Sabrina Gordon during Navy serviceThe point of thrill rides is to scare riders half to death. But this one in California (where lots of guns already are outlawed) went the whole way. The victim was a 31-year-old married woman and former Navy signals intelligence veteran.

Sabrina Gordon, 31, fell from the top of the Free Drop attraction at the San Bernardino County Fair on Thursday, appearing to hesitate before taking the deadly plunge, witnesses and police said.

The Hesperia woman dropped about 28 feet, hitting the concrete ground instead of the cushion that is part of the Victorville fair’s cordless and harness-free bungee jump-like attraction, according to local reports.

“I’ve never felt heartache like this before,” Gordon’s father Lyle Bell told the Daily News. “She was afraid of heights. I have no clue why she went on that thing.”

via Navy veteran dies after plunging from Calif. free-fall ride – NY Daily News.

Heights can’t kill you. Even falls can’t kill you. But that sudden stop at the end…. Ave atque vale, Sabrina Gordon.

This entry was posted in When Guns Are Outlawed… on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

6 thoughts on “When Guns are Outlawed, Only Outlaws will have Thrill Rides

Aesop

People that would ride on devices constructed from travelling parts collections, assembled by toothless retards reeking of whiskey, using tools and hardware from Horror Fright, and supervised by their fetal-alcohol syndrome offspring, will have their own reward.

And like rust, Gravity Never Sleeps.

jfre

The LD50 for humans in free-fall onto concrete is 18 feet. Fragile, Fragile, Fragile

Hognose Post author

As I’ve always put it to people afraid of jumping, climbing, or flying in small planes: “Anything that takes you higher than a stepladder can kill you.” Didn’t know that was a formal LD50… wonder where the number comes from. You can’t experiment with falling humans (pity that, it would be a splendid way to get something out of Death Row inmates).

jfre

A statistically driven review of OSHA 300 logs. Any employer with greater than 10 workers has to collect detailed data on all injuries on the job. While not containing proforma granular data on exact height of fall, the large n of the data set can drive a reasonably powered result.

Bill T

ALL Airborne Troops know about 34 feet up. (The 34′ towers training, 2nd week of Jump School) it is this height that generates the greatest fear of heights. You know that if you fall from here you are badly hurt or dead. Higher than that 250′ to 1250′ and on up, the ground looks different and is not all that frightening. (you have time to make corrections etc.) The carnival rides are frightening to me because of unknown factors in maintenance and operator experience.

S

Aussie workplace health & safety regs mandate restraints over 2m. Yes, they’re anal, but they’ve done the numbers. Even then, anything over a 1m free-fall into a hard restraint will knock the wind out, and a bad harness or simply an unfortunate angle can injure. Anything more than that and the risk of something life-changing is substantial. Fragile indeed. And yet, there are cases where WW2 aircrew fell from planes at 10000 ft or more and survived, even sustaining more injuries from falling through pine trees than the final impact with terra firma. We all have a time, place and way to go, indelibly written in our future; for some it’s tripping off the kerb, for others it’s more spectacular. None of us know when or how, so its best to be ready in advance, and make our loved ones know this. It’s easier on all concerned, that way. Death, the final enemy.