"Enjoy the View," a Clint Eastwood Character Once Said of Skydiving and a Trepidation of Heights...

I've often wondered why any sane human being would ever voluntarily hurl him or herself out of a "perfectly good airplane" (Eastwood's phrase from Heartbreak Ridge) absent military duty or the plane's about to crash. And why in the holy hell would you ever do it if you were 75 years old?

That's the sad story out of Pennsylvania this week, where "two longtime skydiving buddies -- both in their 70s -- were killed after their parachutes became tangled high above the Poconos and sent them into free fall" (link to full story at bottom). So were these a couple of old military paratroopers just reliving their glory days? Hardly. The elder of the two, aged 75, only learned skydiving at around age 60 and since then had jumped 1500 times, including one jump a few years ago when he took two of his kids with him. "He lived his life adventurously," said his daughter. That's one way of putting it.

BTW, get a load of the picture above of the two dudes taking a coffee break out on those girders. I'm sorry, but those two men are sick! Absolutely demented. I start to get queasy just looking at that photo. But then again, Heights & Rager do not mix. Hey, you can lock me in a tiny enclosed box and I'll be just fine, just so long as that box stays on the damn ground. And for the record, you will never get my a$$ jumping out a plane unless the thing is going down and/or someone sticks a gun to my head. Otherwise, nothin' doin' on that front.

http://www.newyorkpost.com/p/news/local/skydive_pals_chute_horror_IEca7ogQx1frw64cx089OO