Hazardous Livelihood

Northland Age, Volume XVIII, Issue 38, 15 February 1949, Page 5

Hazardous Livelihood

DEFYING DEATH Down through the ages, the public has always demanded that to be entertained to uttermost satisfaction, someone had to risk life and limb for thai entertainment. No Rftman Holiday was complete unless some person died a nasty death, either at the hands of his fellow man, or by fang and claw of lion, tiger or bear. This was the penultimate of their enjoyment, the ultimate being the discussion which followed over the cup that chers. So, next Saturday, Kaitaia is to see a man who is willing to take his life in his hands for the enjoyment and entertainment of an awe-struck and perhaps inwardly hoping crowd. This man is Brian Mussons, erstwhile Safety Equipment Otficer who has seen overseas service in such a capacity whilst with No. 9 Bomber Squadron in the Pacific Islands. For the entertainment of the resi- 1 dents of Kaitaia and surrounding districts, Mr. Mussons will perform two 1 parachute jumps from a plane, a Tiger Moth, while at a height of SOOO feet. Already Mr. Mussons has made 17 < jumps, and intends to do 200 jumps ' before he will consider that his car- < eer as a parachutist is ended. Fortunately, Mr. Mussons is showing very good sense in setting him- i self a limit to perhaps the most baz- 1 ardous occupation that a man could i take up. Too many men, notable among whom was “Scotty” Fraser who far exceeded this number, but , like the pitcher, went once too often to the well. Again, Mr. Mussons is meticulously careful in his packing of his ’chute He demands that all conditions for such packing be perfect from every aspect. The floor must be level, and the folds must be of a measured equal distance. For it is only such care that can enable a man to enter a plane to sit there patiently while the pilot lifts it to the required three thousand odd feet of space. He knows that he has done the job himself, and the human element ir such a thing is a very great factor, and where one does this oneself, then a certain amount of satisfaction can be felt. He also knows when he is falling through that first thousand feet of space, with his head towards the ground and his feet pointing at the blue sky. that when he pulls the ripcord, the pilot ’chute is going to tug the main ’chute out fold by fold until that jerk tells him that all is well and he is floating down to Mother Earth in a normal and safe fashion. It is then that he must know his shroud lines are not entangled in any way. These again are perhaps his 'ife lines, for they guide him down to approximately the place he wishes to land. He virtually steers himself to that desired place by such pull as ho might exert on one set of lines or the ether. So no crossed or entagud lines are permissafcle in his scheme of things. In addition to all this, his harness must be in good order, and correctly adjusted. For it is upon this that he is solely dependant when his ’chute is lowering him down to eirth. Comes the moment of landing, his harness must be easily discarded. He has safely come down from a height of 3000 feet, 1000 feet of which he has dropped by gravity. Therefore, to land and in doing so receive some injury as a broken leg or arm, or maybe broken ribs, bruises or some other injury, would be almost ludicrous, instead of appearing heroic. So in reality, the parachutist in his chosen profession, is merely demonstrating the life-saver of the air, as was done no doubt at some time, when some person or other demonstrated the safety belt for saving life at sea. It is not such a far cry to those days when the “Mae West” life jacket was demonstated before the Board of Trade in the Thames River at ti* the Pool of London. Neither is it beyond the memory of the less than middle aged when the parachute in almost its present day form was demonstrated as a means of saving life for the pilots l who handled our war and civil mach- : ines of the air. i In the First World War, pilots who went aloft in their, to us today, crazy 1 Sop-Camels, their Nieuports, their I Bristol fighters, their Handley-Paiges, their de Havilands, went aloft through : most of the period of that war wothout a pack. How many of them could have been saved by means of a ’chute had they had one ? How many of them saluted their foe, and then leaped to their death

rather than “breathe flame” vhen “kite” was going down a “uamer?” The answer to that latter is, hundreds. Bearing all this in mind, therefore, all honour is due to those who take these parachute jumps today, for each and every one of them is a pioneer. For it is from these very jumps that somethng is learned in methods of handling this safety device. And if they earn money in so doing, we should only say to them “The best of luck, old man.” They surely need it!