Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Dies After Homemade Rocket Crashes

[Rick Schmidt]

I know there was a thread on this guy at one time, but I am surprised No one has posted this. It happened yesterday. Not sure if this post is in the right heading. Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes dies after homemade rocket crashes, reports say

 

[Warren Faidley]

He did scientifically confirm that it does not matter if the earth is round or flat, the high speed impact of a silly stunt is fatal.

 

[rdale]

Had his parachute not shredded on takeoff I'd imagine he'd still be alive. The video is pretty clear that his landing was fatal.

 

[TJKLECKNER]

Successful test of Newton’s law of gravity

 

[Jeff Duda]

An article from The Denver Post about this detailed just how little money he put into producing his devices. Given the extremely low-budget approach to a serious matter such as rocket-powered flight, it is pretty easy to argue this guy was playing with his life from the word "GO". He must not have cared that much if he wasn't willing to put more substantial resources (and likely not consult with experienced and professional aerospace engineers in the process) into his efforts. Hate to be so derisive by saying this, but...that guy won a Darwin award.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Why not a first-gen GoPro attached to a weather balloon? Would have cost about $250. Unless the conspiracy folks think those can be tampered with too much.

 

[rdale]

In any event, he built a rocket that launched him a few thousand feet into the air. That's pretty impressive to have done on such a limited budget and presumably for someone not a rocket scientist.

This quote from his hometown article sounds like stuff I've heard on this forum - strange that it's considered foolish for him to say it, but okay forothers...

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“If you’re not scared to death, you’re an idiot,” he told the Associated Press in 2017. “It’s scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive.”

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

He could have had dinner at my house and beat his altitude record.

 

[Jack R. Jester]

The earth isn't flat, he definitely is.

He deserves a Darwin Award for this.

 

[TJ Whitt]

Why not a first-gen GoPro attached to a weather balloon? Would have cost about $250. Unless the conspiracy folks think those can be tampered with too much.

Most conspiracy theory people claim that GoPros all have fish-eye lens which distorts the video/image thus can't be trusted.