Basejumper.com - archive

 

i thought base 283 tracey 'space' walker was next!?!?
mad props to mike & brian!!
peace

Wow! Talk about "a picture is worth a thousand words"! We've all read about those pioneering jumps from El Cap, but it's the first time I've seen that picture of Mike and Brian kitted up, and - well, all I can say is "Respect!" What an incredible adventure that must have been.

Great interview, too.

Very good read!!!! One BASE Jump or 4000 you're still a BASE Jumper,,,,maybe not an active jumper but a BASE Jumper non the less!!!

1. Great interview, thank you!

You continue to type --> B.A.S.E

2. Please either skip the periods
OR put one at the end of the E.

i wish you hadn't brought that up, it will now drive me completely crazy... damn ocd.

Thanks Tom,

As for the B.A.S.E. spelling, I'm innocent this time. Cynthia added in the dots. Its all her fault. How do you think we should proceed with this- sanctions? - fines? - horse-whipping? - tar and feathering? Something must be done about this egregious abuse of freedom of the press.

Mike

spelling has very little to do with safety or constructively helping others (even if that means discouraging them).

so, can I suggest you just let it go?
complaints about you posting in green have yet to change your behavior, and I don't think she will change hers!

----

I recall Mike's & Brian's reunion at BD. what a great moment! they tentatively stepped before a group of people, to an unknown reception. few in the audience shared their length of life experience. as they told their tale, I got the impression that they did not regard their El Cap jump as a rousing success. It seemed like something best not to mention.

yet they received round after round of standing ovations. grown men cried. generational barriers fell.

thanks Mike! I'm grateful for being there.

Thanks for this interview! Thanks for the shout out Mike. I will be in LA all of October! Hope to see you all.

S.T.F.U



Who cares. I like the article. Nice work.

p.s. I prefer BASE but I simply don't care enough to hijack a perfectly good thread

Stop with the green. It is more annoying than a lack of punctuation. Wwarped thanks for pointing that out.

First of all, my sincere thanks for your kind words.

I hope my post on the "proper" spelling of BASE came across as intended - that I have some disagreement with it being a point worth mentioning. I thought Cynthia did a great job and put a lot of effort into asking all the right questions. It was a pleasure working with her, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the previous interviews she posted.

Indulge me for a few words regarding what I consider to be a common misconception of the rounds we used. The modified rounds of our day were anything but scary. Ripcord deployment for instance was, in my opinion, far superior to the present method. Our bridal cords and pilot chutes were packed away inside the backpack out of harm's way. Body position on opening was almost irrelevant from a safety standpoint. Even the characteristic slow airspeed of our rounds, compared to today's ram-air parachute technology, could be viewed as a small contributing factor to safety in off-heading openings, if they were in use today. Please note that I am not knocking the tremendous advances in parachute technology and advocating the return of the "good old days". My point is that our gear wasn't all that bad, and even had a few small advantages to the streamlined technology of today.

Mike

Hi Mike
if you can explain what is 35' T-10 TU mod. consist of thanks al

Hey Airdog,

I found a site that shows a picture of a standard TU-7 modded military parachute and a little bit of explanation of the mods: http://www.proairshow.com/wind_dummy.htm

The TU-7 was the last pattern of modifications to the standard 28-panel military parachute before the advent of special sport parachutes, beginning with the Paracommander.

The T-10 was nothing more than a larger version of the standard 28' military parachute with identical modifications. It measured approximately 35 feet in diameter across the skirt to let the bigger guys down a little easier. I'm a little guy and landed like a feather standing up most of the time, including the El Cap jump favoring a broken ankle.



Mike

Thanks Marah,

We'll all be looking forward to seeing you. Are you not going to Bridge Day this year?

Mike

Tizzy,

Maybe it was simply a typo, but Brian Schubert received plenty of training prior to his Bridge Day 2006 jump (by Johnny U, Jean B, and Bruce K). In an NPR radio interview shortly before his final jump, Brian even stated "he was trained by the best". Please fix your question #14.

Sorry for not focusing on Mike Pelkey, who is an amazing guy, but inaccuracies like this will likely prompt some reporter to ask me why Brian was "never trained". I hope you are doing well Mike!

 

Los Angeles Times article: Pelkey said Schubert had trained hard, practicing jumps with a parachute into swimming pools and losing 80 pounds. But he had not jumped from a cliff or plane in practice, said Boenish.

NPR transcript: Mr. SCHUBERT: Great. I'm looking forward to it. It's a different kind of canopy but I've been trained by the best. Yeah, thanks. You bet. Anytime.

BLOCK: I've been trained by the best. A lot of questions being asked, Noah, about that training. The Los Angeles Times is saying that this was actually his first jump in 40 years and that he only had one day of practice, Brian Schubert did, before this jump on Saturday.

ADAMS: He had a lot of advice, really, but I learned he was resistant to actual training. He wasn't familiar with the modern sport parachute. He was used to the round kind of parachute and was a little overconfident and a little stubborn. So what happened in the jump was that there's a small pilot chute that the jumpers hold above their head. They release that after they jump. It pulls out the big canopy and he simply failed to release that, and Mike Pelge who jumped El Capitan with him and was there said to the L.A. Times why Brian didn't open is such a total unknown and that's what happened. He didn't open.

BLiNC post: Johnny, I imagine, gave Brian the same basic instruction that all first timers at BD get, and due to Brian's age and state of currency probably a bit more.

I spoke with Jean Boenish right after the accident. Jason Bell is correct.

 

Aside from disproving her statement ? Nothing.

You do know that an putting your faith into a single secondary source is a piss poor manifestation of journalism, don't you ?

Jean never said he hadnt received training. In fact, she specifically mentions the day of "practice" beforehand. This single day of practice is quite normal for new jumpers at BD and is still being offered today.

Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize. I didn't realize you had spoken to Jean and she told you that. I just didn't find, in the links you provided, anything that stated that he had received no training.

Gee, my bad.

Mike himself seems to disagree with the premise that Brian did not receive training. heck he goes on to describe watching it!

it seems to me that base428's concern is about accurately using an inaccurate quote. confirming the quote is not the same as confirming the facts of the quote.

heck, I'm sure I can find a quote that says "the Earth is flat" as well. would it be appropriate in a question directed to an astronaut/cosmonaut who has seen the planet from space...? I dunno. I'm still looking for storks delivering babies...

gotta like Mike!

Thank you.

It must get so tedious spinning in little circles until you are dizzy; Tizzy.

>>Jean Boenish didn't set out to kill Brian, nor did Johnny, Jason, or anyone else. But we all, including me, had a share in the blame.<<

http://www.blincmagazine.com/...cades.html#post84348

NickD

 

Funny cause from the standards here doing say a BASE jump from Perrine wouldn't qualify you as a BASE jumper, but doing one jump from El Capitan 43 years ago with a round does...

You know why everyone is upset. You quoted a source then asked a loaded question about something they didnt say implying they did. It would be like me quoting a source saying Obama was prochoice then immediately following it with a question asking what someone thought of the fact that Obama likes to kill little babies.

It was just a misunderstanding why are you sticking to your guns?

 

Were you quoting Blinc or LA times? Because you site the LA times not Blinc.

maybe you followed the proper rules of grammar and I'm an idiot. I can live with that. it's just the negative "not" in the first part of the sentence seemed to apply to the second half of the sentence as well. thus it appeared to me that the premise indicated Brian lacked training.



yep, it did.



if not obvious by the response, it has and is a source of discontent amongst many. it is why base428 made his request.




it may be nothing to you, but it seems important to others.

I will agree there is a certain level of raging going on. that is why I locked the thread. a "timeout" appears appropriate to let folks cool down.

as of now, I plan on unlocking it tomorrow. hopefully then we can return to compliments and a pleasant discussion regarding Mike. the focus should be on him.


ps
if ANYONE wishes to modify or delete their posts, just pm me, or wait until tomorrow.

well, as I promised, it's time to unlock the thread. can we keep it about Mike?

and yes, rancor continues over the premise to question #14. the passions ran high, so when I locked this thread in hope of letting folks cool down, they just took it to this thread.

Tizzy,

I would think that someone capable of the in-depth study you obviously made of our 1966 jump should have been able to go back and re-read the three links that you provided as proof that your resources somehow backed your statement that Brian had received no training prior to his fateful jump. No one knows better than I that such was simply not the case, and nothing in your three links supported it.

Jean's trip to BD'06 was 100% funded by Brian. She stayed in the Schubert's cabin for the entire trip. Johnny stayed in our cabin with us. Both Jean and Johnny provided extensive training for Brian. Johnny, who normally does an FJC for a dozen or so students, chose to focus exclusively on Brian and me that year, certainly at the sacrifice of significant revenue. He devoted most of his time to Brian's training, since he had trained me the year before. Johnny arrived a little later than us, and Jean provided tons of one-on-one training and drilling for Brian before Johnny arrived. Brian had little time to breathe between training sessions. He may have been looked upon as "resistant to training" for that very reason.

I felt that Jason's request to "fix your question #14" was reasonable. He even left you an out by suggesting that it may have been a typo. To the rest of us, it may have been overlooked as a simple oversight, but I'm sure you can see where it could be very important to Jason. Jason himself provided a crew member on the busy day before the jump to be sure that Brian had all the training he needed. Bruce was Brian's third expert personal trainer.

I felt that you did a great job with the interview, and I thoroughly enjoyed the previous ones you posted. In my opinion however, journalism is no different from any other endeavor. To be truly good at your work, it takes three factors:

1. Knowledge
2. Skill
3. Attitude

Two out of three falls short in my opinion. If you had been fighting for the truth, I would have fought to the death alongside you. It is obvious however, that you have been fighting tooth and nail over a small, easily repairable mistake you made.

Sincerely,

Mike

Instead of correcting her error, she has deleted the entire interview.

There are holes all over these forums as a result of her deletions, but at least the rest of them are not instances in which she has wasted the time of others to no purpose.

I'm very sorry about your interview, Mike.

rl

 
Well congragulations to all of you. Bullshit and drama have won out once again. Blood soaks the ground and I look around me at your bodies lieing on your swords. Hope your all happy. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much made from so little.

I'm not saying she's the best writer in the world but she set out to do something. Something on our behalf. I mean is any one else in the whole world going to read any thing on this board. She did this and she did this for you. To set down some of your stories. You see any body else doing it. Oh well, maybe some day Nick will finish that book every one talks about. That's great. That will make what, three? Three books in thirty years. There're enough storys out there to fill a set of encyclopedeas. Look at any other sport. Look at mountainearing, scuba diving, big game hunting. how many books in the last thirty years or let's say the first thirty of each sport. Look at custo and the first thirty years of scuba. Look at Europe and the first 30 years of climbing in the alps. We suck. The stories are there. Hell I've got stories. You notice I can't write for shit.

You want her out. I wouldn't blame her if she left and never came back. Congrats. Your the big winners. Major victory. Break out the tickertape and lets have a perrade.

I just hope Nick DG's book is a real winner cause that's all there will ever be.

Lee

Everyone needs to just chill. This is at least the third time this has happened and just like the other times in the past the article is still online under the articles section so that people that want to read it still can.

 

Uhm yea; three things:

1. It's all our fault. Man, I do so hate spilling the blood of innocents.

2. Bullshit and Drama are the major themes of these Forums; always have been, always will.

3. The flak doesn't ensue because your buddy is being judged on the small handful of interviews she produces, it comes from everything she spews as a whole. If she wants to stir up and inflame controversy and rhetoric; fine, but stand by what you spew, reediting and deleting things after the fact doesn't win you any respect.

which makes little sense to me.

the Article section is where it should be posted for folks to find it quick and easy. (and their are currently 0 articles in the "Profiles & Interviews" category.)

once it's posted in the forum, why remove it? that seems so cavalier and disrespectful. if it is error ridden or sub-standard, fine. pull it. but then don't add it to the Articles section...

thankfully, I don't need to understand everything. she is free to do as she feels best.

My interview was deleted??? I thought i was immune to this nonsense!!!!

she apparently removed all her work from the Articles section.

she also claims to have deleted most of her posts.

it was her choice, not site management.

It was her choice. She sent me this PM before she deleted it. She claims to have numerous friends on this site. I wonder if that is true.

---------------------------------------------------

I will reply in public later to your comment.

I asked a question, you stated in your answer that Brian had training. Seems rather easy to follow to me and others.

Jason, should have privately sent me a message to discuss his concern.

The links were showing proof that he had to training, but everyone, including yourself rather look to stab me then see that.

I know he had training, I asked the question as if I didn't so that you could answer it and clarify that he did.

What good would questions be, if I didn't ask ones that any new person to the sport would ask?

Sorry, you decided to see fault with me. I will delete the interview from the forum and articles later. I am heading out the door now and this is not on my list of "important concerns" at the moment.

Respectfully,

Cynthia Lynn




as a reminder, management believes PM's deserve to remain private. it is considered bad form to share them without consent and typically get removed. I'm leaving this one because it makes a better argument than what she expressed publicly. -- wwarped

Hogan's Heroes..

She has me.

Show off! heh heh..