Crater maker

[Gob]

He’s made 18,000 parachute jumps, helped train some of the world’s most elite skydivers, done some of the stunts for Ironman 3. But the plunge Luke Aikins knows he’ll be remembered for is the one he’s making without a parachute. Or a wingsuit.



Or anything, really, other than the clothes he’ll be wearing when he jumps out of an airplane at 25,000 feet this weekend, attempting to become the first person to land safely on the ground in a net.

The Fox network will broadcast the two-minute jump live at 8pm ET (5pm PT) Saturday as part of an hour-long TV special called Heaven Sent.

And, no, you don’t have to tell Aikins it sounds crazy. He knows that.

“If I wasn’t nervous I would be stupid,” the compact, muscular athlete says with a grin as he sits under a canopy near Saturday’s drop zone.

“We’re talking about jumping without a parachute, and I take that very seriously. It’s not a joke,” he adds.

Nearby, a pair of huge cranes define the boundaries where the net in which Aikins expects to land is being erected. It will be about one-third the size of a football field and 20 stories high, providing enough space to cushion his fall, he says, without allowing him to bounce out of it. The landing target, which has been described as similar to a fishing trawler net, has been tested repeatedly using dummies.

One of those 200-pound (91-kilogram) dummies didn’t bounce out. It crashed right through.

“That was not a good thing to see,” recalled Jimmy Smith, the veteran Hollywood public relations man who, with his partner Bobby Ware, came up with the idea of having someone skydive without a parachute.

Chris Talley, who had worked with Aikins on other projects and helped train him for this one, recommended the skydiver to the two Amusement Park Entertainment executives. He told them Aikins was arguably the only guy not only good enough but also smart enough and careful enough to survive this.

Smith recalled how the three men gazed at each other with a look of foreboding after that dummy crashed through the net. Then they looked over at Aikins.

“Luke just said: ‘No biggie, that’s why we test.’”

Fox has had little to say about the stunt other than it will be broadcast on a tape delay, as is the case with all its live broadcasts, says network spokesman Les Eisner. It contains a warning not to try this at home.

That would seemingly be difficult, as Smith and Ware had to scour a good part of the world, from Arizona Indian land to Dubai real estate, before they found what everyone agreed was the best place for Aikins to land.

He’ll come down in a dry, dusty, desolate-looking section of an old movie ranch north of Los Angeles, where not that long ago Shia LaBeouf was battling Transformers.

The drop zone, surrounded by rolling hills, presents some challenges, Aikins said, noting he’ll be constantly fighting shifting winds as he falls at 120 mph (193 kph).

Other skydivers have jumped from planes without parachutes and had someone hand them one in midair. But Aikins won’t even have that.

Why?

“To me, I’m proving that we can do stuff that we don’t think we can do if we approach it the right way,” he answers.

“I’ve got 18,000 jumps with a parachute, so why not wear one this time?” he muses almost to himself. “But I’m trying to show that it can be done.”

[RayThom]

Pfft! What a namby–pamby. The guy's jumping into a net. (Or at that speed maybe it should be called a strainer.)

I'm thinking this will become one of the most spectacular calculated suicides ever.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Not something I would try.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Where's the baby?

[rubato]

120 mph, sounds doable but insane.

As long as he hits the net 20 stories is a long distance to decelerate from that speed. The bouncing out part sounds dicey.

Yrs,
Rubato

[RayThom]

120 mph, sounds doable but insane...
Yrs,
Rubato

Terminal Velocity explained:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity

As 'they' always say, "it's not the fall that kills you... it's the sudden stop."

[Gob]

He did it!!

American Luke Aikins has become the first person to jump from 25,000 ft (7,620m) without a parachute, landing safely in a net.



Mr Aikins - who has more than 18,000 jumps under his belt - fell dead centre into the 100x100ft net in Simi Valley, southern California.




During the two-minute fall aired live on Fox television, the 42-year-old reached the speed of 120mph (193km/h).

To loud cheers, he climbed out of the net and hugged his wife and young son.

"I'm almost levitating, it's incredible," he said after Saturday's jump.

"This thing just happened! I can't even get the words out of my mouth," he said, admitting that he was nervous beforehand.

[rubato]

I'm glad he isn't dead but the circus show lacks something as an achievement, like merit, practical value?

Yrs,
Rubato

[Big RR]

It's more like a sports achievement---no real practical value but it shows it can be done.

[Econoline]

"This thing just happened! I can't even get the words poop out of my mouth pants," he said, admitting that he was nervous beforehand.

Fixed.

[Gob]

I'm glad he isn't dead but the circus show lacks something as an achievement, like merit, practical value?

Yrs,
Rubato

Lord forbid anyone should do something just for the sake of doing it.

[oldr_n_wsr]

fell dead centre into the 100x100ft net in Simi Valley, southern California

Maybe it was the camera angle, but the landing did not look "dead center".

Yeah, I watched TV, but didn't see it live, it was a replay I caught while flipping channels during a commercial break on DD. .

[Burning Petard]

There was some posting just before it happened that the Hollywood union for stunt workers was jamming up everything for the broadcasters, threatening some kind of last minute direct action by affiliated unions to stop the broadcast because it was just too dangerous and was gonna turn into a snuff film, broadcast live.

I am glad it did not. But otherwise it is off my radar. I did not even watch any Evil Knievel motorcycle stunts.

snailgate

[rubato]

I'm glad he isn't dead but the circus show lacks something as an achievement, like merit, practical value?

Yrs,
Rubato

Lord forbid anyone should do something just for the sake of doing it.

The Wallenda family have had five people killed and One paralysed from the waist down.

The question is; was what they did worth five lives and one tragically crippled?

What value does a human life have?

To you it is nothing, trivial. To me it matters and should be treated like it matters.

We communicate to others that human life is important by how we conduct ourselves.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Gob]

The Wallenda family have had five people killed and One paralysed from the waist down.

The question is; was what they did worth five lives and one tragically crippled?

The fulfilled themselves, they achieved prominence in their field, they reached an athletic and balletic perfection, they were'nt mental crippled and inverted like you.

What value does a human life have?

To you it is nothing, trivial. To me it matters and should be treated like it matters.

It doesn't matter to you as you have decided to hide away from it, to reduce it to its meanest nadir.

We communicate to others that human life is important by how we conduct ourselves.

Yrs,
Rubato[/quote]

[oldr_n_wsr]

I'm glad he isn't dead but the circus show lacks something as an achievement, like merit, practical value?

Yrs,
Rubato

Lord forbid anyone should do something just for the sake of doing it.

The Wallenda family have had five people killed and One paralysed from the waist down.

The question is; was what they did worth five lives and one tragically crippled?

What value does a human life have?

To you it is nothing, trivial. To me it matters and should be treated like it matters.

We communicate to others that human life is important by how we conduct ourselves.

Yrs,
Rubato

So no risks of any kind.
Gotcha.

Wait, who decides what is considered "risky"?
Plenty of things people do are risky. Crossing the street should be a big no no. Especially in where there are cars.

[rubato]

"...
So no risks of any kind.
Gotcha.

Wait, who decides what is considered "risky"?
Plenty of things people do are risky. Crossing the street should be a big no no. Especially in where there are cars.

So you are unable to respond except by misstating what I said to the point where you look like an illiterate moron? I have only said that there is some limit beyond which the risk might outweigh the value.

One should gauge any activity which has a risk to human life by both the level and type of the risk and the value which it might have. How you make that decision is a concrete definition of how you value human life.

Test pilots, astronauts, and divers all take on very great risks of death or grave injury but there is a value to the activity which weighs against the risk. Perhaps the things which are learned are worth a human life especially so when the knowledge reduces human suffering in future.

But injecting street drugs, or packing a mower with explosives and setting them off with a gun is stupidly dangerous. it shows a lack of regard for the value of human life.

The hosts of "Mythbusters" really get this. They take appropriate precautions and when their planning failed one time they admitted it, said it was a bad mistake, and never aired it because they didn't want to encourage anyone else to try it nor to make light of the risk to human life nor to profit from a stupidly dangerous act.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/vid ... t-15112249

I have not said that people should be prevented from taking risks only that they be mindful when they do so.

Wait, who decides what is considered "risky"?
Plenty of things people do are risky. Crossing the street should be a big no no. Especially in where there are cars.

We decide for ourselves, to a great degree. Which is as it should be. To repeat what I have said before in other words; HOW WE make those decisions is HOW WE communicate what we believe the value of human life is.

yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

The Wallenda family have had five people killed and One paralysed from the waist down.

The question is; was what they did worth five lives and one tragically crippled?

The fulfilled themselves, they achieved prominence in their field, they reached an athletic and balletic perfection, they were'nt mental crippled and inverted like you.

I have not said that anyone should be prevented from doing such things nor that there are not personal motives which drive people to do them. I have only said that human life is valuable and we communicate that to the people around us by treating it with care. i have done a lot of things which have some risk, rock climbing, riding dirt bikes, driving fast on dirt roads, offroad, pavement, passing cars on a bicycle on a long downhill mountain road; some I now think were stupidly dangerous, some I would do again. Pretty typical young male behavior AFAIK. Other than your continual need to express hatred you really have nothing to say.


And you stopped riding a motorcycle, why exactly?


yrs,
rubato

Inverted? you're posting drunk again.

[Gob]

I have not said that anyone should be prevented from doing such things nor that there are not personal motives which drive people to do them. I have only said that human life is valuable and we communicate that to the people around us by treating it with care.

So you made a non point then? Well done.

i have done a lot of things which have some risk, rock climbing, riding dirt bikes, driving fast on dirt roads, offroad, pavement, passing cars on a bicycle on a long downhill mountain road; some I now think were stupidly dangerous, some I would do again.

Yeah, sure we all believe you

Other than your continual need to express hatred you really have nothing to say.

And you stopped riding a motorcycle, why exactly?

Because I've other priorities at the moment , like saving up to retire. I may buy a new bike though if my work location changes.

Inverted? you're posting drunk again.

invert

verb (used with object)
1. to turn upside down.
2. to reverse in position, order, direction, or relationship.
3. to turn or change to the opposite or contrary, as in nature, bearing, or effect:
4. to turn inward or back upon itself.

[Jarlaxle]

Taff, Ozzie is confused by American English. You think he can figure out Aussie English, even sober?