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.

jomac wrote: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.

I resent being called a mere mortal for Joining the Navy, doing my tour, getting married and staying married to a great gall for 41 year, raising 4 great kid while working my ass off six days a week, living below my means so at 66 I can retire amd still have fun.

I know guys like the dead guy that work just enough to get unemployment so they can go screw off and leave us mere mortals home working to pay for their adventure. Wish they would all die.

"Mere mortal" you can kiss my ass.

Tim

the very reason we live in america, Tim. i too have 3 great, now older, kids. have a 6 day per wk buisness as well, and get to play in central idaho a lot, snowmobile a lot, ride my bikes a lot...all about choices we've all made, i suppose. after 30 + years, i'm still goin' strong and glad to be in a mostly off-road business that rocks...guess i'm weird, but while there are some athletes like u describe, most i know and do business with, are just the opposite of what u describe....true providers to their families and companies and sponsors...ordinary people with an extra-ordinary amount of talent and ambition...and like Ricky Carmichael and Bob Hannah have said, they tend to make their own "luck". sounds like u have done a lot to be proud of Tim..be glad we are in the USA where we can!

swixtt wrote:unsubscribed to this thread...

What the heck does that mean?

z3skybolt wrote: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

Exactly, and well said.

MTV

patrol guy wrote:skystrider - my eyebrow went up a little reading your comment!

Patrol Guy, was talking about how pilots understand risk so would have a better understanding of what being out on the edge is. Don't worry, I'll keep watching your videos!

Lets keep it respectful around here.

My input... I don't care how dumb/extreme you are and how bad you want to live/die, just please don't kill anyone that doesn't know any better in the process.

All men die, but not all men live. The trick is to live and get to be old and not all busted up.

Good day

I like wingsuit videos as well as anybody, but I also caught the news report this fall that MTV alluded to. A Lauterbrunnen farmer describes jumpers falling out of the sky and splatting in his fields. There's also an elementary school that had a jumper splat in view of all the kids. That would get old quick.

The List

It's strange how grown men take a thread about an extreme athlete and make it into a discussion to validate their chosen path in life. I guess backcountry forums not only show us cool hillside airstrips but also provide free counseling for deeper personal issues.

Work it out boys. It's okay to cry a little.

You all worked really hard and were really crazy too.

wyomingiswindy wrote:You all worked really hard and were really crazy too.

Hell Yeah!!!!!

Gump

I agree Mike!

Noel Wien died in his sleep an old man due to his conservative approach to flying and safety all while still getting the job done in a very demanding environment.

G44





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[/quote]

mtv wrote: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

Double Naw...

The adrenaline junkies do the crazy stuff for a thrill. The smarter crazy guys watch for a while, then figure out how to do it more than once. The way smart guys figure out how to do it safely. And then... The practical guys make it mainstream and profitable.

Gump

z3skybolt wrote: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

Well put.