7/20/2004: Power chute at dusk

Undertoad · 07-20-2004, 11:37 AM

Sometimes an image is just too beautiful not to have as an IotD. This one from MSNBC. The craft is basically a parachute with an engine on it, one of the safest kinds of aircraft I would imagine. If the engine fails you become a skydiver.

Apparently this one took off just after a thunderstorm and near dusk, which provided the backdrop of clouds and colors. I would expect the photographer bumped up the color saturation a little...

jaguar · 07-20-2004, 11:50 AM

If you want to take off just after a thunderstorm at dusk you'd want to be in a fairly safe aircraft.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-20-2004, 11:51 AM

Great image, UT. :thumpsup:

Cyber Wolf · 07-20-2004, 12:32 PM

Indeed, that's a real nice picture. Beautiful thunderheads there too.

Guess · 07-20-2004, 01:53 PM

great silhouette shot! man i want to do that

wolf · 07-21-2004, 01:46 AM

It's definitely pretty, but I fail to understand the joy of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Yellow #5 · 07-21-2004, 09:22 AM

He didn't jump from a plane at least. He took off from the ground like an ultralight.

I would be concerned about flying anywhere near those clouds in that rinky-dink contraption though.

scubadude · 07-21-2004, 07:05 PM

To be technically correct, the 'chute' is called a paraglider, and is closer to a wing than to a parachute. Yes, adding the prop to it make it very safe, and also very noisy.

Riding the updrafts around a thunderstorm is one of the most exhilirating experiences there is - don't leave this world without trying it !

Safe flying

xoxoxoBruce · 07-21-2004, 07:25 PM

Quote:

don't leave this world without trying it !

The trick is not to leave this world BY trying it.

Cyber Wolf · 07-22-2004, 08:09 AM

Paragliding is extremely fun, only when I did it, I got into the air by literally running off a 2500 ft cliff in Austria (long story behind that...). It was right after a rain storm had passed so the air was moist and cool and it was sunny and breezy and was 15 of the most exhilirating minutes of my life. I have GOT to do it again.

mmmBoy · 08-11-2004, 11:06 AM

That's nothing, check this out:

http://www.clusterballoon.org/

Undertoad · 08-11-2004, 11:33 AM

That is some amazing stuff, the ballooning. The dude claims you should know how to fly before attemping the balloon cluster flying, but I... I have to doubt it...

Quote:

For this flight, I launched from Temecula, in the Southern California Wine Country with 72 latex balloons. When I released the cord holding me to the ground, my balloons and I soared upward at five-hundred feet per minute. It was an incredible feeling. Finally, as the thin air became hard to breathe, I leveled out at over 16,000 feet. The wind took me twenty miles to the east, over a lake to a mountain valley, where I landed in a meadow in a pine forest.

I remember that balloons have the right-of-way in any piloting situation, so in theory the planes have to fly around you, but still. You're not on the radar I would imagine... consider a big-ass jet coming out of the clouds. They would never find your body.

mmmBoy · 08-11-2004, 12:10 PM

No doubt. Did you see the photos of him launching off a hot air balloon?
http://www.clusterballoon.org/ride/ride_01.htm

This guy either has lots of balls or very little brains.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-11-2004, 07:57 PM

It doesn't look like he wears a 'chute, just in case. Also, he looks normal, but I have my doubts.

dar512 · 08-11-2004, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

It doesn't look like he wears a 'chute, just in case.

xob,

For this post, your tagline should be:
"If at first you don't succeed, don't try parachuting."

07-20-2004, 11:37 AM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	7/20/2004: Power chute at dusk Sometimes an image is just too beautiful not to have as an IotD. This one from MSNBC. The craft is basically a parachute with an engine on it, one of the safest kinds of aircraft I would imagine. If the engine fails you become a skydiver. Apparently this one took off just after a thunderstorm and near dusk, which provided the backdrop of clouds and colors. I would expect the photographer bumped up the color saturation a little...

07-20-2004, 11:50 AM	#2
jaguar whig Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 5,075	If you want to take off just after a thunderstorm at dusk you'd want to be in a fairly safe aircraft. __________________ Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. - Twain

07-20-2004, 11:51 AM	#3
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Great image, UT. :thumpsup: __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-20-2004, 12:32 PM	#4
Cyber Wolf As stable as a ring of PU-239 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: On a huge rock covered in water, highly advanced moss and 7 billion parasites Posts: 1,264	Indeed, that's a real nice picture. Beautiful thunderheads there too. __________________ "I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then getting' upset 'cos they act like people." ~Adam Young, Good Omens "I don't see why it matters what is written. Not when it's about people. It can always be crossed out." ~Adam Young, Good Omens

07-21-2004, 01:46 AM	#6
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	It's definitely pretty, but I fail to understand the joy of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

07-20-2004, 01:53 PM	#5
Guess What's my name? Guess Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 69	great silhouette shot! man i want to do that __________________ "Earth laughs in flowers" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

07-21-2004, 09:22 AM	#7
Yellow #5 Lead Subordinate Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Iowa Posts: 15	He didn't jump from a plane at least. He took off from the ground like an ultralight. I would be concerned about flying anywhere near those clouds in that rinky-dink contraption though.

07-21-2004, 07:05 PM	#8
scubadude Neophyte-in-training Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 3	Paragliding is great!! To be technically correct, the 'chute' is called a paraglider, and is closer to a wing than to a parachute. Yes, adding the prop to it make it very safe, and also very noisy. Riding the updrafts around a thunderstorm is one of the most exhilirating experiences there is - don't leave this world without trying it ! Safe flying

07-22-2004, 08:09 AM	#10
Cyber Wolf As stable as a ring of PU-239 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: On a huge rock covered in water, highly advanced moss and 7 billion parasites Posts: 1,264	Paragliding is extremely fun, only when I did it, I got into the air by literally running off a 2500 ft cliff in Austria (long story behind that...). It was right after a rain storm had passed so the air was moist and cool and it was sunny and breezy and was 15 of the most exhilirating minutes of my life. I have GOT to do it again. __________________ "I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then getting' upset 'cos they act like people." ~Adam Young, Good Omens "I don't see why it matters what is written. Not when it's about people. It can always be crossed out." ~Adam Young, Good Omens

08-11-2004, 11:06 AM	#11
mmmBoy El Queso Grande Join Date: May 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 54	That's nothing, check this out: http://www.clusterballoon.org/

08-11-2004, 12:10 PM	#13
mmmBoy El Queso Grande Join Date: May 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 54	No doubt. Did you see the photos of him launching off a hot air balloon? http://www.clusterballoon.org/ride/ride_01.htm This guy either has lots of balls or very little brains.

08-11-2004, 07:57 PM	#14
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	It doesn't look like he wears a 'chute, just in case. Also, he looks normal, but I have my doubts. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

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