Frenchman Vince Reffet the Dubai Jet Pack Man is dead...
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Vince Reffet, who wowed the world early this year with spectacular jetpack flights from a pier in Dubai, was killed in a training accident on Tuesday, according to his team. “It is with unimaginable sadness that we announce the passing of Jetman pilot, Vincent Reffet, who died this morning during training in Dubai,” Jetman Dubai spokesman Abdulla Binhabtoor told AFP news. No details on the accident were immediately available but it took place at the team’s desert base outside of Dubai. “We are working closely with all relevant authorities,” Binhabtoor said in a statement referring to the investigation.
Along with Yves Rossi, Reffet, 36, was among a select few skydivers and wing pilots who have flown jet-powered carbon-fiber hard wings. Reffet’s version, as shown in the video here, was equipped with four small jet engines. Although public displays of jetpacks have typically launched from helicopters or aircraft, Reffet stunned the world by taking off from a pier in Dubai, hovering briefly at low altitude, and landing under jet power. He then took off again and soared over the city skyline before landing under a skydiving canopy.
I've never played a round of golf in my life, but he made it sound interesting to watch.
RIP
Re: Departed during 2020
Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:22 pm
by FD2
More on Peter Alliss - always easier to listen to than the statisticians:
On the game of golf
“It is not a matter of life and death. It is not that important. But it is a reflection of life, and so the game is an enigma wrapped in a mystery impaled on a conundrum.”
On Jean van de Velde on the final hole of the Open in 1999
"What on earth are you doing? He's gone ga-ga. To attempt to hit the ball out of there is pure madness."
On Tiger Woods shooting an 81 at the 2002 Open
"It's like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis."
On Faldo v Norman at the 1996 Masters
“Look at that. Faldo looks a young man again, and poor old Greg, well he looks ready for his bus pass.”
On the weather in Scotland
"One of the good things about rain in Scotland is that most of it ends up as scotch."
On the rough during the 2003 Open
"Looks a bit like Jurassic Park in there."
On the Ryder Cup
“It would be very easy to drool with sentimentality over the Ryder Cup. But, at the end of the day, it is simply two teams trying to knock seven bells out of each other, in the nicest possible way.”
On some shouting “get in the hole”
“Oh, he’s here again. Chloroform please nurse.”
On Ernie Els talking to his mind doctor
"There's his man — the psychologist — just making sure he doesn't slip away before a little paper changes hands"
On Sergio García
"If he could just get over this shy part of his nature…”
Alliss will be remembered, ultimately, for this impeccable grasp of nuance, for his grip on golf’s tone and tenor, for his portrayals of its languorous rhythms and of the miseries it could inflict on the poor, bemused club hacker. Occasionally, his contributions flew in the face of contemporary sensitivities, not least when the BBC felt compelled to issue an apology for his remark about the wife of Zach Johnson, the 2015 Open champion: “She’s thinking, ‘If this goes in, I get a new kitchen.’”
Chuck Yeager, first to break the sound barrier, has broken through his final barrier, age 97. The Right Stuff.
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Re: Departed during 2020
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:07 pm
by TheGreenGoblin
Capetonian would have known of whom I speak. Dawn Lindberg of Des and Dawn Lindberg has died as a result of Covid complications in Plettenburg Bay at the age of 75.
Once attended a 'do' at their home. A work colleague of mine was a keen amateur guitar player and a mate of Des & Dawn.
Re: Departed during 2020
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:09 pm
by PHXPhlyer
Ah, The Good Old Days
On October 10, 1948, Yeager visited Charleston with a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. When he took off from the airport, he flew the jet west down the Kanawha River and under the South Side Bridge during a boat-racing event. Witnessed by the many boaters, audience and news media covering the races, it was never officially reported and has since become a beloved part of the city’s folklore.
