Giovanni Carta, also known as John Carta (

Alghero Alghero (; ca, label=Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...

, January 7, 1946 –

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, September 29, 1990), was an

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan area ...

airman An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions. In civilian aviation usage, ...

and

parachutist Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

, veteran of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. He was nicknamed ''Birdman''. Carta was a Base Jumping pioneer and a veteran of the

, where he piloted

Bell UH-1 Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered hel ...

helicopters on rescue missions.The Kingman Daily Miner
Man jumps from airplane onto World Trade Center tower
11 September 2011 He was decorated with the

War Cross for Military Valor The War Cross for Military Valor ( it, Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare) is an Italian order for military valor. Established in 1922, the cross may be awarded only in time of war. Appearance The medal is a Greek cross made of copper. Inscr ...

John Carta motorbike Base jumping Salto Moto

He parachuted onto the roof of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

in New York in 1981; and launched himself from a tower of the Verrazano Bridge in 1982. In 1986, using a portable ramp, he jumped from the

Foresthill Bridge The Foresthill Bridge, also referred to as the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge or the Auburn Bridge, is a road bridge crossing over the North Fork American River in Placer County and the Sierra Nevada foothills, in eastern California. It is the highest ...

in California on a motorcycle then deployed his parachute, leaving the motorcycle to smash to pieces in the canyon below. He jumped from the

Leaning Tower of Pisa The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( it, torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (''torre di Pisa'' ), is the ''campanile'', or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unst ...

, in Italy, and from

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the Unite ...

in New York, in 1987. He experimented with ''bat wings'' in many of his parachute launches. On August 16, 1990, he broke his back after his parachute failed during a jump from an office building in Oakland; he was charged with trespass but the charge was dropped due to his injuries. Carta was killed on September 29, 1990, when the

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in ...

in which he was a passenger crashed during an impromptu aerobatics display.NTSb accident report, PV-2 Harpoon N7250C
retrieved 31 October 2013

Bibliography

* Jordan Fisher Smith, ''Nature noir'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. * Michael Abrams, ''Birdmen, Batmen, And Skyflyers'', 2006, Harmony Books. * Massimiliano Fois e Raffaele Sari Bozzolo, ''Un'altra Alghero'', 2008 Panoramika editrice. ,

References

External links

Trailer of the documentary by Sky Circus on John CartaList of newspaper articles about John Carta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carta, John Skydivers People from Alghero 1946 births 1990 deaths People of Sardinian descent