There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there aren’t very many old bold pilots. I’ve never base jumped, or flew a squirrel suit... but I certainly contemplated both.
Once I free climbed up a communications tower to the first flashing light. It was 300’ up and it proved that the tower’s overall height was 1,200’, which was more than ample for a base jump. As luck would have it, I broke my knee caps later that night as I performed practice base exits in the hotel swimming pool, mistakenly launching myself too aggressively into the shallow end of the pool. Perhaps it was destiny guiding us into not making that base jump from off of the tower later that night?
Another time I had a fellow jumper take me up on top of a 40 story building under construction in downtown Denver, to get a sense of whether I wanted to jump off the roof. Having grown accustomed to opening my parachute by 2,000’ above the ground, a 400’ exit altitude was a bridge too far.
There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there aren’t very many old bold pilots.
I salute the base/proximity jumpers for nailing their goals with such aplomb. To the victor go the spoils. He who dares wins! Unless you kill yourself- then, you’re just dead!
We have a saying among my former teammates... I’d rather be a has been, than a never was. ;0)
You should write a book, I’d buy one!
Wow! And I thought jumping off the garbage house roof at 7 years old was exciting.:-)