How much money would it take for you to make that climb? I'm not sure I can put a number on it but there is bound to be one. I'm guessing it would take hours not minutes, to get up there too.
I was on edge the entire video...more so as they got higher. I admire people that can do that, I could not.
Rough water? bring it on. High places, nope. Different phobias for different folks. Promised wife no more waves over four feet several years ago. Still miss it. High place fears were conquered in college to keep the best job in town at the time, but I still don't like 'em. Would jump out of an airplane under certain conditions. 1. It's on fire. 2. Someone is behind me with a knife and a gun, and I am convinced they'll use one or both. 3. I am seven drinks drunk.
Did I mention I don't like high places? My dad's old TV antenna had broken. Half was hanging by one big aluminum wire,and when it would blow into the mast it would kill his reception. He demanded that I take his rotten wooden ladder, climb to his steep metal roof, pull up the ladder, place it against the poorly guyed TV antenna pole, climb up, and cut the wire. Me: "Yeah, right." Dad: "you've always been a chicken$h!+." Me: "Where's your .22?" Dad: You have never been that good a shot. Me: "Watch this." Second shot cut the wire and the falling half of the antenna nearly hit him. Priceless.
He underestimated me for the first 43 years of my life. After that, he didn't any more. Much more than priceless. Too bad I didn't show him who I was for so many years. My best memories of him are of the few years he had left after that. I do miss him so much. CB
Did I mention I don't like high places? My dad's old TV antenna had broken. Half was hanging by one big aluminum wire,and when it would blow into the mast it would kill his reception. He demanded that I take his rotten wooden ladder, climb to his steep metal roof, pull up the ladder, place it against the poorly guyed TV antenna pole, climb up, and cut the wire. Me: "Yeah, right." Dad: "you've always been a chicken$h!+." Me: "Where's your .22?" Dad: You have never been that good a shot. Me: "Watch this." Second shot cut the wire and the falling half of the antenna nearly hit him. Priceless.
He underestimated me for the first 43 years of my life. After that, he didn't any more. Much more than priceless. Too bad I didn't show him who I was for so many years. My best memories of him are of the few years he had left after that. I do miss him so much. CB
I'm not afraid of heights. I AM afraid of falling OFF those heights.
Jump out of an airplane? In 1971, I was returning to my base in Thailand from a night recon mission over Laos. Engine quit at about 16,000ft during the descent. I set up a nice glide and started the restart procedures and emergency checklists. Nothing worked. Looked like I might have to bail out. That terrified me.
I decided I would ditch in the Mekong River which forms the border between Thailand and Laos. I might drown, but I damn sure wasn't gonna crash and burn. However, there was no moon. It was so damn black out there, I couldn't even see the river... which is as wide as the Mississippi!
I kept working the engine controls. Finally, after several minutes... and down to about 5,000ft, the engine seemed to catch. It was rough, but it did give me a little extra push. Enough to get close to the base before it quit for good. I got overhead, pitched to the left, and deadsticked into Nakhon Phanom. My commander and some other crews had come out to watch, so I sure didn't want to eff it up. I touched down and rolled out onto a high speed taxiway.
I was a sweatsoaked mess. Later on, when I heard the tapes of my radio transmissions, it was funny how the lower I descended with the dead engine, the higher my voice got. Near the end, when the outcome was still in doubt, I could have sung as a stand-in for Beverly Sills at the Met...!
But at least I didn't have to jump out of the airplane.
BTW, the ground crews tore into the engine immediately. Each magneto was filled with water. I had flown several hours in solid rain. Those mags ain't supposed to get water in them. Someone told me it was near impossible. Guess they hadn't been tested in the Southeast Asia monsoon season.
Cap'n Bill
Vampire 25
Jump out of an airplane? In 1971, I was returning to my base in Thailand from a night recon mission over Laos. Engine quit at about 16,000ft during the descent. I set up a nice glide and started the restart procedures and emergency checklists. Nothing worked. Looked like I might have to bail out. That terrified me.
I decided I would ditch in the Mekong River which forms the border between Thailand and Laos. I might drown, but I damn sure wasn't gonna crash and burn. However, there was no moon. It was so damn black out there, I couldn't even see the river... which is as wide as the Mississippi!
I kept working the engine controls. Finally, after several minutes... and down to about 5,000ft, the engine seemed to catch. It was rough, but it did give me a little extra push. Enough to get close to the base before it quit for good. I got overhead, pitched to the left, and deadsticked into Nakhon Phanom. My commander and some other crews had come out to watch, so I sure didn't want to eff it up. I touched down and rolled out onto a high speed taxiway.
I was a sweatsoaked mess. Later on, when I heard the tapes of my radio transmissions, it was funny how the lower I descended with the dead engine, the higher my voice got. Near the end, when the outcome was still in doubt, I could have sung as a stand-in for Beverly Sills at the Met...!
But at least I didn't have to jump out of the airplane.
BTW, the ground crews tore into the engine immediately. Each magneto was filled with water. I had flown several hours in solid rain. Those mags ain't supposed to get water in them. Someone told me it was near impossible. Guess they hadn't been tested in the Southeast Asia monsoon season.
Cap'n Bill
Vampire 25
Climbing the way they do it, not very long. Tower climbers have one of the highest mortality rates of any industry.
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