Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The brother of a British base jumper has revealed the ‘simple’ mistake he made with his parachute that caused him to plunge to his death from a tower block in Thailand.
Nathy Odinson, 33, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, illegally climbed to the top of the 29th floor in an apartment building in the coastal resort of Pattaya on Saturday night before unwittingly leaping to his death.
Now his brother Ed Harrison, 39, has said chilling video footage of the daredevil’s last moments shows that his mini pilot chute was caught in his harness, meaning there was ‘no chance’ it would have deployed.
Mr Harrison, from St Neots, said that despite his brother’s significant experience – having undertaken ‘5,000 jumps around the world’ – he made the fatal error ‘without realising’ and leapt to his death.
Paying tribute, Mr Harrison told The Sun that his sibling ‘will be missed by so many… He was fun-loving and joyful and great with kids. He was a hero to my three.’
Nah, idiot, frankly. Professional parachutists make sure they check their equipment properly before jumping. This guy was an amateur who did it regardless of the fact that he was illegally climbing on someone else’s property to play his immature games. Well, too bad. My sympathy is limited zero. He’s certainly no hero. He didn’t give a single thought for those who witnessed the fall and had to clear up the mess. That’s where my sympathy lies.
And had he fallen on someone…
That’s why I have no sympathy for this bell end.
Sort of related. I visited the Lake District and went to the Donald Campbell Museum. I was very interested in the displays of record breaking cars and boats. Of course the spiel at the museum described Campbell’s death as a tragedy but really, after hearing his story, it seemed obvious that his eventual death was inevitable. He already held the world record for the fastest boat ever, but he just had to have another go and try to break it again. Had he not died in that attempt it seems pretty likely that he would have died in the next one or the one after that. Likewise with this guy, if he has done this caper five thousand times, the odds of him eventually offing himself would be pretty high.
At least Campbell was working with a team that would check his equipment and minimise the risks. And Campbell didn’t risk others in his attempts. But, yes, your point stands. I’m fully expecting to hear that Michael Dunlop has been killed at some point.
A few things stand out from the article.
Comment by the investigating policeman:
The parachute that the deceased used to jump malfunctioned and was not centered as expected. He was in a terrible state when we arrived.
You don’t say…
Seems he was a professional skydiver as well.
Mr Odinson was a regular daredevil and had performed skydives and base jumps around the world. He ran a ‘sky photography’ company and took customers on private skydives.
Doesn’t stop you making mistakes though. Especially when sneaking into somewhere and doing something illegal, like BASE jumping. It’s illegal for a reason. Because its so freaking dangerous. It’s like the difference between riding a motorbike and riding a motorbike without a helmet.
Also, I bet anyone who went on one of his jumps is quite relieved now…
The security guard said that he had jumped from the building several times before, which posed a risk for pedestrians walking below.
So a serial moron.
Also, no mention of a wife or kids. They usually put a stop to the more extremes of behaviours. Kids especially.
At least he didn’t hurt anyone except himself.
So, how sad. Nevermind. Carry on.
Precisely. I’ve no problem with risk taking behaviour per se. I do have a problem with morons who risk others in their endeavours.
Not just Donald Campbell; Sir Henry Segrave and John Cobb both set land speed records and died trying to set water speed records.
I’ve no idea about this sort of thing, the only reason I would jump out of a plane would be if it was on fire, but I would have thought it sensible to not only check your equipment 3 times before jumping, get your mate to do it as well.
So, Darwin strikes again. Oh dear, how was, never mind.
Yup, the double check and get someone else to check is pretty basic stuff.
Sad, fckn autocorrect strikes again
I’m in the U.S. so metric units aren’t one of my strong points.
Back of the napkin figuring has him hitting the pavement at about 120 mph.
I understand that his fall was broken by a tree – along with all of his bones.
My Uncle Trevor, a WWII Commando, was saved by a tree when his parachute failed him. He was saved by a group of US medics on a training mission. Salisbury plain. How many trees are there on Salisbury plain?