[jacket3ree]

The death of 5 billionaires willing to die in search of adventure is no more or less tragic than today's deaths of some 160,000 souls worldwide. But it is more interesting, so CNN et al will fixate on it until the next kid is found down a well.

Presently I'm camped out at a very large construction site where we don't use carbon fiber anything, relying instead on codified materials like concrete, steel, and dirt.  (Yeah, dirt isn't so codified - I guess that's our bleeding edge.) If something hasn't been in use exposed to the elements, especially UV light, for a few decades, we won't design with it. 

We have a real diverse cast of characters from all walks of life out here on the daily (and weekends) building this thing. Some of us talked about this incident over lunch.  We even have a genuine former USN submariner. He explained what likely happened while telling us none of us know shit.  A quick implosion and instant, painless death. We then learned all the things he went through while trapped in a steel can full of radioactive material, fire hazards, and dickheads. Oh, the alternative of slowly suffocating is definitely neither quick nor painless. Universal reaction: 'The rich get to die easy too, don't they?"

I haven't really gotten into this, but it sounds like these adventurers weren't taking the first Airbus; they were X15 test pilots. It would be interesting to read the waivers.

[jacket3ree]

The death of 5 billionaires willing to die in search of adventure is no more or less tragic than today's deaths of some 160,000 souls worldwide. But it is more interesting, so CNN et al will fixate on it until the next kid is found down a well.

Presently I'm camped out at a very large construction site where we don't use carbon fiber anything, relying instead on codified materials like concrete, steel, and dirt.  (Yeah, dirt isn't so codified - I guess that's our bleeding edge.) If something hasn't been in use exposed to the elements, especially UV light, for a few decades, we won't design with it. 

We have a real diverse cast of characters from all walks of life out here on the daily (and weekends) building this thing. Some of us talked about this incident over lunch.  We even have a genuine former USN submariner. He explained what likely happened while telling us none of us know shit.  A quick implosion and instant, painless death. We then learned all the things he went through while trapped in a steel can full of radioactive material, fire hazards, and dickheads. Oh, the alternative of slowly suffocating is definitely neither quick nor painless. Universal reaction: 'The rich get to die easy too, don't they?"

I haven't really gotten into this, but it sounds like these adventurers weren't taking the first Airbus; they were X15 test pilots. It would be interesting to read the waivers.