MSNBC on pscyhology of WTC jumpers

guest · September 14th, 2001, 10:35 AM

http://www.msnbc.com/news/628334_asp.htm

I see that the link to the other Associated Press images of WTC jumpers was removed by the moderator. Apparently some did not have the stomach for it. Morbid, yes. But those of you who couldn't handle that imagery had better grow some fu(king sack. We are going to war and a lot more people, some innocent, are going to die. You can't wish it away. So you had better harden your hearts, because at some point in your life, there's not going to be anyone around to protect your delicate sensibilities.

Aside from that, can't you feel some kinship with the jumpers. I can't really call what they did suicide. Some of them chose to fly, and I'm sure for some of them it was peaceful and beautiful, all the fear having left them.

Of course, if you're on fire, it's hard to find peace.

**david** · September 14th, 2001, 02:31 PM

Obviously, someone who can make statements like this and not put their name on the post, need to grow some sack. And they obviously have no comprehension of patriotism, or respect for the victims of this tragedy.
God Bless America
Dave Overland

guest · September 15th, 2001, 06:12 AM

Go soap your gash...
Take your Righteous PC bullshIt elsewhere. What are you, a politician? If you lost someone close to you, why are you reading the goddamn base board two days after?
I wouldn't want a ##### like you in my foxhole.

guest · September 15th, 2001, 05:32 AM

If only people who work onhigh floors in skyscrapers anywhere in New York City or elsewhere had access to the kinds of parachutes shown to be safe and effective by base jumpers, many caught on floors above the fires in the WTC cold have successfully escaped with their lives by floating away from the chaos.

It reminds me of the lack of lifeboats on the Titanic.

I am unaware of any attempt on the part of the basejumping community to offer their services, instruction, advice and equipment to companies which occupy skyscrapers. Makes sense to me.:-(

skydvr18 · September 15th, 2001, 09:13 PM

You're not a BASE jumper, are you? Like feral pointed out in a previous post, there were FIRES below them. You do the figuring on that one. BASE jumping requires lots of training, and skydiving is pretty much a pre-requisite. Strap a BASE rig on a whuffo who is diving off of a building trying to ESCAPE death, and let's see how far they make it...I can assure you they will not have "successfully escaped with their lives by floating away from the chaos." If you want to compare this tragedy to lack of lifeboats on the titanic...what good would lifeboats have been in a raging huricane to someone who's never set foot in a boat, or probably even seen one? Like I stated in my previous post, the problem is not solved by giving a bunch of whuffos BASE rigs and telling them to jump when things go to hell. The problem is solved by preventing the NEED for it in the first place. So, go post somewhere else, and stop polluting our message board!!

**Skypuppy** · September 16th, 2001, 08:03 AM

It's ironic that both Leonardo da Vinci and Faustos Veranzio originally designed parachutes to escape from burning buildings, since there were no flying machines at the time. It's also ironic considering that the NY fire department says it's virtually impossible to fight a fire above ten stories that we've continued building higher and higher skyscrapers without giving a thought to this. Several patents were issued in the early 1900's specifically for parachutes to exit buildings or high construction sites and many of the early jumps - Frederick Law, the Statue of Liberty in 1912, Bobby Leach, the Upper Steel Arch Bridge in 1908 and 1911, and Major Orde-Lees from Tower Bridge in 1917 showed it could be done even with equipment from that era.

Yes there was a fire under the roof of the WTC, but no one knows how that would have effected the jumps, especially if you had a choice of exit points. I wouldn't go for freefall jumps, but a staticline jump from an exit ramp similar to what BJ Worth used at the Eiffel Tower or even longer would have been possible. I'm betting you haven't ever jumped a round - round parachutes can be very forgiving. You can even run into buildings with them without having them collapse. Maybe they'd end up on a neighboring roof or on the street with a broken leg or a dislocated shoulder, but at least they could be carried away. If 20 people tried it and only three made it away alive then it would have been worth it. I Personally think BASE jumping is probably not the most efficient way to exit a building, but we need some way. The analogy to the Titanic is not that far off - except that on the Titannic they did have some lifeboats.

Yes there were other errors, the planes shouldn't have been hijacked, the 2nd and 3rd planes should have been shot down before hitting their targets, but there are other times when buildings will catch fire and have to be evacuated. Some method should be found soon or we should stop building above 10 stories!

Incidently, during the Titannic disaster there was no hurricane, and even if there was, I'd rather have a life raft then take my chances in the water where your life expectancy is somewhere less then 1/2 hour due to hypothermia.

:+

skydvr18 · September 18th, 2001, 04:45 AM

You make some good points, Skypuppy. But I'm still not going to give up my gear and go train a bunch of people in high-rise buildings like Humanity thinks we all should do. That's not my JOB. My job is school, part-time work, and skydiving/base jumping on the weekends. I'll leave it up to the government, high-rise building workers, or whoever, to go buy their own gear, then contact someone else in the BASE jumping community who has the time to go train them. Do I think this idea would be a great step forward for our sport? Absolutely. Do I think it'll ever happen? Absolutely not. Sure, after Humanity's post, the thought ran through my head for a while...but I don't see it ever happening, and his attitude simply pissed me off. Damn whuffos...

Blue Skies,
Josh