He catapulted himself at 50mph from a speeding truck and left the rest to physics
Maks kept on increasing the speed gradually, alternating the experiment between a tire and himself
True physics is way grander and vaster than just school or college textbooks. which is best learned through instances of everyday life. One group of men, the famous YouTube-based acrobatic stunt team DD Squad (@DDSquadstunts), had watched many videos of people trying to jump from moving trucks. As featured in a February 6, 2026, video, they decided to try it for themselves by jumping off a truck moving at 80 km/h (49.7 miles/hr). The idea was to take the physics concept of relative motion and turn it into a high-stakes stunt experiment. The video has received 1.7 million views and 28,000 likes since.
From textbooks to real life
According to the “zero relative speed” rule of relative motion, when the moving vehicle and launch object are both moving with the same speed, their speeds cancel out, and the object becomes still, as explained by Albert.io. This concept became the basis for the DD Squad guys to conduct this risky stunt. The video features one of the group’s members, Maks Veselko, running off a moving trailer attached to a car, launching from a human catapult, and landing safely on a set of mattresses laid down the road.
The first step of the experiment was to design the seat for ejection, which they described as looking “like a toilet seat.” The reason for this shape was to make it easier for Veselko to land on his heels rather than his back or face. Then they needed to understand how to dismount from the seat and jump straight onto the mattresses without hurting. They started with several trial rounds. During the initial rounds, Veselko was falling flat on his face, but after a few adjustments, the landing was better. After practicing for a bit, they conducted the first experiment with a tire. With every new test, they kept increasing the trailer’s speed.
Math for masterminds
It took them a little bit of math using the cannon power and the velocity. With increasing velocity, they kept on increasing the cannon power. One by one, they jumped from the cannon at about 40 km/hr (24.9 miles/hr), then increased it to 42 km/hr (26 miles/hr). They kept increasing the speed and shifting from a tire to a human. During the final launch, they increased the speed to 80 km/h (49.7 miles/hr) and started launching off the catapult one by one. “It was totally worth it,” they described in the caption. “Easily one of the sketchiest yet safest stunts we’ve ever done and hands down, one of the weirdest feelings to experience.”
Life of stuntmen
In the video description, the DD Squad guys give a disclaimer, warning viewers not to try these stunts unless they are trained professionals. According to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 80% of the stunt performers experienced at least one head impact during their stunt career. A study in the Journal of Applied Sports Sciences revealed that when a stunt performer is getting into a risky situation, the time slows down for them, according to their subjective experience; no wonder why so many of them repeat their stunts in slow motion in the videos.
'Like a MythBusters episode'
The stunt filled the viewers with an energy almost electric. In the comments section, @mark3863 said, “Part of our military training was to jump off a moving truck at 30 kmh with kit and rifle, by running as fast as we could off the back.” @StevenWebb remarked, “Even watching it all the way through and understanding physics, it still breaks your mind when you see it.”
You can follow DD Squad (@DDSquadstunts) on YouTube for more stunt and science videos.
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