rick-p

Hi Steve and thank you! I spent a few years in innisfail and if I remember correctly, it was from 1961 to 1966. In 61 I was 13 years old and if you go back that far, I may know you and you may know these Innisfail boys!That`s me, front right. We called ourselves, The Crew.

 

 

Frank.

Actually who is the guy with the tambourine around his neck, he looks very familiar to me?

The Barron river gorge water falls at this time of year when the rivers are overflowing! Taken with my Olympus camera.[ATTACH=full]16855[/ATTACH]

 

Frank.

They are spectacular falls when there is enough water going over them.

Thanks for the memory

BTW, just found out this was my mates dad. I have passed on everyones condolences.

SPOT ON!

I don`t see anything realy wrong with them either. I find them quite interesting in fact and I`m left absolutely amazed at the reason/s for some of the accidents.I just wonder what effect they have on the larger community,that`s all, but then I suppose that only those who want to watch the program do so.I watched one episode a while back, about a 747 that was coming in to land when one of the starboard engines broke off the wing and flew forward. Seconds later the AC caught up to the engine and it hit the wing, taking the second engine off. This time though, the engines severly damaged the wing . The pilots flew the AC sucessfully for a furthur 15 minutes but were not aware of the damage to the wing so they followed the correct proceedure, which at this point, was to slow the AC down to commence the circuit. Due to the damage to the wing, as the AC slowed down, that wing stalled and the AC crashed into a large residental building. It exploded and caught fire, setting the building on fire. A lot of people were killed but fortunately the AC was a cargo plane and only had the crew on board.

 

How they found the evidence of what caused the accident was truely incredable. There was a policeman sitting in his boat, fishing in a nearby lake at the time of the accident. When he became aware of the accident he reported that at about that time he thought he saw something fall into the lake. A search of the lake was carried out and eventually the engines and the main bolts holding the first engine that broke off were found but these on their own couldn`t reveal the real cause of the engine breaking away so another serch was done and the mountings that the engine was bolted to were eventally found.

 

The investigators were able to track the mountings back to when they were originaly cast and they found that there was a flaw in the casting. They had simply broken allowing the first engine to break away.

 

It established that had the pilots known about the damage to the wing and not slowed the AC down, they could have landed it sucessfully as they had flown it for 15 minutes after the engines had broken away.

 

Frank

This seems like a hazardous flight also, but the pilot survived unhurt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgdIE2t8QkM?

Ahg a Drifter on steroids a lot of fun!

That really did hit the spot great vid David!

Thanks Owen nice clip.

It's what everyone should do if they can and that's fly around this great country of as ours as the diverse scenery we are blessed with here in OZ makes for wonderful memories that will last a life time.

Rick-p

Rick.Good to see some disagreement nicely done here. I am all for doing exciting things if you look through all the problems and control the potential for damage. Just look at Bob Hoover, he could cut the engines, do a loop from practically zero altitude and then land. That of course is a death wish in some peoples minds, but he did it succesfully at many airshows.

Further, the guy who flew recently with the Jet Pack on his back is a classic example of taking risks for the benefit of mankind but the only benefit to mankind when these fools jump of a mountain in a Batman suit is when they are no longer a strain on the taxpayers resources.

In skydiving there are dangers but those dangers are controllable jumping of a mountain hoping that you don't twitch at the wrong time and change your trajectory in the wrong direction is purely and simply a death wish.

I would say that whilst free falling in these jumps that you may have 10% control but the balance is 90% pure luck. in my view of course.

You are constantly within metres of obstacles with absolutely no time to think or react when it all hits the fan.

Anyway that's my two bob's worth and I don't wish to revist the topic as I know where I stand, on top of the mountain looking down on the red sploch below!

Rick-p

I wonder how many people held this view about General Aviation back in the days when the Army couldn't use aircraft because they " might scare the horses." ...?The majority, I would think.

Well, no, they are not "Death Wish Freaks". They are adrenaline junkies. Just like aerobatic pilots, skydivers, scuba divers, racing car drivers, etc. etc. They just find something fun that you (and I) don't. They know the risks, and accept them and manage them as best they can - just like the pilot in the original video for this thread. If they're doing what they are doing having had training, and it's legal, big deal...

As to them knowing the risk I doubt it as you need a brain to be knowing.

As for training who's going to train them the one's who have gone before are all dead.

To my way of thinking taking action in doing something and really having no idea if you are going to survive or not is different to an activity which is only inherently dangerous because of human error and has no matter how small a margin for error.

What these flying fools have is not a skill it's no frontal lobe to even assess the danger.

I'm not talking about parachuting off a mountain I'm talking about diving off a mountain and attempting guide yourself like a missile almost to the ground.

Being an adrenalin feak and having a death wish are completely different, in my view.

In what they do, the Batmen, the control they have over their destiny is miniscule only unlike all those other activities you referred to in your post, those thrill seekers are people who generally just get good old fashion enjoyment from what they do and for the best part they have complete and absolute control over their activity.

It would be a boring old world if no one took risks but blatant disregard to their safety when the outcome is enevitable is certifiable.

That is, at least, my opinion in the matter.

If they know what they are doing good luck to them.

It's not the same as diving off a mountain and hoping you don't bounce off something before you deploy the chute and thereafter reach the ground.

Those guys are death wish freaks these pilots are aerobatic proponents/ stunt pilots, skilled in their stunt.

You can't tell me that the drunken pilot display is not dangerous look at what happend to Phil U but that's the risks one takes when they have to go that one step further to entertain the crowd.

There are risks in every day activities but most of us assess the risks and if the activity undertaken is within you skill level then the activity for the best part is carried out without an adverse result.

Thanks, not bad, watched it cover to cover and didn't get bored. Some very nice aerial photography!

You might want to watch this - which is a "better" version of your second Vid...http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes/0/179-episode/video/wingsuiter-jeb-corliss.html

 

(I hope the link works). It's only a short video (check out the setup of the "Camera guy" - 5 GoPro's and an EOS). Interesting that his helmet came off the instant he hit.

If it would just prevent at least one child from trying something like the video shows I would support a total ban on the showing of such things on a public forum such as 'You Tube'.

My two bob's worth for what it's worth.

Rick-p

Good one Tomo!

Oh, I can think of a few things. He may have survived this jump, but it's just a matter of time. Still, it's his choice and no doubt he will be remembered as a Utube legend one day. What was it Andy Warhol said? Something about 15 minutes of fame?This guy was really good too, but he's no longer with us either:

 

America sets the benchmark for a messed country squandering its wealth. Australians aren't war mongers, there is a difference between patriotism and militarism.

Well in my book they are nothing more than death wish addicts. It doesn't take courage to do what they do it takes just complete stupidity and no respect for human life. Imagine if collided with that crowd of people at the end of the video it would be like a meteor hitting earth he would have possibly killed dozens of people and injured even more.

It was a good view except for the negative input at the begining by the commentator saying how dangerous and unreliable their engines were. I know that they were mainly Rotax 912's but lets face it they do have a some reliability. I would have been very annoyed if there were Jab motors present and he was making such disparaging remarks!

:clap:Very nice!

What next? It's a great idea but the way it was rolling around on the ground I don't think the human physique could withstand too much of that rock n roll, imagine the brain strain!

Good video!