http://precision.aerodynamics.com/Es...ute/base11.gif
Emergency Building Escape Parachute by Precision Aerodynamics.
[a href="http://precision.aerodynamics.com/EscapeChute/escapechute.htm"] http://precision.aerodynamics.com/Es...scapechute.htm [/a]
bsbd!
Yuri.
From the site...
"The EscapeChute canopy design is a slight variation of our popular B.A.S.E. equipment that is commonly used by sport enthusiasts who jump from low elevations like cliffs, bridges, and buildings, etc."
They're presumably referring to the Raven, or do they make a BASE rig that I'm not aware of?
It's the Dagger, specifically designed by George Galloway and Marta Empinotti.
Hey, is this a new (post 9/11) product? Did they market the "Building escape chute" as a response to WTC? If so, I think it amounts to trying to cash in on the tradgedy and is in pretty poor taste.
If not, sorry, and good foresight! I have doubts as to the usefulness for a non BASE jumper but what the hell...
it'll be a heck of a lot more useful than what those non-BASE jumpers had when they jumped last Tuesday without ANY rig.
You BASE jumpers are a bunch of ignorant and arrogant dumb fucks about this subject.
ANY chance to survive from a tall burning building is better than no chance at all, and if 1,000 people had jumped from WTC with emergency parachutes and no training, and only 500 or even 100 of them lived, it would have been cause for great rejoicing in this country.
So GROW UP, get off your high horses and face the REALITY we all saw last week: emergency building escape parachutes for the untrained are way WAY better than no parachutes at all.
:+ :+ :+ :+
I think a better building escape parachute would be a round. With a square, there is more chance for building strike, low turns, and "toggle into the ground" accidents.
Of course, the square costs more, so PA will make more money selling them...
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
Tom:
I have been thinking the same thing. I have talked to many wuffos about it and they seem interested. Squares seem stupid as everyone will likely have line twists...
Bet the success rate with a square would be 1/100...
Hey baby, relax.
If you re - read my post you'll notice I didn't say that it shouldn't be done, just that I have my doubts. For one, I think it's a bit impractical, though you are correct, it would have saved lives. However, there are a few comments I have.
Tom A., you seem to be taking the lead on this issue and I apologize if I revisit any points you have already covered (I have to confess I haven't visited those threads yet).
1. I agree that rounds are a better idea.
2. Is it really practical? Take the WTC. One tower alone held like 25000 souls right? Are you gonna store that many rigs? I doubt it. So lets say the top half of the building gets the rig. We still have to purchase, store, and / or maintain like 12000 rigs. Who picks up the tab? Building, business? Who trains everyone? Trust me, I, unfortunately, work in the finance world, and not one single business I have worked with, would pick up the tab. I haven't done a cost benefit analysis, but I think it would rightly point to not doing it. Let's face it, the chances of your being trapped in a high rise building that is taken out by planes, or even just on fire, or whatever disaster you can choose, is pretty remote (and yes, I still say that after last week). The cost of purchasing and maintaining a supply of BASE type rigs for a full staff of people just isn't worth it. You can say that "if it saves even one life then it's worth it." But if you follow that reasoning, it's worth it to drive up the costs of air travel even farther by putting ejection seats in every airliner, making it safer no doubt, but also cutting in half the number of passengers who can travel do to space and weight penalties, and further driving up costs due to increased maintenance. And air travel is already pretty safe as it is.
Trust me, stock up on atropine and gas masks, 'cause NBC is what's coming next.
3. You sound really pissed, duhhh.
4. You shouldn't swear on the board. This isn't rec dot.
5. Point number 2 was really really long. Wow.
6. <You BASE jumpers are a bunch of ignorant and arrogant dumb fu(ks about this subject.>
C'mon, Irate Pete, "arrogant"? I don't think anyone is saying don't do it because only we (BASE jumpers)are cool/smart/athletic enough to jump off a building with a parachute. Just that there are impracticalities that make it a little unlikely to happen.
As far as "ignorant"? C'mon Pete Lucky Pants, I'm pretty sure even you have to admit the idiocy of this characterization. If I were a whuffo, and wanted to know about jumping off something from high up, I'd go ask a BASE jumper. Can I get some love baby?
7. <So GROW UP, get off your high horses and face the REALITY we all saw last week: emergency building escape parachutes for the untrained are way WAY better than no parachutes at all.>
Dude, are kidding me? Do you really think the "REALITY" we were introduced to last week has to do with high rise safety? Funny, I thought it had something to with waking up to the fact that we are now in possibly one of the most difficult wars to win we have ever faced. Even if you doubt the need for war, I'm pretty sure that most of you other readers will admit that safety parachutes are the least of our worries right now.
A pleasant, interesting, and fun intellectual execise to be sure, though.
My dear lord I'm baked....
Maybe if I keep writing I'll forget the hellacious client I have to go out to tomorrow.....
I bet the new lord of the rings movie is going to KICK ASSS!!!!
Do Canadians love Ginger Pun?
God, I really really hate Parachutist magazine.
Avery has a good attitude towards menstruation (thanks to Kids in the Hall)
Christ "Brain Candy" was so funny. When the seagull flys into Dave McCullogh's eye, or the guy is watching gay porn, or the head of Roritor Pharmaceuticals
Hi, I don't know who you are, but I want to be one of the first to welcome you to America...
We live in a free market society, so what is inherently wrong with marketing something that would save lives? We market fire extinguishers, safety equipment on planes, smoke alarms, the list goes on...
I agree that price gouging and practices of that sort is criminal. That would be taking advantage of a tragic situation, which I would never support.
>We live in a free market society, so what is
>inherently wrong with marketing something that
>would save lives?
For me, this is really the issue. Would "building escape parachutes" really save lives?
What if there were a fire on the 30th floor, the fire department responded, and the fire was eventually extinguished, but in the meantime twenty people had been seriously injured trying to parachute from the roof? Twenty people who would otherwise have sat tight and been rescued by the fire crews after the fire was out?
That, to me, is why the question really is "will parachutes save lives?" They might not. Situations could arise where the parachutes actually caused more injuries, by encouraging early bailout, when sitting tight would keep people safer.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
>it'll be a heck of a lot more useful than what
>those non-BASE jumpers had when they jumped last
>Tuesday without ANY rig.
>
>You BASE jumpers are a bunch of ignorant and
>arrogant dumb fucks about this subject.
I would love to see a non-jumper try to put on a rig as the office exploded around them. Also what if you were at the watercooler when this happened and your rig was at your desk?
Ever hear of someone pulling the fire alarm when there was no fire? I am sure the emergency BASE equipment would be abused by someone when no emergency existed.
>ANY chance to survive from a tall burning
>building is better than no chance at all, and if
>1,000 people had jumped from WTC with emergency
>parachutes and no training, and only 500 or even
>100 of them lived, it would have been cause for
>great rejoicing in this country.
I think most people had way better odds with the stairs then they could ever hope for under canopy passing by an inferno.
Also, do you think that firefighters really want to encourage more people to try and bounce off their heads?
>So GROW UP, get off your high horses and face
>the REALITY we all saw last week: emergency
>building escape parachutes for the untrained are
>way WAY better than no parachutes at all.
This is the BASE board, I think BASE jumpers are entitled to be on high horses here. And grow up? Are you serious? We risk our lives for fun grandpa, I don't think there is any hope for maturity.
Eat a dick bitch:x
It's an old add.
Tom,
We've given this subject a lot of discussion under the heading of the poll you started on the subject. I'd just like to reiterate that you, like others, seem to be under the false impression that somebody is recommending this as a substitute for fire escapes or any other conventional means of escape. The people who chose to leap to their death from the World Trade Center, rather than be burned alive, obviously had no other means of escape. Believe it or not, the average American will never be under the misconception that jumping out of a building with a parachute is the best means of escaping any given situation. I seriously doubt any whuffos would don a parachute and jump from a building at the first sound of an alarm, without first exploring other means of escape or at least making sure there is actually a fire. Most of the people in the upper floors of the World Trade Center had a relatively decent amount of time to plan their escape. Reportedly, one man even tried to fashion a homemade parachute out of a garbage bag and string. Anyone who has time to build their own probably has time to put on one that is provided for them. I don't think escape parachutes should be required, and I don't think it would do any good to stock every floor (i.e., your 30th floor scenario) with parachutes, but it doesn't hurt to make them an option. Despite a few weak arguments to the contrary, they present more potential for good than bad.
--Douva
lewdouva@aol.com
PS. You said, "For me, this is really the issue. Would 'building escape parachutes' really save lives?" Well, I can honestly say they would have, at the least, given the people who leapt from or burned in the top floors of the WTC another option.
>>We live in a free market society, so what is
>>inherently wrong with marketing something that
>>would save lives?
>
>For me, this is really the issue. Would
>"building escape parachutes" really save lives?
>
>What if there were a fire on the 30th floor, the
>fire department responded, and the fire was
>eventually extinguished, but in the meantime
>twenty people had been seriously injured trying
>to parachute from the roof? Twenty people who
>would otherwise have sat tight and been rescued
>by the fire crews after the fire was out?
>
>That, to me, is why the question really is "will
>parachutes save lives?" They might not.
>Situations could arise where the parachutes
>actually caused more injuries, by encouraging
>early bailout, when sitting tight would keep
>people safer.
>
>
>
>
>--Tom Aiello
>tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
You sound like the type of person who, when someone gets shot you blame the gun manufactures instead of the criminal. Those people jumped because they had no other option. I can not began to imagine the feelings they had as they had to decide whether to escape the fire by jumping or burn alive(a truly painful and horrible way to die) I'm sure everyone would have taken a rig if they had the choice, even if they were skydiving rigs loaded with vx's. Some would have survived. As it stands none did. Go tell their families that because their whuffos that they shouldn't be given the chance to try to save themselves. ordinary people put into extraordinary situations have performed remarkable achievements. Who are you to say they don't deserve the chance! Sure some would have died, but as it stands they all did. In regards to early bailouts, I think most people aren't going to jump till the flames are licking at there feet. Ask any firefighter and they'll tell you there's nothing they can do in buildings over 10 stories. Ladders want reach and the logistics of pumping water and getting hoses up that high is almost useless. All they can do is try to get people out, and then let the fire burn itself out. Slides like airplanes have, hooked up to simple static line systems and rounds would give people a last resort to turn to. either way your going to jump. I hope you never find yourself on top of a 30story building engulfed in flames, if you do make sure you wait it out.
Mike Bartlett
Bravo.
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