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Rocketman Dan Schlund
This week saw the spectacular 2010 Rio de Janeiro Carnival take place – one of the greatest shows on earth. The show should have seen stuntman Dan Schlund swooping over the school of Portela samba parade 5 times with a jetpack strapped to his back

Similar to the Manned Manoeuvring Unit (MMU) originally developed in the 1980’s by NASA and first used in 1984 for three space shuttle missions, the jetpack was supposed to propel the rocketman over the thousands of people taking part in the parade in the sambadrome.

Sadly though, with a splutter and a bang the display fizzled out on the practice run when a leak from one of the nitrogen fuel tanks left the pilot with a red face, and a  couple of people suffering from second degree burns! Back to the drawing board maybe Dan!!

Parabens & congratulations to the Unidos da Tijuca samba group (video below) who after 74 years of trying won this years parade with their theme "It's a secret".

The Rio de Janeiro carnival parades are in my humble opinion one of the most amazing annual displays on planet Earth! So it always disappoints me that the only coverage in the UK seems to be the occaisonal 30 seconds worth of footage - come on BBC . . . . more please, you are missing a truly breath-taking explosion of colour, vibrance and creativity!  Next years dates are March 4th to March 8th 2011 - I hope to be there - why not come along too! 
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