SWITZERLAND My mom has a few sayings that I've been hearing my entire life.
"Remember who you are and what you stand for" (classic), "Expiration dates are really just suggestions," and "Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"
The last one always comes up whenever she hears about skydiving because as an aeronautic enthusiast, she couldn't fathom why someone would thrill seek when she's perfectly thrilled enjoying the miracle of flight.
Redbull's latest video where two French BASE jumpers leap back into a plane (a la James Bond) might give my mother some philosophical pause.
Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet recently BASE jumped off the peak of Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland with the ultimate goal of catching up with and flying into a Pilatus Porter aircraft in mid-air. The pair known as the Soul Flyers trained for several months leading up to the attempt, completing more than 100 test flights in preparation, according to the video's description.
BASE jumping is already incredibly dangerous, so adding the element of trying to make it through a door barely one meter wide while traveling over 80 (!) miles per hour is a truly incredible feat.
And even though it doesn't violate one my mother's primary philosophies, somehow I still don't think she'd approve.
"Remember who you are and what you stand for" (classic), "Expiration dates are really just suggestions," and "Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"
The last one always comes up whenever she hears about skydiving because as an aeronautic enthusiast, she couldn't fathom why someone would thrill seek when she's perfectly thrilled enjoying the miracle of flight.
Redbull's latest video where two French BASE jumpers leap back into a plane (a la James Bond) might give my mother some philosophical pause.
Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet recently BASE jumped off the peak of Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland with the ultimate goal of catching up with and flying into a Pilatus Porter aircraft in mid-air. The pair known as the Soul Flyers trained for several months leading up to the attempt, completing more than 100 test flights in preparation, according to the video's description.
BASE jumping is already incredibly dangerous, so adding the element of trying to make it through a door barely one meter wide while traveling over 80 (!) miles per hour is a truly incredible feat.
And even though it doesn't violate one my mother's primary philosophies, somehow I still don't think she'd approve.
