Base Jumper Dies ... his own fault ?

Winty · 12-06-2012 10:29PM

Pigeon Reaper wrote: »

Using a helicopter to rescue the casualty is a very bad idea as the down draught would have possibly caught the parachute and finished the job whilst endangering the helicopter crew.

Thats a good point the poor guy steering the helicopter could smash into the cliff

aaronjumper · 12-06-2012 10:30PM

This isn't about how or why he did it, or about some inner feelings he may or may not have had, it's also not about whether or not he deserved it.

This is about whether or not it was his own fault. He jumped off, he wasn't pushed or bribed or bullied into doing it.

He did it of his won free will and while it is very sad for him and his family, the point remains. It's no ones fault but his own.

Zab · 12-06-2012 10:30PM

Winty wrote: »

It sad that somebody has died but he was a base Jumper who selfishly did not think of his 7 months pregnant wife when he jumped of a cliff for his own personal pleasure.

His mother is not blaming him but the rescue team for not sending a helicopter...

What do you think ? when somebody puts their life at risk do they pick up the bill and send rescuers into danger to safe some thrill seeker?

[www.standard.co.uk/news/london/base-jumper-who-died-after-being-left-hanging-by-parachute-for-three-hours-could-have-been-saved-by-helicopter-says-mother-7844318.html[/URL]

Even though nobody has suggested it wasn't his fault you've written your post to imply that somebody had. All his mother is quoted as saying is that they could have sent a helicopter to save him but opted not to. If true then I would entirely agree with her, although I'd also charge for rescuing people doing high-risk activities.

af_thefragile · 12-06-2012 10:31PM

I'm all for extreme sports but ultimately it is a bit pointless to die doing something as such...

Although I do realise its a way of life for some people and they accept the risks it involves. Still its a bit of a waste of life if you die pursuing something that's just a hobby.

Though I guess same could be said for sportsmen who die due to sporting accidents or even people who live carelessly and end up dying by a consuming unhealthy foods or doing drugs n stuff...

Pottler · 12-06-2012 10:34PM

I blame the bit of ground he hit. Feckin solid objects, who put that there?

It wasn't me! · 12-06-2012 10:35PM

Winty wrote: »

controled area

That shows absolutely no understanding of the nature or reason in extreme sports and the like. The guy died pushing his own boundaries, and it's sad, and tragic, but the idea that people shouldn't do this for reasons like potential cost is ridiculous. Similarly, my dad worked in construction. Friends' fathers were soldiers. Plenty of people I knew had parents who worked in risky jobs to feed and clothe them, so the argument that he shouldn't have done it because he was a father is also ridiculous, to my mind. People die every day. Most, however, don't. The day we start wrapping ourselves in bubble wrap, we've lost any hope of ever advancing ourselves.

looksee · 12-06-2012 10:37PM

The only reason people do these sports is because of the danger. That's where the thrill is. If he just wanted to come down under a parachute he could have stuck to skydiving, which is dangerous enough, but not stupid.

I think there should be access to dangerous sports, in the absence of wars some people - well mostly young men - need to challenge themselves and take risks. But, they should insure themselves against the cost of rescue, or find themselves paying for it. And rescue should only be available when it does not put rescuers lives at unreasonable risk.

Surely that is the point of dangerous sports, you are gambling with your life, that's the buzz. If you are going to expect other people to gamble with their lives to accommodate your wish to live dangerously, then you are losing the point of the sport.

falan · 12-06-2012 10:44PM

Bell Butter wrote: »

There's a great doc on Netflix about base jumping, it's about a guy from London that does most of his base jumping off sky scrapers and apartment blocks, and at night. His wife said she didn't want kids because she would be constantly worrying about him disappearing in the middle of the night and never returning.

She believed he was addicted to it and would never give it up.

Was it called "the men who jump off buildings"?

Really good documentary..

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-men-who-jump-off-buildings/4od#3118940

12-06-2012 10:49PM

Yeh, course it was his own fault. Doesn't mean he should have stayed at home all safe and sound though.

Guy:Incognito · 12-06-2012 10:51PM

maglite wrote: »

We are entitled to do fun and stupid things.

Should we give up live to live longer. I'm almost certain sports like Football, Horse Riding, Rugby are many times dangerous, not to mention Cars, Bikes etc...

Who said your not entitled to do fun and/or stupid things? You just have to accept the blame when things go wrong as a result.

Bell Butter · 12-06-2012 10:54PM

falan wrote: »

Was it called "the men who jump off buildings"?

Really good documentary..

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-men-who-jump-off-buildings/4od#3118940

That's the one

falan · 12-06-2012 10:58PM

Bell Butter wrote: »

That's the one

Yeah its a while since i saw it, might just watch it again...Crazy life but they know the risks.

RustyNut · 12-06-2012 11:11PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

In my opinion, fcukers who do base jumping, mountain climbing and other dangerous stuff should be left there instead of having sensible people risk their lives to go up and save them.

I think you will find that the fcukers who do base jumping, mountain climbing, caving etc are the same people who risk their lives on rescue teams to save other people who get into trouble, without making judgements.

prinz · 12-06-2012 11:12PM

Dumbass.

donegal_road · 12-06-2012 11:21PM

if the hlicopter wasn't a runner, then the emergency services were left with 2 options imo. A really long rope lowered from the top of the cliff...the cliff is 900ft, and he was 230ft from the ground.
2nd option would be to have something on the ground that would break his fall.. what that would be, I dont know.
It wouldn't have taken 3 hours to attach several climbing ropes together and lower it down.. then at least he'd have been safe until they figured out how to get him down. According to witnesses they seemed to be doing nothing,

12-06-2012 11:52PM

I think he was incredibly, incredibly selfish. It's one thing to be a thrill seeker when you're young and single, but he's just left a child without a father for no good reason. Those comparing it to driving a car are being ridiculous. Cars are largely essential for getting around. Base jumping has no purpose at all except an adrenaline rush. He knew what he was getting into - the fatality rate for this 'sport' is ridiculously high.

Sure, he had the right to do whatever he wanted, but it made me angry to open the evening paper tonight and read about his mum complaining that the Greeks should have sent a helicopter. Greece hardly has money to rescue people like this when its own citizens are dying because there aren't enough ambulances available and there's no money to run the hospitals. And he was hardly in the middle of Athens - he chose an isolated spot which could only be reached by boat. He took the risk and it didn't work out for him. There's nobody to blame but himself. Pity his girlfriend and unborn child have to suffer the consequences.

Odysseus · 12-06-2012 11:54PM

Maxwell Hissing Toothache wrote: »

Base jumping has no purpose at all except an adrenaline rush. He knew what he was getting into - the fatality rate for this 'sport' is ridiculously high.

Do you have any reference for that?

prinz · 13-06-2012 12:00AM

Odysseus wrote: »

Do you have any reference for that?

Veterans of BASE jumping -- an acronym that stands for parachute free falls from buildings, antennae, spans or earth -- call their sport the most dangerous in the world, with only 1,200 experienced jumpers and at least 115 fatalities.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/why-we-compete/2007/11/adrenaline.html

Last year on Bridge Day, one of BASE jumping's pioneers died when his parachute deployed too close to the ground. After a 27-minute delay, the next jumper leapt off the platform.

Gobshítes.

http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/121-1277/3134/

paddy147 · 13-06-2012 12:00AM

Can someone tell me how the fcuk a helicopter is meant to get near him on that rock face?? (picture attached)

The mother hasnt got a clue and is way out of line for blaming her sons death on the rescue team.

Raiser · 13-06-2012 12:05AM

Rescue teams shouldn't be obliged to endanger their own lives bailing out champion idiots like this - Just Darwinism really.....

ringadingding · 13-06-2012 12:20AM

I would have expected that somebody could have done something in 3 hours... I would like to know the chain of events from emergency services receiving the call to him falling...... I mean, 3 hours is a pretty fooking long time.

If the helicopter couldn't have got to him, maybe an absailer going down for him or something.......

Maybe it was just **** bad luck that nobody with relevant experience to help him was around, had he fell straight away or snagged for a few minutes, fair enough, he knew the score, but to dangle for 3 hours....... i dunno

prinz · 13-06-2012 12:24AM

AngeGal wrote: »

Coming out with nonsense like "I'm sure his child will be happy to grow up without a father because of his own selfishness" is despicable. Check out the relevant statistics of how much likelier you are to die in a car accident than doing a jump. Should parents to be stop driving, stop walking, stop having a few pints in case they fall? Where exactly is the line as to what's an acceptable activity for a parent?

Would you come to my defence if I played Russian Roullette for the craic?

AngeGal · 13-06-2012 12:26AM

prinz wrote: »

Would you come to my defence if I played Russian Roullette for the craic?

Apologies, misread, thought it was a normal parachute jump, despite the very clear title, half asleep here!

donegal_road · 13-06-2012 12:49AM

paddy147 wrote: »

Can someone tell me how the fcuk a helicopter is meant to get near him on that rock face?? (picture attached)

The mother hasnt got a clue and is way out of line for blaming her sons death on the rescue team.

the helicopter would have hovered at the top of the cliff, 650+ ft above where he was, and try and position the extremely long rope against the cliff face so that he might be able to grab it, then the helicopter lower him to the ground.. the problems here would be knowing when he was secured to the rope and ready to be hoisted to safety... and if the actual rope itself would have been within reach of where he was positioned due to the different levels of relief on the cliff face. Also, someone mentioned the air currents rising from the cliff would make this manouver very difficult for the pilot.

Cookie_Monster · 13-06-2012 12:54AM

Winty wrote: »

Thats the thing to send a Helicopter at the drop of a hat is big money and who pays the bill.

the insurance company obviously. you do these kind of things you damn well make sure you or the company you are doing with are insured.

I tend to agree it's not fully his fault, terrible response time.

The Big Red Button · 13-06-2012 01:04AM

donegal_road wrote: »

the helicopter would have hovered at the top of the cliff, 650+ ft above where he was, and try and position the extremely long rope against the cliff face so that he might be able to grab it, then the helicopter lower him to the ground.. the problems here would be knowing when he was secured to the rope and ready to be hoisted to safety... and if the actual rope itself would have been within reach of where he was positioned due to the different levels of relief on the cliff face. Also, someone mentioned the air currents rising from the cliff would make this manouver very difficult for the pilot.

But surely they could have had someone abseil down to him, or something? That wouldn't have taken long, certainly not three hours?

By the sounds of it, nothing was done.

From what the article said, he was there for three hours, and completely uninjured, chatting away to his fiancee on the phone etc while waiting to be rescued. Until the rock he was holding on to gave way, after three hours.

It just seems an awful long time.

People say it's his fault because he was involved in an extreme sport.

But, look at it this way. Say if a family member or a friend of yours attempted suicide - a purposeful attempt to end their own life. And the emergency services attending the scene had the time and the equipment to save them. Would you be OK with them standing by and doing nothing?

By the sounds of it, this guy had no intention of ending his own life.

The emergency services are there to do a job, regardless of the people involved.

I'm not saying that they did anything wrong, I don't know the full details, maybe they were simply unable to reach him in time.

It's awful to say/imply that he deserved to die, though. We all take risks in life, to varying extents. He was unlucky.

iguana · 13-06-2012 01:09AM

ringadingding wrote: »

Maybe it was just **** bad luck that nobody with relevant experience to help him was around, had he fell straight away or snagged for a few minutes, fair enough, he knew the score, but to dangle for 3 hours....... i dunno

Bad luck that nobody on a tiny island in a badly bankrupted country has the ability to rescue someone who is dangling hundreds of feet down and nearly two hundred feet up a cliff? Bad luck?

It would have been bloody amazing luck if anyone had the first idea how to practically rescue him. It could have taken days to organise a rescue in a way which would allow for the safety of the rescuers. Hell it took 58 hours to get Jessica McLure out of a 22ft deep hole. This planet doesn't have a superman, rescues like the one that would have been needed for him are difficult and take a lot of planning.

I'm sure it was a terrible time for him in those hours and I'm sure his loved ones will torment themselves wondering how he really felt in that time and it's natural for them to want to blame someone other than him. But base jumping is classified as the world's most dangerous recreational activity. The fatality rates are enormous and doing it in an isolated region in a country dealing with enormous cuts to all it's public services makes a rescue in what is really a short time-frame, highly unlikely.

amiable · 13-06-2012 01:11AM

Winty wrote: »

It sad that somebody has died but he was a base Jumper who selfishly did not think of his 7 months pregnant wife when he jumped of a cliff for his own personal pleasure.

His mother is not blaming him but the rescue team for not sending a helicopter...

What do you think ? when somebody puts their life at risk do they pick up the bill and send rescuers into danger to safe some thrill seeker?

[www.standard.co.uk/news/london/base-jumper-who-died-after-being-left-hanging-by-parachute-for-three-hours-could-have-been-saved-by-helicopter-says-mother-7844318.html[/URL]

yep

Riddle101 · 13-06-2012 01:13AM

My only problem with this is the issue of safety. If he took precautions, maybe brought a friend with him, and safety gear or a rope even, and had informed the proper people of what he was going to do. Then maybe this could have been avoided. But if he was careless and just did it himself without doing anything at all. Then yeah it is his fault.

grizzly · 13-06-2012 01:15AM

I can understand the mother blaming them in her grief, but if a helicopter rescue was possible they would have tried it.

Personally, I think people should be free to do these extreme sports if they're only endangering themselves. However I'd have packed it away if I had a kid due.

Base Jumper Dies ... his own fault ?

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