<p>Chances of his being killed in a car were much greater.</p>
<p>Do you ski? Do you SCUBA dive? Do you go to beach in Florida on vacation and swim with the sharks? Do you drive to work on a major freeway? All of those things have killed and maimed people in the last few months. I believe that part of what made the man special was his zest for life. He was a jet rated commercial pilot. He flew cropdusters for a living. I’m sure in his hands, that was no more dangerous than letting your kids have the car keys for the evening. And yes, that can kill too.</p>
<p>His zest for life got him killed. His personal pleasure seeking in a VERY risking hobby got him killed. He choice to do something very dangerous.</p>
<p>Yeah, there are sharks in Florida, after the first attack, do you think I would go back into the water? And, after my H hurt his knee sking, he chose to not take it up again because he didn’t want to risk getting hurt and not being able to work.</p>
<p>As parents, we need to put aside daredevil kinds of hobbies, because as you said, there are enough dangers in just living day to day. Why add something dangerous to the mix, just because you have this zest for life? I still find it selfish.</p>
<p>Not to mention, citygirlsmom, that as the older we get, our body does not respond well to accidents and injuries. The healing process takes longer, and ultimately, if serious, we may risk permanent paralysis or even death.</p>
<p>That is your perception of the situation, not fact. Do you have a pool at home? Do you know that your pool is 100 times more likely to kill a child than a gun in your home. Just because you perceive something to be dangerous to excess, does not make it a fact. </p>
<p>Do you overeat and fail to excercise? Your personal pleasure seeking may well kill you…</p>
<p>Yeah it may, so I do what I can to not make foolish decisions, because I want to be there for my children. Yes, there are dangers everywhere, I have agreed to that. I don’t live my life in a bubble, I just try and get my priorities straight and live safely to the best of my ability.</p>
<p>Would I bungy jump now, even though it appears to be pretty safe? No. Would I sky dive? No. Would I rock climb? No. I don’t purposely put my self at risk for my own joy. I will wait until my kids are older and on their own. Then I will be free to follow risky pursuits. </p>
<p>You can keep bringing up dangers in every day living. Climbing a ladder to roof a house, eating steak, crossing the street: Life is dangerous- things out of our control happen all the time. Making good judgements and good decisions regarding those dangers is called being an adult. And if you have minor children, you need to think twice before taking unnecessary risks.</p>
<p>I’ve been hit by cars twice, so I know about the risk in crossing a street. But, IMO, that’s a lot different from bungee jumping - one involves “risk,” but is a part of life; the other is just gratuitous danger. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: I SCUBA dive, ski (like a maniac, as my parents would tell you), ride horses, etc. I would never, however, bungee jump or jump out of a plane - too much risk. There just isn’t that type of risk when you are 20 feet below the surface of the ocean, which you can get down to with flippers alone (not ever going to be one of those wreck divers).</p>
<p>Well, you’re talking about a guy who volunteered to go to Vietnam, volunteered for Airborne, volunteered for Special Forces, volunteered for MACV-SOG, and then survived only when he, being the only unwounded member of Recon Team Idaho left alive and/or able to function, called in an air-strike on his own position to stop the overwhelming NVA force about to over-run them…all the while using his combat surgery skills to keep half of his team alive. Clearly a different kind of cat. I agree it’s unseemly to disparage him in death, but the irony of his death playing with a dangerous toy after all he’d been through is undeniable. I did a lot of research on his unit as a graduate student, and he was always one of my favorites.</p>
<p>Again, citygirlsmom, each to his own. There are many of us who believe life is too short to live in fear. My husband and I and both of our children over 16 fly, the 15 year old is learning. We all scub dive, rock climb and go on major treks. We have come face to face with lions, tigers and bears. Our house hangs over a cliff that has had mud slides. Call us crazy, but we love adventure.</p>
<p>
You didn’t listen to the lecture on air embolism, did you. There is more risk from 20’ to the surface than from 60’ to 20’. I’m a PADI instructor, and yes, I’ve been 200’ on a wreck, recently. More people die at 30’ from a heart attack. </p>
<p>Risk is all relative to training and experience. I have a friend paralized from the neck down from skiing. I feel much more in control of my fate 200’ down on a wreck than out of control on the side of an icy mountain. Different strokes for different folks. The man was highly trained for what he was doing. My opinion is that he was safer doing that than most of the people on this board are driving home.</p>
<p>Did he build the aircraft himself? Lots of light plane pilots do build the planes themselves.</p>
<p>I don’t know. 58. A very full life. Died doing something he loved. His kids would be adults or very near to adulthood.</p>
<p>It’s hard to begrudge him the pleasure after so many years of service.</p>
<p>Good on him–and bon voyage…</p>
<p>I did listen to the lecture on air embolism (aka “the bends”) - so relax. As a chemical engineer, I had heard it before ever setting foot near SCUBA gear.</p>
<p>My point is that the worst-case scenario for being 20 feet under isn’t too bad, so long as you keep your head. (I will not count situations, such as a shark attack, which could happen when you are swimming. I’ve been attacked my sea life when I was less than a yard from shore & had to be rushed to the ER.) If your equipment malfuntions, you can get yourself to the surface - not well, not without pain later, but you could manage some semblance of a escape (if you will) at 20 feet down. As I’ve said, I’ve done the free dive to 20 or 25 - down and up in a breath of air - without a problem. </p>
<p>More people die at 30 feet from a heart attack because: 1) more people swim at 30 feet than at 200 and 2) those who are swimming at 200 are probably (usually) in better physical shape! </p>
<p>Please explain to the engineer how there is a greater atmospheric change in 20 feet of water than in 40 feet. (Note: there isn’t. 32 ft of water = 1 atm of pressure.)</p>
<p>He died doing what he loved. Something dangerous. I don’t consider that a “tragedy”. I find it sad.</p>
<p>“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” Steve Jobs</p>
<p>Audiofile posted Jobs’ speech at Stanford graduation this year on the parent’s board. This is how he ended it. There those who believe in staying “safe”, and there are those who go for it and live life as though it were their last days. The good news is, each of us gets to choose.</p>
<p>I understand both CGM and zagat’s points of view.
The question is not flying, but would you, knowing the instantaneous changeability of the weather at that particular spot, still take the risk when there are other sites less than 15 miles away which would be more suitable for ultralights? I’m not criticizing, I’m just saying it was a serious misjudgment which unfortunately proved fatal.</p>
<p>It’s like colleges and their well rounded classes, we need adventurers who go for it and folks back at the office playing it safe.</p>
<p>
First, embolism isn’t the bends. It’s a tramatic rupture do to expansion of trapped air. When you go from 20 feet to the surface, the air volume in your lungs increases by 60% (1.67 atmospheres (ATM) to 1 ATM). When you move from from 60 feet (3 ATM) to 20’ (1.67 ATM), there is a 55% increase in volume. All calculations are in feet of seawater, 30’ FSW = 1 ATM, 32’ freshwater = 1 ATM. And of course there is 1 ATM at the surface. </p>
<p>Free diving is not at all related to SCUBA. You don’t breathe pressurized air at depth when you free dive, therefore it is not possible to embolize. Take a breath from a SCUBA tank at 20’ and hold it to the surface and you will quite likely die of an embolism, hence rule #1 in SCUBA, never hold your breath. Likewise, your max duration at depth when free diving is about 4 minutes if you’re in great shape, so no chance of bends. And you can stay a week at 20’ and come straight to the surface with no deco without worrying about the bends. As I said, risk reduction is all about training and experience.</p>
<p>Choosing to fly when and where he did was a risk he took.</p>
<p>Risk is a pleasure for some people, moi included. Can’t say I would dive over snorkle, but plenty in my family do–and we ski and rock climb and raft and take month long canoe trips in the wilderness and bungy jump and mountain climb and sail and mountain bike. My sister-in-law loves to jump out of planes. Her husband was a professional motorbike racer back in the day.</p>
<p>We don’t need a minder or a nanny state to tell us which risks we should or shouldn’t take. </p>
<p>Walton certainly didn’t need a minder. Puullleeezzze. Long live the adventurers of the world!!</p>
<p>(Loved Jobs speech too. Forwarded to S. In Beijing. The one who is planning to take a 10 hour train ride to some Chinese beach this weekend. Printed for S2).</p>
<p>Just nevermind</p>