Martin said the escape was exhilarating but that he was disoriented because the plywood casket whipped wildly from side-to-side while he picked the locks, and he struggled to open the door. "I didn't feel any force, but what I felt was a lot of jostling," he told The Associated Press. "It seemed to me like I had a glimpse of the ground for a second then it (the door) came back and I had to give it another push."
Martin, who began teaching himself to pick locks at age 6, somersaulted out of the box as he pushed his way to freedom.
The mood on the plane was somber as it ascended to 14,000 feet. All the skydivers involved in the stunt carefully checked the others' equipment before Martin climbed into the box and was handcuffed to a belt around his waist and chained to the inside of the casket. A prison door lock for which no key exists was screwed into place to hold the door tight as two of the skydivers checked for sight of the proposed landing area from the open door of the plane, a Short SC.7 Skyvan.
When everyone was ready, a drogue attached to the top of the box was tossed from the door, sucking the casket from the aircraft. A drogue is a small parachute similar to those used to slow drag-racing cars and fighter jets. Two skydivers also held on to handles to further steady the casket as others shot video and stills of the escape-or-die jump.
"It was one of the greatest feelings ever knowing that one of your best friends has again escaped death," said Rook Nelson, a national champion skydiver and owner of Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Ill. He coached Martin in the weeks leading up to the jump.
