Is not flying safe?

Flying is not any more unsafe than lots of other activities people
engage in during their 'leisure' time. It's just less forgiving if
you are a moron.

One of my flight students went up to a major jumping get-together up
in West Virginia last week (he is also a parachute jumper). One
guy died, and two others were injured during the "event". I asked
him tonight about it and he seemed fairly matter-of-fact about it.

"kontiki" wrote in message
...
Flying is not any more unsafe than lots of other activities people
engage in during their 'leisure' time. It's just less forgiving if
you are a moron.

One of my flight students went up to a major jumping get-together up
in West Virginia last week (he is also a parachute jumper). One
guy died, and two others were injured during the "event". I asked
him tonight about it and he seemed fairly matter-of-fact about it.



I have a friend who is a jump master, actually he was my first passenger
after I got my private as well, he has seen a few jumpers bite it but he
understands the risks and enjoys the hell out of it. He told me, if you're
going to be stupid you have to be tough! Indeed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
DW

"kontiki" wrote in message
...
Flying is not any more unsafe than lots of other activities people engage
in during their 'leisure' time. It's just less forgiving if you are a
moron.

One of my flight students went up to a major jumping get-together up in
West Virginia last week (he is also a parachute jumper). One guy died, and
two others were injured during the "event". I asked him tonight about it
and he seemed fairly matter-of-fact about it.

This was a B.A.S.E. jumping event, was it not?

Personally, I'd want a lot more altitude than one gets just jumping off a
bridge.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
...
This was a B.A.S.E. jumping event, was it not?

Personally, I'd want a lot more altitude than one gets just jumping off a
bridge.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

Well, Jay...not every bridge is like those over the Salt River. :~)

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
...
This was a B.A.S.E. jumping event, was it not?

Personally, I'd want a lot more altitude than one gets just jumping off a
bridge.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

Well, Jay...not every bridge is like those over the Salt River. :~)

For BASE jumping from anything over the Salt River, I'd hope to get more
"Aqua-tude" as well as altitude...

"It's true, there wasn't enough room for his chute to open... BUT! It's a
dry failure...!"

;O)

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL (And Now, High Performance Endorsee In Training)
Chandler, AZ

Jay Beckman wrote:
"kontiki" wrote in message
One of my flight students went up to a major jumping get-together up in
West Virginia last week (he is also a parachute jumper). One guy died,
and two others were injured during the "event". I asked him tonight
about it and he seemed fairly matter-of-fact about it.

This was a B.A.S.E. jumping event, was it not?

Yes. "Bridge Day" at the New River Gorge bridge, held approximately on
the anniversary of the completion of the bridge. For six hours, once a
year, it's legal to BASE jump from that bridge. It's kind of a community
festival as well; the BASE jumping is not the only thing going on.

To give some idea of the numbers involved (in the US), there are about
30,000 skydivers, and for the past several years, there have been about
30 fatalities annually. I am not sure how many BASE jumpers there are;
if you have made one BASE jump from each type of object (anywhere in the
world) you can apply for a BASE number and those are up to a bit over
1000 now. Since 1981, there have been 104 known BASE fatalities
worldwide.

Personally, I'd want a lot more altitude than one gets just jumping
off a bridge.

In my admittedly limited experience, many pilots think it's a little nuts
to jump out of a working airplane. Many skydivers think that jumping out
of a working airplane is just fine but that it's a little nuts to BASE
jump. I don't know what activity BASE jumpers consider to be a little
nuts.

Matt Roberds