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Posted
17 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

No, it was an ultralight, like a hang glider with an engine and prop hung from it.  They look fun until you think about the prop catching up to you.

They are fun. My only trip up in one was in an Eagle 2-seater that was later recalled because too many of them collapsed up in the air. The pilot was a nice guy who later got sideways with the cops over some Smuggler's Blues, so I heard.

If you ever wondered what it'd be like to get lifted up by a box kite while a lawnmower runs right behind you, ultralights are the thing.

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Of the initial murder? No. Of the execution? Yes.

Lasting effects? I don't know. Always had the ability to detach from a situation that you'd think would make somebody go berserk (though I would occasionally let myself go and engage in mayhem, as a sort of gift to myself,) post-execution and maybe just getting older, found myself with a super=power level of calm when I needed it. (I probably just described a personality disorder.)

Definitely was given the gift of not being scared of death. Not in a crazy reckless way, I do want to live, but I actually enjoy it more because obviously nothing's forever. My brother showed me a way through fear.

Lost the ability to worry about piddly shit. Not sure I ever did, but I don't even have the ability to fake it anymore.

Still hate phones ringing, but I only hear real ones.

Damn, man.  You might actually be the most interesting guy in the world.  A lot of that "interestingness" come by hard, but still.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Posted
12 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Damn, man.  You might actually be the most interesting guy in the world.  A lot of that "interestingness" come by hard, but still.

I am just one member of our League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Assholes.

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Posted
32 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

They are fun. My only trip up in one was in an Eagle 2-seater that was later recalled because too many of them collapsed up in the air. The pilot was a nice guy who later got sideways with the cops over some Smuggler's Blues, so I heard.

If you ever wondered what it'd be like to get lifted up by a box kite while a lawnmower runs right behind you, ultralights are the thing.

when I first moved down to Louisiana to work at the nuclear power plant, one of my colleagues was a hippie engineer who decided he needed to have an ultralight plane.   We had a crawfish boil out in a field and he flew that thing and landed about 50 yards from us.   The wind started picking up after an hour or two, and you know he was drinking a lot of Abita beer while eating mud bugs that were, as my Cajun friends said, “well seasoned”.   

We told him that he needed to leave the plane here, or one of us would get a trailer and move it to his house. But he insisted on flying at home.  He apparently made it about 500 yards until a downdraft pushed a wing too close to a beautiful oak tree, which led to an instant gravity attack. 

He always smoked a lot of dope, but I guarantee you he smoked more after his double lumbar fusion and repaired tibia.   There is no force of nature that will get me on one of those things.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Underdog said:

My sister witnessed her youngest blow his brains out, completely amazed how she functions as normally possible as she does on a daily basis. 

That is horrifying. 

Friend in high school called a bunch of people out to a common meeting spot for our small town high schoolers. Charismatic guy. Said he had something cool to show everyone or something like that. Gun to the head. Never will understand 

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Posted
3 hours ago, Sgt Hulk said:

First death I saw.  Colleague shot through leg. Then stomach.   It’s strange you don’t really process during the fog and chaos. You just react.  It would be weeks later and still now I see it in my dreams and I see it happen to me   This thread jogged that memory.   
 

he didn’t make it.  It was 2006

What’s the story there?

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Scheiss Meister said:

No, it was an ultralight, like a hang glider with an engine and prop hung from it.  They look fun until you think about the prop catching up to you.

One of these.  Video has some "hell no" views in flight. 

 

I remember there used to be an Ultralight park off of I-10 in between Houston and Sealy in the 80s.

 

 

Edited by dcbc
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Posted

I had an undergrad coop working for me at a UT lab.  Her dad had died in an ultralight accident.  His buddy had built the plane from a kit but didn't trust his own meager flying skills for the test flight.  He asked his best friend to do the honors.  Engine crapped out several hundred yards in the air, and that was it.  

Posted
8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I had an undergrad coop working for me at a UT lab.  Her dad had died in an ultralight accident.  His buddy had built the plane from a kit but didn't trust his own meager flying skills for the test flight.  He asked his best friend to do the honors.  Engine crapped out several hundred yards in the air, and that was it.  

My wife's cousin bought one.  Fortunately, he only taxied it around the neighborhood.  After that, it fell into disrepair thankfully.

Posted
20 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I had an undergrad coop working for me at a UT lab.  Her dad had died in an ultralight accident.  His buddy had built the plane from a kit but didn't trust his own meager flying skills for the test flight.  He asked his best friend to do the honors.  Engine crapped out several hundred yards in the air, and that was it.  

you could hear his best friend as he lost altitude…

IMG_2932.gif.5f4c01a41fd9696b95eced46accf58c9.gif

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Posted
28 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I had an undergrad coop working for me at a UT lab.  Her dad had died in an ultralight accident.  His buddy had built the plane from a kit but didn't trust his own meager flying skills for the test flight.  He asked his best friend to do the honors.  Engine crapped out several hundred yards in the air, and that was it.  

I hope you consoled her.

funeral GIF

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Posted
4 hours ago, Underdog said:

My sister witnessed her youngest blow his brains out, completely amazed how she functions as normally possible as she does on a daily basis. 

Holy shit. 

Posted (edited)

I was the second or third car that came upon a dead body in the highway, but my the time I registered what happened I was 40 yards passed, so exited and turned around and by the time I had circled back the entire highway was shut down and fire trucks, cops, ambulances galore.

There was no wreckage or debris from what I could tell, just a dead body. 
 

I had to drive 5 more hours with my anxiety at a 10 after that. My own mortality was all I could think about and was gripped with fear. Not a fun road trip.

Edited by Vegas64
Posted
17 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

Holy shit. 

I keep repping all the posts of this sentiment.  But somehow, it's not enough.  So, holy shit!

Posted

Didn’t see but heard a murder suicide in my apartment complex when I lived in San Antonio. Her screaming woke me. It was so loud and panicked that it didn’t even sound like English. Just incomprehensible. Until the unmistakable “pop… pop pop pop pop pop” followed by the eeriest, complete silence. SAPD was on the scene shortly after, flashing lights reflecting around in the courtyard, and you could hear them knocking on the guy’s door. Not long after was one last “pop” and you knew how the story ended. That was almost exactly 7 years ago.

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Posted
5 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

I've witnessed much death. There are situations where it appears necessary, but it's the accidents that stick with you.

I read that in your avatar's voice.

Posted
5 hours ago, Underdog said:

My sister witnessed her youngest blow his brains out, completely amazed how she functions as normally possible as she does on a daily basis. 

Have you ever asked her about it? 

Posted
27 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

I’m honestly surprised at how few deaths so many here have seen.  

We all saw the Charlie Strong years.

Posted
14 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:


If I had to guess I’m somewhere in the ballpark of 300-ish.

Luckily for you I heard it gets really lighthearted after 301-ish. 

Posted
6 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

I imagine that most of us are slackers compered to people even 100 years ago.

I tried to die several times before I was 24.  Not intentionally.  Something kicked in about age 25 that I stopped doing the most egregiously stupid and potentially fatal stuff.    I absolutely buy into that theory that a teenager’s brain does not have adult reasoning power until much later in life.

 

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