Norwegian dies in an attempt of base jumping from the Eiffel Tower

[thetrooper]

What is funny about this?

If he broke a leg - that could be funny (given the circumstances). But he died!

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Crazy Scandinavian!

 

[Double Barrel]

I hereby nominate yet another moron for the prestigious Darwin Award.

This guy looks like a clear cut winner.

 

[Cilpot]

Because his parachute was defect?

 

[Double Barrel]

No, because he was stupid enough to jump off of the freakin' Eiffel Tower.

 

[Provolution]

This guy was the second in the family dying from Base Jumping, the other one in 1999.
The Kappfjell family ("Race Mountain" translated to English) has lost two of their males to this extreme sport. Yet, France got some Norwegian attention on this milestone day, so the French should feel honored, not insulted.

 

[Cilpot]

No, because he was stupid enough to jump off of the freakin' Eiffel Tower.

Hundreds of people have jumped off the Eiffel Tower and this is the first casualty.

I agree its stupid, but hardly a darwin award.

 

[Double Barrel]

Hundreds of people have jumped off the Eiffel Tower and this is the first casualty.

I agree its stupid, but hardly a darwin award.

According to the source itself, www.darwinawards.com, this man is qualified for the award:

The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways. Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumously.

Rules:

So how are the Darwin Awards actually determined?

Nominees significantly improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way. They are self-selected examples of the dangers inherent in a lack of common sense, and all human races, cultures, and socioeconomic groups are eligible to compete. Actual winners must meet the following criteria:

Reproduction - Out of the gene pool: dead or sterile.
Excellence - Astounding misapplication of judgment.
Self-Selection - Cause one's own demise.
Maturity - Capable of sound judgment.
Veracity - The event must be true.

Granted, his fate was not quite as spectacular as previous Darwin Awards nominees, but his story still meets the criteria of accidentally killing himself in a really stupid way, as well as meeting the requirements for the above mentioned rules.

 

[Cilpot]

I'm sorry, but I don't think dying from a defective parashute while performing a base jump is spectacular at all. Base jumping is very common and have had very few casualties..

 

[Cilpot]

However, using petrol to make lightsabers and then fight with them would probably deserve one had there been fatalities.

 

[thetrooper]

Yes, it is more appropriate to make jokes and laugh if someone is just injured, not dead.

 

[Double Barrel]

I'm sorry, but I don't think dying from a defective parashute while performing a base jump is spectacular at all. Base jumping is very common and have had very few casualties..

He did not die from a defective parachute. He died from hitting the ground, which was the direct result of jumping off of the Eiffel Tower.

You simply cannot dispute that jumping off of the Eiffel Tower is stupid. It was not designed for that purpose, and it's architecture clearly presents itself in a way that is detrimental to BASE jumping.

Regards -

 

[Stegyre]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/17/eiffel.death.ap/

Upon reaching the Eiffel Tower's 115-meter-high (380-foot-high) second deck, the man jumped. Investigators believe his parachute got caught in the tower's structure, causing it to detach from his body.

He continued his fall without the parachute, crashing onto the 55-meter-high (182-foot-high) first deck of the famous Paris landmark, according to police and an official for SNTE, the company that manages the Eiffel Tower.

While not necessarily a "defective parachute," this does sound like an equipment failure problem.

The tower has been used for BASE jumping before:

The tower also has long attracted daredevils. A British couple successfully parachuted from the top deck in 1984. A New Zealander bungee-jumped off the second floor in 1987.

(The James Bond jump was also, apparently, real.)
It's a high-risk activity, but that seems to be the very nature of BASE jumping (in which, typically, none of the structures are designed for that purpose).
It was an unfortunate accident, but it takes something more for a Darwin Award: make him drunk, or thinking that he can use his umbrella to slow his descent, or thinking that (without a chute) he can clear the lower deck.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Harks back to the history is written by the winners issue. Had the winds been favourable, he would have expanded his influence in the human gene pool.

No kidding, imagine the mates he could find after a successful attempt!

 

[Jack the Ripper]

ATTEMPT at base jumping? Sounds like the jump went ok, he just needed to work on base landing.

 

[Cilpot]

He did not die from a defective parachute. He died from hitting the ground, which was the direct result of jumping off of the Eiffel Tower.

You simply cannot dispute that jumping off of the Eiffel Tower is stupid. It was not designed for that purpose, and it's architecture clearly presents itself in a way that is detrimental to BASE jumping.

Regards -

A lot of things we do is stupid. Speeding with a car for example.. Are people who crashed while driving at 100mph given Darwin awards? How about people who do sports like downhill skiing and ski-jumping? Dangerous sports that have had fatalities.. Seems that a lot of deaths from doing semi-extreme sports should be awarded.

His fatality was not due to the structure of the Eiffel tower at all. He was originally set to jump from the highest level of the tower, but the security measures hindered that. He repacked his bag to jump from the second level, and it is speculated that his chute got messed up in the process. This was a very experienced base-jumper with several jumps from various buildings and natural objects in his past.

I have no problem admitting that he probably made a mistake when he repacked his parachute, but to go from that to laugh at his death and give him a Darwin award is bad taste.

 

[Japanrocks12]

The world is filled with people who do not think their actions through...