Legal antennae jumps?

[guest]

Got some questions for y'all:
Are there any antennae to legally jump in the US? If so, does the owner/operator charge for access?

Is it legal for a private land/antenna owner to allow BASE jumps from his tower (sorry for the phallic reference <blush>)?

If a land/antenna owner wanted to let BASE jumps occur on his tower, what liability issues would there be? Ie, would he need any special insurance, etc.? I imagine it would be like regular skydiving waivers at DZ's and the like...

Thanks in advance.

[guest]

Not to sure about legality of being allowed to jump. I do know that a while ago someone posted a website with Antenna's for Sale.

[guest]

Generally speaking, if you get nabbed, they charge you with trespassing.

If you had the owner/manager's permission then you would not be trespassing.
Waivers are only for legal protection for the owners.

Good luck getting someone with well over a $500,000 invested in that site (not to mention the high $ antennas located there), to risk that and more, just so a few Joes can flick.

I do know a little about what I say;

I hang antenna and feed line on anything from 40'-1000'+

They say it never hurts to ask, but it may alert them to your plans a possibly burn your site.

Be cool

Rob

ps: and yes I do jump some, but only after hours :7

[guest]

say one had unlimited funds and a large field out in the middle of nowhere. How much would it cost to produce and maintain (lights, electricity, structural integrity, and anything else) an A. This would just be for amusement of all of us kids to have a legal A to jump. No actual transimssion of any radio waves. No elevator (because in a sense thats just like a chopper to the top). And maybe a legal philosophy like Lodi DZ out in Cali, cuz its your own ass on the line.

[bandito]

http://www.instituteiw.org/subpages/industry_organizations/indus_org_tower.html

this site can give you more $ info than I can.

maintenance on any tower would be very minimal, maybe a set of lights once a year and i'm sure someone would volunteer to relamp on the way up.
the FAA dictates the numbers of fixtures and painting requirements per location and elevation AGL

i've always been told the ratio is $100/foot when putting up towers, but i wouldn't be so sure about that.

i agree with the elevator, you must earn your elevation!!!!
though i wouldn't argue a ride up either!!:-)

[JDColorado]

Large tower construction is more like $2000-$4000 a foot depending on who you get it from.

Jason

[LawSchoolBlues]

My family has a piece of land that is the highest point in the county. We were offered an old antennae for $75,000 (it had been dissassembled in Winston-Salem, NC) and we were thinking of putting it up to lease to the phone companies. Don't know how tall it was.

We didn't have the money for construction and before we could get it, a closed-minded, small-town zoning board made sure we could never do it.

Point is, maybe if someone has land and you look around, you might find a used tower that is no good for broadcast but could be upfitted with platforms and maybe even some kind of padding on the guy wires in case of strikes. Don't know if that would help at all. Also, you could illuminate or paint the wires.

As for the liability, it kinda works like this: tort law allows for risks in life. We know that some people will die in cars, and cars can't be 100% safe, but transportation is so important we just accept that risk. Even things like public pools and downhill skiing or a game of backyard football; these are risky, but a necessary part of our society. We know there are risks involved and consent will usually obviate damages.

The only problem I see you encountering is that society hasn't exactly embraced BASE jumping, from what little I know. However, if you can show ANY legalized BASE jumping, you can show that the legislators, as representatives of the poeple, have accepted this as a sport, and sports are important to society. And a waiver, carefully drawn and very explicit, will often allow for something like this to take place with no resultant liability to the owner. Again, it all depends on how accepted the sport becomes or is already.

I might add that this is in no way legal advice! :D