David Smith doesn't have an ordinary job. While most people spend their workday on their feet, Smith gets blasted from a cannon at over 100km/h.
The second-generation daredevil is back at the Royal Queensland Show this year, launching himself about 24 metres into the air and flying more than 60 metres across the main arena. It's a heart-stopping stunt that has become a centrepiece of the Ekka's 150th anniversary celebrations.
Extreme forces and split-second timing
The launch lasts only seconds, but the forces involved are enormous. Smith experiences up to 10 times the force of gravity during the blast, which lasts about half a second.
"I go from zero to about 100 km/h like that," Smith told 7NEWS. "I'm in the bottom of the cannon and before my eyes and my mind register, I'm out. It's so fast. It's a tremendous amount of pressure on my body."
Despite nearly three decades of experience and more than 10,000 launches in 15 countries, the fear hasn't disappeared. "It was very scary at first — and still is actually," he said. "But I got addicted to it. I love the challenge. I love the thrill of it."
A family tradition
For Smith, becoming a human cannonball was almost inevitable. He was first fired from a cannon at 17 and joined the family business professionally at 19 after his father injured his back.
As a boy, he watched his father blast his way into the Guinness World Records with the farthest human cannonball shot. "Since then the record has never left the family," he said. Today, the family holds six official world records, with the latest four achieved using the cannon now touring Australia.
The cannon's secrets
The family's newest cannon has travelled thousands of kilometres from Florida, arriving at the Brisbane Showgrounds only hours before final preparations began. Much of how it works remains a closely guarded family secret.
"This is the deadly end," Smith joked, gesturing to the locked rear compartment housing the firing mechanism. "We keep it locked so you can't see what's in there. It's a family secret."
A family affair
Smith's 20-year-old son, Maverick, is responsible for loading the cannon, setting the trajectory and pressing the button that sends his father skyward. "If I mess up, he's kind of cooked," Maverick laughed.
Once airborne, Smith straightens himself, slows at the top of the arc and locks onto his landing target, a large net. "As soon as I'm out of the cannon, it all slows down," he explained. "I just kind of keep going up and up and up and then at the top, kind of slow down, spot my target from high as that Ferris wheel," he said, pointing towards the classic Ekka ride. "That Ferris wheel gives you a pretty good idea of the height I'll reach at the top."
The family hopes Maverick will eventually become the next human cannonball, continuing a tradition stretching back generations. For now, though, his father is showing no signs of slowing down. "We came across the world to do this," Smith said. "We're going to give you our best show possible."
