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Skydriving

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-the-sudden-stop-at-the-end dept.

SanLouBlues writes "Autoweek has this article about a group of guys in Arizona who will drop your car out of a cargo jet for $15k. Parachutes for the car are optional. Their ultimate goal is to drop a Greyhound with forty people inside. More pictures here and here)"

15 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. So... by Phexro · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you have an 802.11b-equipped laptop in the car on your way down, are you then warskydriving?

    1. Re:So... by Ogerman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I suppose.. but how could you leave your mark to let all the other warskydrivers know where you found the good networks.. hmm.. Ah yes.. WarCratering!

    2. Re:So... by Salsaman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe. But imagine if you dropped several cars simultaneously, you could form a Beowulf cluster on the way down.

  2. Re:So, let me get this straight by Yorrike · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd pay them $15K to drop a Greyhound bus packed with 40 people I don't like. Sounds like a great idea.

    --

    Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

  3. Obligatory Deep Thought by ElJefe · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I bet a funny thing about driving a car off a cliff is, while you're in midair, you still hit those brakes! Hey, better try the emergency brake!"
    -Jack Handy

  4. Yet another reason to love duct tape... by thelenm · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the story: The hoods are duct-taped shut, since metal tearing off at terminal velocity could endanger the "drivers."

    Boy, I wish I had a nickel for every time duct tape prevented someone's violent death at terminal velocity.

    --
    Use Ctrl-C instead of ESC in Vim!
  5. A first ever. by Bimkins · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Their ultimate goal is to drop a Greyhound with forty people inside."

    This has the potential to be the first 40-way Darwin Award...

    --



    If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
  6. It's a great place.. by deathcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...to wake up a drunk friend.

  7. Read the article... by Zeinfeld · · Score: 5, Funny
    "There's no real science to it--it's hit or miss," says skydiver/skydriver Greg Gasson,

    How many times do the cars miss the ground?

    --
    Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
    Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
    1. Re:Read the article... by kreyg · · Score: 5, Funny

      How many times do the cars miss the ground?

      Not often, but if distracted at just the right moment...

      --
      sig fault
  8. Again: "Perspective" by cribcage · · Score: 5, Funny

    But fast ROLLER COASTERS are the great, perilous danger from which we must protect the masses.

    Riiiight.

    Sometimes the funniest part of being American is comparing the things we can't do with the things that are perfectly legal.

    crib

    --

    Please don't read my journal
  9. Re:"Gaining speeds of up to 140mph"? by AntiNorm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    140mph? Is that right? It seems awfully slow to me. I would have thought that the terminal velocity of a car would have been much higher than that.

    Sounds about right to me, especially when you consider that in the normal belly-to-earth position, the human body will hit a terminal velocity of around 120 mph. Cars have more mass, but they also have a lot more surface area against which air molecules will press as they fall, balancing out the extra mass.

    Incidentally, I am both a licensed skydiver (A-38847, getting my B before too much longer) and an engineer.

    --

    I pledge allegiance to the flag...
    of the Corporate States of America...
  10. people aren't subtle enough these days by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why back when I was a kid people were sneaky about their homicidal intent. Nowadays they just say "my goal in life is to cram 40 people into a bus, drop it from an airplane, and watch it smash to bits." Hmph.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  11. Re:"Gaining speeds of up to 140mph"? by DemiKnute · · Score: 5, Funny

    140mph? Is that right? It seems awfully slow to me.

    That's only because you've never hit the ground doing 140mph. If you had, you'd realize just how fast that is.

    --
    .
  12. My opinion... by AndyMan! · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a skydiver, I've got over 400 jumps to my name.

    Joe Jennings and crew have been tossing stuff out of airplanes in Arizona for quite a few years now. Joe does it because he's a profesional cinematographer, he's the guy that filmed the skydiving scenes in most of the recent James Bond films, plus recently Charlie's Angels and XXX. If there's an ad that features skydiving, Joe shot it.

    Joe films these, and puts them on DVD - his most recent one is called "Good Stuff" - and you can buy it from www.joejennings.com. Buy it. It's worth it. Lots of incredible (and funny!) work.

    Geeks will appreciate this. One of the funnier scenes, Joe throws a living room out of the back of the Skyvan. (note the skyvan is a turbo-prop, not a "jet".) I said they threw a living room out. They did it twice, they rigged up sofa's and loveseats, table lamps, telephones, tv sets, bolted it togeather on a platform, stuck two skydivers in the loveseat, the rolled the whole contraption out the back of the tailgate. What made is so cool is the tablelamps actually WORKED, and the TV was turned on. The tv worked all the way to impact.

    I chuckled to myself when I read in the article "There have been no close calls, near misses or injuries in any of the jumps." On one of the "living room drops", the living room landed 20 feet from the ground film crew. Overheard on the video is "fuck that was close..."

    Anyways I hate to make a post that's largely a sales pitch for a DVD, but for gods sake check this out. It's called "Good Stuff", and you can get it on www.joejennings.com

    Its got full video of all of the car drops, both living room drops, the "chuteless" jumps, and whole lotta other REALLY cool shit.

    _Am