These guys do not seem to have a very long shelf life. Sad though. These really talented folks live a bit too close to the edge.

http://www.grindtv.com/snow/blog/30798/ ... nch%20alp/

Tim

In slightly related news, this guy went paragliding south of Boise 11 days ago and apparently fell out of his harness in midair. His body wasn't found for 6 days.

http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/132338443.html

How tough are those helmet cams anyway?

Tim

Antoine was a real badass with some questionable desision making. Google his crash he had a few years back. Speed wings are a lot of fun. We fly them a lot in AK durring our heli season, but the way he flew his was always questionable. Thats honest. The idea of dragging your wing on he ground is bound to catch up with you. It almost got him several times. Again, google his flight in the MSP film where he crashes. As you watch it you to will question it. Anyhow, respect to the guy who has passed but honeslty I am surprised it did not happen sooner. Bummer for certain.

Just found it...go to the 3:20 mark and watch...

http://www.snotr.com/video/5570

http://aspenspeedriding.com/videos/video/67-antoine-montant-claims-it.html

Again, the guy was a great flyer but really pushed the envolope way to far, way to often...

AKT

What is it about that heavy froggy accent that just bugs the heck out of me? Just can't listen to it.
The movie looked exciting, but it seemed like he was just looking for a place to die.
Oh, to be young again.... and invincible. Hope they have donor cards over there too. Shame to waste good healthy organs.

Here!, hold my beer,watch this,...... I may not be back!

Said his brother was killed similarly in 2006.

Darwin said something about this sort of thing, right? Seems this may have been a dead end in the gene pool.

MTV

I wonder how many more sports deaths there are since Red Bull and Extreme Sports TV shows have come on the scene. Almost looks to me like a "field" for the lawyers to go after, like tobacco, etc.

No disrespect to the deceased or his family, but up here we call that "Natural Selection" . . .

swixtt wrote:hey tim, i like your post in this thread. what is normal for those guys is extreme to the rest of the world. people really have a hard time understanding that and it's likely they never will, different worlds.

I understand your point swixtt. I think to many of the folks who fly airplanes off-airport, I think there is a reasonable appreciation of what "extreme" means. Personally, I have a hard time thinking about what some of these adrenaline junkies view as "normal". I sometimes think doing something that potentially dangerous is like gambling. Do it enough and you are going to get "snake eyes".
Doesn't stop me from watching their videos though!

swixtt wrote:hey tim, i like your post in this thread. what is normal for those guys is extreme to the rest of the world. people really have a hard time understanding that and it's likely they never will, different worlds.

I never said that they are extreme. I accually dislike that word as it is used to much. Like extreme poka, or extreme harmonica, etc. I just think that they do not know where to draw the line. Poor judgment and the proof of that is their death. Like I said, Short shelf life.

Tim

skystrider - my eyebrow went up a little reading your comment!

If it wasn't for guys like this, the human race would never have invented ships, airplanes, rockets, parachutes, scientists, bush pilots, and various other pioneering types who have balls... And conversely, they kill themselves off quick enough that their numbers are limited, and the storekeeper types can take care of the safe and mundane, and balance out the species.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:If it wasn't for guys like this, the human race would never have invented ships, airplanes, rockets, parachutes, scientists, bush pilots, and various other pioneering types who have balls... And conversely, they kill themselves off quick enough that their numbers are limited, and the storekeeper types can take care of the safe and mundane, and balance out the species.

Gump

Naw, different bunch that you're talking about. None of these guys live long enough to reproduce and pass on the genes to succeed. It's not just taking chances, Eielson did that, but it took a guy like Noel Wien to go to it, and make it work day in and day out. Guys like Eielson are there for the "discovery" the glory, or the rush, whatever. But it's steady guys like Noel Wien and his brothers that made aviation work in the early days, day after day. And it's those guys who made things work, with measured calculated risk.

There is a difference between taking measured risks and REALLY stepping out there. These guys are REALLY stepping out there, and they are dying at a really high rate.

There are villages in Europe now complaining about the bodies raining down from the cliffs. To what end? What's the purpose of this risk taking?

Simple answer: Adrenaline.

That does not necessarily have anything to do with progress.

MTV

I'm trying to split the difference between guys like this and the other extreme I saw at the nursing home I was at yesterday doing a crane job. Hitting a rock at 30 or drooling in a wheelchair at 80, neither a good outcome. But the high speed para gliding skiing thing sure looks like more fun That's the most outrageous flying activity vid I've seen since the flying squirrel suit guy ground skimming vid, damn! Of course it's dangerous as hell, doesn't mean someone shouldn't do it, hopefully someone without a family to raise, this guy was single I take it?

I don't know much about him but I know one thing... I'd rather go out doing something I loved. I'd rather go out doing something that made me feel alive rather than wasting away in a nursing home.

"measured calculated risk" That about sums up my time in AK some measured better then others

None of us want...

...to sit drooling in a nursing home. But you may very well be selling that drooling old guy short. I know a couple who were college athletes and won a chest full of medals during WW-2: came home, married beautiful wome, raised great kids and made a pile of money. I know another one who is 96 years old: a former International Airline captain who was the second man to ever be captain rated in a Boeing 747. He was a Marine Fighter Pilot in WW-2 with three kills. Quite a lady slayer in his time. Neither of those guys missed anything.

Truth is most of those slobbering, nearly senile old guys in the nursing home were vigorous, strong and ambitious in their time. If you are looking at the man you see now....you may well be missing the man that he once was.

Any damned fool can live to be 30 and get away with all kinds of crazy shit. Many of us did that. There is no glory in dying young. The lucky ones are those who had a great time, pushed the envelope and died in their sleep. May we all be so blessed.

As I told my 27 year old copilot and even younger flight engineer once when they were teasing me about being an "old man" at age 49....... "There is nothing special about being young." "Hell we all have been young." "I have already been where you are." "What is really special is getting to be where I am....still feeling good, healthy and enjoying life?" "Only God knows if either of you will ever make it."

Sound of crickets in the cockpit.....

Bob

None of us want...

...to sit drooling in a nursing home. But you may very well be selling that drooling old guy short. I know a couple who were college athletes and won a chest full of medals during WW-2: came home, married beautiful women, raised great kids and made a pile of money. I know another one who is 96 years old: a former International Airline captain who was the second man to ever be captain rated in a Boeing 747. He was a Marine Fighter Pilot in WW-2 with three kills. Quite a lady slayer in his time. None of those guys missed anything.

Truth is most of those slobbering, nearly senile old guys in the nursing home were vigorous, strong and ambitious in their time. If you are looking at the man you see now....you may well be missing the man that he once was.

Any damned fool can live to be 30 and get away with all kinds of crazy shit. Many of us did that. There is no glory in dying young. The lucky ones are those who had a great time, pushed the envelope and died in their sleep. May we all be so blessed.

As I told my 27 year old copilot and even younger flight engineer once when they were teasing me about being an "old man" at age 49....... "There is nothing special about being young." "Hell we all have been young." "I have already been where you are." "What is really special is getting to be where I am....still feeling good, healthy and enjoying life?" "Only God knows if either of you will ever make it."

Sound of crickets in the cockpit.....

Bob

hell of a ski video...balls as big as texas, for sure...athletes like that operate on a completely diff. level than the rest of us mere mortals...for sure.