Dare Devil Flat Earther Dies in Rocket Crash

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He built a rocket, got inside of it, and launched... And it flew...

WOW...

Rest In Peace Rocket Man...
 
So the chute deployment was manually activated?!
!

Interesting question. To get my Basic Parachute Badge in the A.F., we did 5 jumps. All were pure solo free fall jumps (not sure any other schools anywhere go this route, I know at least one of the Rocket Forum members is a professional rigger, so maybe he or she will chime in) but we had a backup system, something called a HighTech IIRC (hey, it’s only been 35 years) that was SUPPOSED to automatically deploy if you dropped past a certain altitude without pulling the cord yourself (also automatic washout of training IF it deployed, as it pretty much proved you major league messed up.). I can’t imagine anyone relying on manual deployment as the ONLY system in this situation. Then again, there are so many parts of this venture that I can’t fathom that this may be the least of the issues of “wrongness” with the whole unfortunate scenario.
 
This terrible news. Loss of life is terrible. I wonder what publicity this will bring, if any, to rocketry or how people will relate this to what we do as a joke.
 
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Poor planing = Poor results and in this case loss of life. I don't know how else to describe this other than something you would see in a cartoon.. I mean its something you would see Wild E coyote do if he was chasing the road runner. It just doesn't look like it was professionally orchestrated. I'm sorry the guy lost his life, but I think after the previous flights he had I would have put serious thought in a whole new approach. The guy that cleared snake river canyon had the right idea and the right engineers working with him. I'm sure he also had a backup parachute system.
 
Poor planing = Poor results and in this case loss of life. I don't know how else to describe this other than something you would see in a cartoon.. I mean its something you would see Wild E coyote do if he was chasing the road runner. It just doesn't look like it was professionally orchestrated. I'm sorry the guy lost his life, but I think after the previous flights he had I would have put serious thought in a whole new approach. The guy that cleared snake river canyon had the right idea and the right engineers working with him. I'm sure he also had a backup parachute system.
We did have a backup system on the Evel Spirit, I worked on the project, and built some of the safety roll cage and the parachute system. We had a drogue chute, a main chute, and if that system tangled, we had a emergency wireless system, that would eject the drogue and main at once, at a 45 degree angle around the chutes with a much longer line. We had tested the rocket with a dummy onboard and the entire wireless system worked, Eddie flew in that same rocket as it was in perfect condition and we ended up with the backup version. Mike was trying to beat our record, but he was at a 79 degree angle, and a very short ramp vs our 56 degree angle ramp and 100ft long over the canyon. Likely ours couldn’t had gone more perfectly, and actually went 4,729ft across the canyon when it was only 1,300ft. It was a one and done, we proved that Evels rocket would’ve worked if the chutes didn’t deploy early. To me it looks like Mikes first chute deployed, got caught on the rail and ripped, threw the rocket sideways which would’ve knocked him out from the side G’s.
 
Buddy, in a video of Mike’s 2018 launch, while they were extracting him after the flight, I could distinctly hear the sound of a commercial (model) rocket altimeter reporting out with beeps. Was he using it for the primary chute deployment or just for recording altitude?
 
Buddy, in a video of Mike’s 2018 launch, while they were extracting him after the flight, I could distinctly hear the sound of a commercial (model) rocket altimeter reporting out with beeps. Was he using it for the primary chute deployment or just for recording altitude?
The beeping you heard was a altimeter for altitude only. The chutes are deployed manually by pulling a cord, which shoots a 4500psi paint ball tank out, which pulls the drogue out, when the main cable is pulled 3 seconds later, the drogue in the air drags the main chute out immediately through a 3 ring setup, and cuts the drogue off, and the air bottle tank comes down on the drogue chute. The drogue is necessary to slow the vehicle down from 450mph to 250mph. If the drogue doesn’t deploy, the main will, but will be too fast and just shread.
 
Sounds like Lazurus Long.

Sounds like Heinlein. "Stupidity" is not a crime, but must be punished anyway. In fact most "stupid" people survive rather nicely. Ignorance is much more dangerous.
 
The addiction to aerial attention-getting can kill you. Either gradually like Evil Knievel, or rather suddenly, like this latest example.
 
While the second clause of that sentence is a feature of Social Darwinism, Social Darwinism is something different from the Darwinian principle of evolution by natural selection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism

In this case, the maladaptive trait was the individual's overestimate of his own expertise.

>smile<
As a part of social inequities that fueled this guy's demise, he became part of the Darwinian bottom rung.
 
Just talked to the team, there were 4 chutes onboard, 2 fires with rockets, 2 fires with compressed air. The 1st was fired most likely on accident and ripped on the ramp, other 3 were intact when the rocket landed. Looks like he most likely passed out from g forces or had a heart attack. And that was it... this would’ve been a normal flight, but something happened.


Buddy......... Do you know if the other Chutes were not designed to be deployed automatically. But maybe relied on Mike to deploy the recovery gear. THAT seems like a very dumb idea
 
Buddy......... Do you know if the other Chutes were not designed to be deployed automatically. But maybe relied on Mike to deploy the recovery gear. THAT seems like a very dumb idea
All of the chutes are pulled manually, they were still were intact in the wreckage, they were never pulled. Mike knew what he needed to do, therefore something happened. Nothing on the rocket caused him to crash, the system would’ve worked. I think he blacked out from the first chute falling out, it threw him sideways to the right, side G’s aren’t something he’s ever felt.
 
As a part of social inequities that fueled this guy's demise, he became part of the Darwinian bottom rung.

The Social Darwinist position would probably be something more like: Unnatural social support structures, like state-sponsored education and subsidized medical care, allowed a member of the naturally inferior underclass access to tools and resources he was congenitally ill-equipped to use*.

Social Darwinism is an ex postfacto justification for the existence of social inequities. It is not an explanation for the consequences of those inequities.

Send me a PM if you want to argue about this some more.

* I am not myself a Social Darwinist, but I have had lots of arguments with people who find the notion attractive for one reason or another.
 
Nah, it shows that we are a bunch of self important better than thou types who find humor in someone's death.
He did to himself what people do by jumping in a dangerous animals den at a zoo. We're always demonstrating how 'self important' we are by what political side we choose, religion, sports, education, monetary importance, nationality, color, sex etc.
The Social Darwinist position would probably be something more like: Unnatural social support structures, like state-sponsored education and subsidized medical care, allowed a member of the naturally inferior underclass access to tools and resources he was congenitally ill-equipped to use*.

Social Darwinism is an ex postfacto justification for the existence of social inequities. It is not an explanation for the consequences of those inequities.

Send me a PM if you want to argue about this some more.

* I am not myself a Social Darwinist, but I have had lots of arguments with people who find the notion attractive for one reason or another.
I'm happy with it.
 
Nah, it shows that we are a bunch of self important better than thou types who find humor in someone's death.

Nothing says self important more than putting yourself in a unbelievably risky situation forcing family and friends to watch you die a violent death that they have to clean up after.

I only said I would never do anything like that and I criticized his actions. Never said I was "better than thou" about anyone so stop putting words in my mouth.
 
Nah, it shows that we are a bunch of self important better than thou types who find humor in someone's death.

You really should explain yourself.

The guy was an idiot.. anybody that is a flat earther in 2020 is an idiot. Surely you agree?

As for his death... do stupid things, win stupid prizes. His death, in the matter which it occurred, was predictable.
 
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We've probably heard of stories where a number of people have thrown themselves into the den of dangerous animals at zoos or sanctuaries. Of course they get either mauled or killed. The world will not suffer fools.
 
I only said I would never do anything like that and I criticized his actions. Never said I was "better than thou" about anyone so stop putting words in my mouth.

Nobody is putting words in anyones mouth. I was speaking about the community. Reread my post and you will see. The community as a whole is self important. I did not single anyone out. I just think it's in poor taste regardless how anyone feels about the guy to piss on him before he is even room temp. I bet few here have seen the result of an impact like this. I have, twice in fact and it's not exactly the thing jokes are made of.
 
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