OT - Big Brutus Claims a Darwinian Sky-Diver

[RonB]

Many who travel through the lower Midwest know about Bug Brutus. It is a huge electric-driven scoop shovel located in the extreme SE corner of Kansas. When erected, during he early 1960's, it was the largest shovel in the world; and was used for strip coal mining. It was decommissioned several years later; but has been preserved as part of a pretty neat coal mining museum near West Mineral, Ks.

Apparently some area base jumpers have been eying Brutus' 1960 boom. One gave it a shot this past week.

won.

[RonB]

Uhhhh...........That boom would be 160'.

Finger palsy.

[Swingman]

Another product of pop culture and the American educational system bites the dust ...

[tom]

Unfortunately, we'll probably never know how many successful jumps were made from "Big Brutus". I'd recommend static-lining off that low of a height. Tom

[J. Clarke]

I'd recommend being _damned_ sure of my packing and my opening time as well. You're _not_ gonna pop a reserve.

[Leon]

I'd recomend not doing it at all.

[Morris Dovey]

I would not. The training towers at Ft Benning are 250' tall and "jumps" are made with an already-open canopy (note the shadow in this photo):

ancient days back when I was indestructible I rode to the top of the tower in the background of that photo. The trip up is scarier than the trip down, and I quite understand this young woman's slight nervousness. :) )

I recall being told that the T-10 parachute needed ~200' to deploy and fully inflate in a static line jump from an aircraft going ~125 mph - and that the minimum (very high risk) static line combat jump altitude was 300'.

[DT]

I'd recommend rocket assist.

[Robert Bonomi]

I recall the 300' minimum as well. that that's what it took to deploy, inflate, _and_ slow you to a 'safe' landing speed. FSVO 'safe', that is.

[HeyBub]

Needed the right equipment. Here's a video of a 60+-year-old woman rappelling down an abandoned bridge abutment to rescue a kitten.

'Course she had some skill, too. Second oldest woman to scale Mt Everest, oldest woman to climb the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents, etc. She's climbed the following (among others):

Rainier Athabasca Adams Kilimanjaro Mt. Hood Shasta Glacier Peak Elbrus Aconcagua Denali Ecuador Volcanoes Baker Cho

She heard the kitten on her morning four-mile jog. And so on.

Still, the kitten got to the ledge before she did...

[RonB]

Just saw another local news article. Apparently the guy was a dentist and a very experience skydiver, with 4,000 jumps including 400 base jumps. Musta miscalculated.

[Lee Michaels]

"HeyBub" wrote

[Robatoy]

Whoever first reported on that accident got quite a scoop.

[HeyBub]

Yeah, it made my day too.

Serendipity? Perhaps.

But what are the chances of a world-class mountain climber just passing by a kitten in distress?

I prefer to think somebody upstairs watches over the wee ones.

[LDosser]

Oooooooo!

[tom]

for broken ankles. The equipment has changed drastically since we went from round to square parachutes, silk or pongee to zero-porosity rip- stop fabrics. I think when the figures you recall were accepted, they took into account the oscillation factor, the swinging that occurrs when your round canopy opened in a horizontal configuration. Jumping from a moving platform, you must also add that "forward throw" distance into the mix. At 125 mph, you'll probably travel 300 feet horizontally before you've gone a hundred feet vertically.

[Larry The Snake Guy]

Right, which means you've actually travelled a much greater total distance than if you were base jumping. Unless I'm missing someing, given the same chute you would need MORE altitude to open the chute in a base jump because you're not traveling that added forward distance. (I'm just talking about getting the chute open, and for all I know reducing the "swinging" that you mention may negate the difference.)

[tom]

Yes, "given the same chute". That's why I mentioned the newer fabrics and designs, which have changed the sport phenomenally. Not too long ago, a manufacturer was espousing the effectiveness of its reserve static-line design, called the Skyhook. They were static-line base- jumping the rig from insanely low altitudes at a major U.S. skydiving event. Tom

[krw]

AIUI, base jumpers don't start with a fully packed chute, though. They pitch the folded chute in the air, rather than pull a rip cord, opening the pack. IOW, it opens much faster.

[CW]

All that I've ever seen used a throw out pilot chute. I would think that the method you are talking about would lead to more chute malfunctions though I have heard of it being done.