US magician David Blaine was strapped into a spinning gyroscope and hoisted by crane above the streets of New York Tuesday at the beginning of his latest stunt — a two-day challenge for charity.

The 33-year-old conjurer was locked into a harness and secured spread-eagle at the centre of three concentric metal rings, which allow the gyroscope to tilt in any direction, before being lifted 15 metres (50 feet) into the air.

With temperatures expected to fall as low as freezing during the night and hovering at around five degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, Blaine said the unexpectedly chilly conditions were his prime concern.

“There is that slight worry of hypothermia but it shouldn’t happen,” he said, shortly before being secured into the gyroscope.

The contraption leaves Blaine totally exposed to the elements, wearing only a lightly padded jacket, trousers and a scarf while he dangles above a vacant lot near Manhattan’s Times Square.

The gyroscope is designed to spin at up to eight revolutions a minute until Thursday, marked as the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States, when he will try to escape.

“By hour 48 this is going to be really interesting,” Blaine said as the gyroscope started spinning. “We tested it for about an hour and it was a disaster,” he added.

To avoid any challenging calls of nature, Blaine fasted before the challenge to ensure that his system was empty.

The illusionist said one of his biggest concerns in the challenge, besides not eating or drinking, was dizziness.

Earlier this year, Blaine spent a week in a water-filled sphere in New York in an abortive challenge that was supposed to culminate with him holding his breath for a record nine minutes.

He was pulled from the globe after seven minutes when he appeared to struggle while removing chains around his hands and feet. He said last week that the experience shook his confidence.

The latest challenge was dreamed up by retail giant Target and the Salvation Army, who will give 100 needy children a shopping spree when the stunt is over and the Thanksgiving Day sales begin on Friday.

The children get the prize whether or not Blaine makes it.
Blaine previously spent 44 days without eating while suspended in a glass box above London’s River Thames in 2003.

Other stunts have included being encased in ice for nearly 62 hours and spending 35 hours standing on a 30-metre (100-foot) pillar.

- Thanks iAfrica