Wednesday, November 29, 2017

What made them think this was a good idea?


Over at Daily Timewaster, I came across this video of two BASE jumpers in wingsuits entering the passenger compartment of a Pilatus PC-6 Porter - in mid-air!





They seem to have enjoyed it, but I couldn't help shuddering at the thought of what would have happened if one of them had run into the propeller, instead of the entrance.  Sliced base-jumper?  Shredded chutist?  Either way, it would have been messy . . .

There's also the question of what might have happened if anything had gone wrong - a sudden wind swirl (not uncommon in the mountains), a problem with the aircraft (particularly a jumper hitting a vital control surface), or whatever.  I think this was a very dangerous stunt from many perspectives.

Peter

5 comments:

  1. And no parachutes... Can we say death wish?

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  2. Wingsuit nuts do use parachutes for landing, like the jetwing maniacs, although the latter are said to be working on a way to land more or less normally. Years ago I stumbled across video of skydivers getting back into a diving plane, but the quality was so poor that this was the best interpretation.

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  3. That same aircraft landed short of the airstrip a few days a go with substantial damage but no severe injuries:

    http://www.aerotendencias.com/aviacion-general/41971-un-pilatus-pc-6-porter-sufrio-importantes-danos-al-aterrizar-en-el-aerodromo-de-empuriabrava/

    https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=201673

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  4. Watch enough Bond / super hero / action movies and anything is possible.

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  5. Go watch "Wingman meets his maker" on Youtube. You will probably like it if you haven't seenit already.

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