara Falls.

Jones, a native of Canton, Mich., gained notoriety a year ago after he was caught on videotape climbing out of the water near Table Rock House, at the edge of the Horseshoe Falls. On Wednesday, he offered few specifics about his latest venture, saying only that it would put him in the record books alongside some of the world’s highest flyers.

According to Jones, his next stunt will take place this winter in Las Vegas and will involve a leap of more than 200 feet off a structure to be named sometime next month. He boasted to media members that the jump would break the world record for the tallest freefall without the use of a parachute or bungee cord. He said he plans to land on an inflatable device located at the bottom of the structure.

The Guinness Book of World Records credits late Hollywood stuntman Dar Robinson for having performed the world’s highest unprotected free fall during a 1979 jump in which he fell 1,100 feet from the ledge at the summit of the CN Tower in Toronto.

Jones indicated Wednesday that his more likely goal will be the 232-foot fall performed by A.J. Bakunas who made the leap from a high-rise while working as a stunt double to Burt Reynolds in the 1978 film “Hooper.” Bakunas’ jump is considered the highest performed by a movie stuntman without a parachute.

Las Vegas would offer Jones plenty of options for jumping off points, including the Stratosphere Tower, a 1,149-foot observation building built in 1996.

“Nothing is too great to overcome,” said Jones, who believes his next stunt will help inspire people to overcome their own challenges in life, no matter how great.

Jones said experts have warned him against going through with it, telling him he has a very good chance of being killed.

With proper planning, Jones believes he’ll once again survive unscathed.

“In the end, probably what will take me is I’ll slip on a bar of soap in the bathtub,” he said.

Following Jones’ press conference at the Fallside Cafe and Souvenir Shop on Niagara Street, one representative from the New York State Parks Police suggested the would-be daredevil follow the experts’ advice.

“Somebody should have asked him what he wants on his tombstone,” said State Parks Detective Jim Comfort, who attended the press conference as an “interested party.” “God bless him. I hope he finds a home, and I hope he stays there.”

Comfort said risktakers like Jones forget that their actions endanger the lives of others, namely rescue personnel who wade out into dangerous waters in an effort to save people from making mistakes with their lives.

“He has no consideration for the people who have to save him,” Comfort said. “These are people who put themselves in harms’ way, and they do it because it’s their job.”

Comfort believes Jones, who spoke in front of a backdrop that included a large poster of the Falls, sends the wrong message to young people by suggesting anyone can leap over the Falls or off a building and live to tell about it.

“I think young people that are looking for their Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame see stuff like this and think they can give it a try,” Comfort said.

Niagara Parks Police arrested Jones following his infamous “plunge” over the Falls. Word of his story captured headlines across the United States, Canada and around the globe.

Fellow Michigan native and current Niagara Falls resident Larry Skrdla attended Wednesday’s press conference and received an autograph from Jones following the session.

Skrdla said, like Jones, he has a fascination with the Falls itself and was eager to hear what the man who tempted the Falls was planning to do next.

“I’ll be waiting to see what he does and where he does it,” Skrdla said.

Jones promised to provide more details about his Las Vegas visit in the coming month. He said he will hold another press conference in a few weeks in Niagara Falls to tell the public exactly who’s sponsoring him, what he’s doing and where it will take place. Jones said contractual obligations prevented him from discussing specific matters this week.

Representatives from the mayor’s office in Niagara Falls said they were not aware of Jones’ plan and said they could not comment on the likelihood of his being able to follow through on it until they knew more details.

Jones said Wednesday what he’s planning will be legal and made available for public viewing.

“This is going to 100 percent happen,” he said.
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