Parachuting is actually safer than driving. My buddy used to joke that it wasn't the fall that killed you, it was the sudden stop at the end.

I was a paratrooper in the 82nd, and we had maybe less than 5 deaths in the four years I was there attributed to parachuting and we could rarely go past 82 days without a death of some sort, usually drunk driving.

I recommend sky diving or parachuting if you haven't done so. You learn to appreciate life and loosen up more.

1.21Gigawatts

I'll take Stupid Dummasses category for $1000, Alex !

aec007

@EnochLight: You don't have control over your mortality, illusion-boy.

Anyone get the brand of that camera? I can't think of a better field test.

mildretard

this is so odd, i dreamt about parachute failures last night, and i've never had the urge to skydive

lldsandsll

@Parapraxis: Holy freak'n sickening man... This reaffirms my decision to never try base jumping. Ever. Or parachuting. Or anything that takes the control of my own mortality out of my hands!

EnochLight

@Parapraxis:
Umm...what was that massive red chunk laying in the distance?

No, don't tell me. I really don't want to know.

I have to say, I understand the allure of "flying", I really do. Maybe I'm just lucky that I routinely fly in my dreams and carry that realistic sensation with me throughout my waking day. No need to risk life/limb, I already have the sensory memory of having done it frequently. (And, no, no chemical enhancement involved, just the thankful inability to distinguish reality from fantasy.)

bosskev

@Parapraxis: I saw this a year or two ago...brutal. You don't make noises like that unless it's the worst! At least he survived.

johnnyabnormal

@Parapraxis: Wow, that was great.

Late_Night

"Doc... how is my leg?"

"X-TREME!!!...-ly broken"

George W. Braff

hey, you think that one was bad, this one will keep you on terra firma the rest of your life.

+ Watch video

The guy in the post got off lucky.

Parapraxis

You should check out the high quality version on the YouTube site. It gives it so much more impact.

Git Em SteveDave is starlost

He wants to continue this crazy activity? I guess it proves the adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try to kill yourself again". From that perspective, I'd say he is headed for success.

bosskev

Insert the Wile E. Coyote whistling while falling sound effects and a couple of FANGROOOMs (Mad Magazine) for each impact.

Krrong

Did he say "being in complete control"?

Guess he wanted to plummet into the side of a mountain and break his leg. Damn, those Norwegians are tough!

dc-united

God I wish to never hear that man grunting ever again.

LJN

@1.21Gigawatts:
While in university I was somehow convinced it'd be way cool to learn skydiving.
A fellow student... with more than 500 jumps in the US Airforce taught a group of us. Classroom, and practice jumping and rolling took a few Saturdays and we were finally ready....
Circling the airfield at 5,000 feet, Dick (really) had us watch as he jumped first, twirling and gliding and drifting beautifully past the runway below and right through the roof of a barn... up to his armpits, two broken legs dangling 15 feet about the hay bales. Poor limp Dick.
No one else jumped. Especially me. Ever.

ANoel

@1.21Gigawatts: Plus, appreciate life more? You just fell out of the sky, okay, it's not that spiritual. Get over it. I don't want to hear how the average joe doesn't appreciate life the way you do because you made a choice to jump out of plane. Please don't tell me how you pity people stuck in traffic jams and how they just don't "get life". Eat one.

Late_Night

This reminds me of what a pilot friends told me once...

We were flying up to Reno and I asked what him what he would do if he was flying at night - heading towards a mountain and his engine goes out. He told me he would turn off his lights. I asked him why? He replied - "So I couldn't see what I was hitting!"

If God would have wanted us to fly he would have given us wings...

I can loosen up with out jumping off a big rock thank you...

hardenstuhl

@1.21Gigawatts: "Parachuting is actually safer than driving...we could rarely go past 82 days without a death of some sort, usually drunk driving."

So, what you are saying is (if I may be so bold as to offer a correction to your statement), "Parachuting is actually safer than DRUNK driving." Yeah. Got it.

So how about comparing parachuting to the activities of a group of NON-boozed people? Maybe point out how a group of NON-boozed drivers can typically survive at a rate far, far greater than, as you pointed out, "maybe less than 5 deaths in four years."

I appreciate that you are an advocate for safe parachuting, but "safe" in this context is a very relative term.

bosskev

@1.21Gigawatts: Does the whole idea of skydiving being safer than driving hold up if you were to have the same amount of drivers on the road as skydivers falling from the sky?

Late_Night

@Late_Night: You seemed to have taken this extremely personal. Sounds like you have some undisclosed issues. Per capita, which has been proven, parachuting is much safer than many other activities due to its high level of safety and respect.

It's not just sky diving, when you do any activity that is only done by a small percentage of a population and it has inherent physical risk (e.g. police work, fire fighting, sea rescue), people tend to have a finer appreciation for things. So as you clearly stated to me, eat one.

1.21Gigawatts

@ANoel: "Poor limp Dick."

Winner of the "Phrase of the Day" award and 100% OT--well done!

bosskev

@1.21Gigawatts: It is safer than Driving. Thats why I Skydive to work every day and Drive for pointless recreation.

Garrison Dean, Mr. Privilege

if you don't appreciate life until you do crazy things like jump off a cliff or out of a plane, you may suffer from subnormal activity of your dopamine receptors in your brain..

..you cant judge how much other people appreciate life. Perhaps most people have a lot of responsibility in their lives and can't afford the risk of a crazy feat?..

btw, fascinating video. Definitely doesn't make me wanna jump though..haha

melikespi

this guy is nuts.

Sam_Zebian

@1.21Gigawatts: Parachuting and BASE jumping are very different. BASE jumping is the most dangerous sport in the world, with around 10% of experienced BASE jumpers culminating their sport experience as road kill. Fatalities occur about once every 3 weeks. They say one BASE jump is more dangerous than 2000 sky dives.

frigg

@hardenstuhl: If god DIDN'T want us to fly, he would have made Bernoulli's principal impossible.

Since I can't prove the existence of God, but Can prove the existence of Bernoulli's principal, you're a retard.

DeusExMach

i should try flying someday...incase i wanted to die in a extreme way..yeah seems to be a good idea..

Amiash Day Four

@Parapraxis: What a moron! Though I did enjoy the Schwartzenegger/Conan grunts and moans.

Gessho

Sounds just like Homer Simpson when he tried to jump Springfield Gorge on a skateboard.

EBone

Well, wasn't that exhilarating. I think I will keep base jumping on my "do not do again" list.

maztec

@1.21Gigawatts: Amen brother. Amazing how bent out of shape people can get. If you don't like it, don't do it, that's all. It's cool.

Otherwise: AirBORNE!

Bueller

Fortunately, I already did my share of skydiving (not base jumping), so I can benefit from the advice without saying I'll never jump from an airplane with a parachute ever.

Anyways, the guy was REALLY REALLY lucky.
Skydiving is very very dangerous, but depending on your parachute, you can have enough time to let go of the main one and use the emergency chute.

In base jumping, there's no time and no emergency parachute, so accidents usually means DEATH. And it happens a lot because you have to jump too close to a wall, so there wind, the wall, time, posture and proper parachute comanding to worry.

But just like mountain climbing and other dangerous sports, it becomes a lifestyle... for some, even a reason to live. So I support his decision to keep on.
For people like this guy, cowering up and never jumping again could be worse than dying.

I know that sports like these are not for everyone, and not many people will understand the purpose of it at all, but the truth is one will never really know how it feels to do it if they never do it.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

hmm I would think base jumping with a wingsuit is safer than doing it without one, at least you have more time and some control over your flight.
Plus there's this guy who is training to ...land... a jumpsuit. I wonder if he's still alive.

helldiver

Bless his heart.

ninjagin

I got over my desire to parachute from any height about 10 years ago, and I'm only 25. Cliff jumping into water was satisfying enough for me,

and @1.21Gigawatts: I do agree with the loosening up. It was really therapeutic for a long time. Then again, so were acid and mushrooms, but it's not right to push it on other people like that.

collider

Apart from surviving with considerably minor injuries, I think the most amazing thing is that he did it all without uttering a single swear. I know I would have been nothing but a string of profanity in that situation.

Kudos to him.

Benguin

Epic fail would be death methinks. This guy jumped off of a mountain and broke a leg. That's not epic.

stradric

I shouldn't laugh but that was freaking hilarious lol
AAAI AAARGH UUUUH AAAH
They should come up with a techno song called "until he finally lands in a tree" and use his grunts as part of the song.
Considering that you only see this every once in a while I must say it is very safe.

ashamaniq

To each their own.
If you don't like the thought of B.A.S.E. jumping, don't do it. All of you who have criticized this man for doing something he loves probably lead a life of boredom, never (or rarely) leaving the "box" that you were taught to think within. Accidents kill innocent people everyday by the thousands. Instead of letting that keep us in our houses we learn to manage risk in order to minimize the danger of going out into the world. This guy, most likely, has thousands of problem-free jumps to his credit and will add thousands more, I'm sure. If you think he has a death wish you're wrong. This guy loves life and obviously lives it to the fullest. I would rather die while doing something that I love than at the hands of a drunk driver or a merciless disease after leading an unfulfilling existence.
To each their own. Everybody dies, but not everybody lives. Soar to personal fulfillment and gratification however you choose, each and every one of you!

bartmanbart37