Anyone who saw the “Dangerous” tour, in person or on the big HBO broadcast, remembers how it ended. After the soft, hopeful notes of “Man in the Mirror,” a figure in Michael’s clothes seemed to strap on a rocket and blast straight up off the stage and out over the crowd.
It was a jaw-dropping way to close a show. Fans gasped every single time.
The famous jetpack finish to a “Dangerous” show
This is the kind of ending that left stadiums roaring. Watch how the whole night builds to that last liftoff.
For years, plenty of people assumed Michael himself did the flying. He was fearless on stage, after all, and the figure wore his outfit. So of course it was him. Right?
Not so fast.
The liftoff was a piece of stage magic, pulled off with a real rocket belt and a real trained flier. And the person strapped into it wasn’t Michael.
According to a 2019 account that drew on his own television interviews, Michael’s team went looking for someone who could actually fly one of these contraptions. There was really only one place on earth to call. As the flier himself reportedly put it, “We were the only rocket belt company in the world. There wasn’t anybody else to call.”
He reportedly joined the tour and flew at a run of shows, taking that breathtaking exit so the real star could slip safely away.
So who was the mystery man in the air?
His name was Kinnie Gibson, and folks in the business called him “Rocketman.” He was an East Texas daredevil through and through, a stuntman, a skydiver, a pilot and even a hot-air balloonist. If it flew or fell or roared, Kinnie had probably done it.
Here is the part that really lands. Before he ever flew out of a Michael Jackson concert, Gibson had spent about 20 years as the stunt double for a famous tough-guy actor. For two decades, when audiences thought they were watching that star take a hard fall or a wild leap, they were often watching Kinnie Gibson instead.
That same hidden talent is what Michael’s team needed. They wanted the thrill of a man rocketing into the night sky, and they wanted their star safe and sound. Gibson gave them both.
It is a good reminder that the biggest shows in the world are built by a whole crew of unsung pros. The spotlight found Michael, while the man who handled that rocket belt stayed a name most fans never knew.
Watch the finish above and take in that soaring liftoff. Then think about the trained flier it took to make a moment like that look so easy.