Flying Wallenda Walks the High-Wire in A.C.

A seventh-generation member of the legendary "Flying Wallendas'' is keeping the family tradition alive.

Nik Wallenda walked a high-wire Friday inside Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort as part of an upcoming television special.

Carrying a 22-foot-long metal balance pole, Wallenda edged out onto the high wire 45 feet in the air atop The Quarter, the casino's shopping and dining enclave, stopping for a bit above one of two enormous indoor palm trees.

He dropped to one knee, got up, then lay down on his back atop the wire -- all without a net or a safety harness as the crowd applauded.

After completing the 100-foot walk -- forward and backward at times -- Wallenda stepped off the wire and pumped his first skyward to applause from those below.

Wallenda said he noticed the casino's raised ceiling where clouds are painted on a light blue background, giving the illusion of an outdoor neighborhood under the sky.

"I saw those clouds and said, 'I've gotta walk there!''' he said afterward. "It was an amazing opportunity. I don't get to walk indoors too much.''

Christina Arvanites of Pomona, N.Y. was awed by the indoor stunt.

"It was terrific, especially since I can't walk straight on the floor, let alone on a wire in the air,'' she said.

In the late afternoon, Wallenda will perform atop the casino's 23rd floor as he tries to break a world record on the "Wheel of Death.'' He'll do stunts in and on the 50-foot rotating steel frame with an 8-foot wheel at one end.

He's been performing the trick for 10 years, but never off the side of a building.

Wallenda said it should be several weeks before Guinness World Records Ltd. Rules on whether his outdoor attempt -- should it be successful -- qualifies for the world record for performing the stunt off the side of a building.

He said he is mildly concerned about winds from the ocean only a block away from the building.

"I'll definitely be on my toes," he said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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