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[pct-l] re: PCT and jets buzzing by



I think there is an ENORMOUS difference between a legitimate training 
exercise and some hot-shot pilot buzzing a hiker on a ridge.

Last evening PBS broadcast a Nova show on Denali and the hikers who 
climb it. There is a MD doing research on endurance in frigid 
high-altitude conditions. Every year several climbers die trying to 
climb Denali; others get frost bit and loose fingers, toes, etc. There 
is also the danger of Acute Mountain Sickness, HAPE and HACE, and even 
some cases of people overheating. Well worth a view if you can catch it 
repeated.

They also showed a few sequences of rescue with helicopters. 
Unfortunately also some rescuers are killed in rescue mission accidents. 
Rescue missions there are inherently dangerous.

How much moral and social obligation is there to rescue someone who has 
deliberately put themself in a dangerous situation for pleasure?

----------
Tortoise

I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

Kimberly Sorbello wrote:
> 
> 
> Speaking as the wife of a vet who flew helicopters in Vietnam and 
> training missions in CA, don't forget that if those pilots don't train 
> in low-level mountain flying they aren't much good at the occasional 
> rescue need...  they also train over the beaches, and at night.  Scary 
> for the wife back home, but necessary.  We were on top of Half Dome when 
> we first heard then saw the choppers hovering over the Canyon recovering 
> the body of the solo-hiker Korean foreign exchange student, finally 
> located after a month of being missing.  That s&r team stayed even 
> though lightening was approaching, doing their job at personal risk.  My 
> hat is off to them.
> Kim
>