Mad "Mike" dies in rocket crash

[billdan]

Mike Hughes was notorious for his flat earth theory and wanted to build a rocket to prove his point.
Unfortunately his home made, steam powered rocket failed just after launch and crashed, killing Mike (RIP).

He barely survived from another rocket crash in Mar 2018, but not this time.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-24/mad-mike-hughes-dies-after-launching-himself-rocket-california/11993112

[multiweb]

He must have hit the ceiling. RIP :sadeyes:

[Exfso]

Apparently the parachute that was supposed to deploy to let him come back down to earth left the launch vehicle as it was clearing the launch gantry so he was doomed to free fall to his flat earth.

[glend]

Some of the online video has now been edited to make it less confronting for viewers. In the one I saw, you could clearly hear the screams from the crowd as they realised they were watching him die. The chute ripped away from the rocket at launch and can be seen billowing behind after it left the gantry. In photyos of the rocket prior to launch it appears the chute was mounted externally on the rocket body packed into a tube. Speculation is that the retention system failed under the thrust of launch allowing it to deploy, and ripping away under the forces.
After the steam powered rocket ran out of thrust it began a vertical plunge into the desert floor. While we will never know now, it is likely that Mad Mike was unconscious at that point , having blacked out the to the launch g forces, which were pretty extreme as you can see.
Hard to see how a flat earther can see validation in an attempt to rocket to 4500 feet, where curvature would be hard to spot. For the cost of the rocket build he could have taken a high altitude joy flight. Mad Mike should definitely be a contender for the Darwin Award 2020.

[OICURMT]

What's even more ridiculous is that he was a pilot and could have just flown himself to 20,000 ft in a Cessna.


If he would have just learned from Evel Knievel, this could have been avoided... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skycycle_X-2

[Ukastronomer]

I am not going to ridicule him, he may have been a person people want to but he was a clever engineer, more than I will ever be

[leee]

No question Mike was Intelligent. I believe the "Flat Earth" bit, was just another way of drawing attention to himself.
Just thinking - ( the 'landing' would have been so much smother on a curved surface, rather than on a flat one.)

[julianh72]

He was a limousine driver; he might have been clever, and he might have been a good mechanic / inventor, but he was no engineer.

"Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety and cost."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineer

[multiweb]

:lol::lol::lol:

[multiweb]

That's giving a bad name to all the limo drivers out there. :P

[julianh72]

No, seriously - he really was a limousine driver.

And he was also a limousine jumper - in 2002, he set a Guinness world record with a 103-foot (31 m) jump in a Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine. (Apparently without the benefit of any actual "engineering" input.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hughes_(daredevil)
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-ramp-jump-limousine/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pc-2ABQzzE

[JA]

100% Leee :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[sharkbite]

Sure - but i believe this attempt was a mere stepping stone
in his plan to go much higher.

there are any number of ways he could get high enough to see
the curvature - including a remote camera strapped to
a hobby rocket, which uni students do all the time.

If he was after his 15 minutes of fame - he got it...

[GrahamL]

Pretty good model rocket it sure did what it was supposed to,not very good recovery option having no back up .


He did pass on doing what he loved .

[xelasnave]

Very sad. However he went doing what he was into and really what more could you want?

My mate who founded Australasian Dirt Bike magazine died in an unfortunate accident in a desert race years ago and somehow I think he won dieing whilst doing his favorites thing.

I bet MM just got off on the whole rocket deal and took money from the gullible to finance his desire to ride a rocket..I doubt he thought the Earth was flat. These flat earthers are such an unfortunate crew basing their beliefs upon vague references in ancient writings that clearly were hopelessly uninformed...so nice to see someone other than faith healers capitalise on their stupidity...So happily he used their belief to finance his joy.
Here is a great video where scientists give flat Earthers a run and certainly give them far more respect than most sensible folk could ever extend.https://youtu.be/Q7yvvq-9ytElex

[julianh72]

I aim to die while finishing a bottle of 25-year old Islay Malt whisky, after a fantastic 7-course meal in a 3-Michelin-star restaurant, each course being paired with a great wine.

:drink:

I don't expect my passing to make the evening news, or to be live-streamed on YouTube.

[Peter Ward]

First up, "Mad" Mike Hughes was no pilot.

The only person to call him a "pilot" was San Bernardino County sheriff’s department when they described the deceased occupant of the steam powered rocket...and I'd take issue with that description... as there was no "piloting" going on, he was a passenger on a ballistic projectile.

Anyone with even a modicum of flight training would have been painfully aware of the difficulties of sustained flight without wings.

The New York Times referred to him as " a daredevil, limousine stunt driver and self-taught astronaut".

The name Wile E. Coyote also comes to mind.

I suspect Mr Hughes will however be in the running for the 2020 Darwin Award, with distinction!

[multiweb]

:lol::lol::lol:
Don't hold back.

[xelasnave]

Not knowing when means that each evening you must at least set the scene. That can't be all bad.
Alex

[julianh72]

Indeed - my personal motto:

"Live every day as if it's your last."

Cheers!
:cheers:

[xelasnave]

Pilot may by a poor choice for you and I understand given it may reflect upon your past profession. However the choice of terminology is perhaps irrelevant as his undertaking was unique. We need not judge or compare given we have nothing to which compare. He would I expect hold the title of rocketeer way above pilot just as you look down on him I suspect that hat he would look down on you. Neither position is valid in my view.
My vision of the man is simply that he found something that gave him a presence that fitted his desire to ride a rocket..something to brag about as we all do after a few wines....and he was able to engage fools who wanted to prove the unprovable and pay him to finance his desire to ride his rocket...I think the thing to take away from all of it is he did what he wanted to do and got fools to pay his bills.
In a way I admire the man.
Alex



I lived that way for 30 years and you know it did not do me much good.
Our desire to attach meaning or purpose leaves us far from the truth in my view.
I now live such that no one noticed if I am in the room or not...and that works...no pressure to perform ..no pressure to be noticed..no pressure to jump in and fix a thing...and finally you realise your inflated view of your importance was known only to you.
Alwx

[Peter Ward]

I'm calling this spade a shovel.

Rockets do not have lift.

The earth is not flat.

While fools and their money are easily parted, his dogma an ignorance caused his untimely death.

This fellow was no von Braun, Wright, Yeager, Armstrong or Young.

I see nothing here to admire, or path to follow.

It was a totally predictable.....and totally senseless loss.

[xelasnave]

Why did his chute malfunction? Could it be that those who seek to hide the truth that the world is flat tampered with things? I wonder what our three flat Earthers in the video would say... The man did his thing, got fools to back him and paid the price of something going wrong.
No need to compare him to other rocket folk or judge him him in any way ... He is gone.
The funny thing is these flat Earth folk exist and their reasoning is odd. They find their authority in writings from the past and place those above NASA.
Alex

[Kirthgersen]

Ignorant point of view. A modicum of research which you are exceptional at when it suits you Peter, will reveal his own words that he was a daredevil not a flat earther. Flat earthing raised funds. He never claimed to be a pilot or anything more than a risk taker.

Die by the sword.

If he'd been even a mediocre astrophotographer you'd have RIP'ed him.

Foolish yes. Worthy of your ridicule...?

[Peter Ward]

I have no feelings (or admiration as stated by Alex) about the man one way or another.

But he predictably paid with his life, for this folly.

I'd be asking those close to him "why did you let it go this far?"

Feelings and Political Correctness have no place in aviation/rocketry operations. Knowledge, training, skill and lessons from others who have gone before you, where things have not gone so well, are paramount.

I retired with 20,000+ flight hours and saved 5 dozen lives (including my own) from being needlessly snuffed out due some appalling operational stuff-ups (not of my making).

Being a "dare-devil" does not cut it.

Hence all I can say about your faux indignation is: are you seriously defending some deluded person who strapped his ass to home-made, steam powered, rocket
with the expressed reason of proving (or not) that the earth was flat?

There is no soothing way to put it.

Your don't get a "participation award" .

It's just plain dumb and you'll die if you try it.

[Ukastronomer]

I feel "Mad Mike" is an insult.

You (I don't mean anyone just in general) may not like someone, you may even disagree with them or what they believe but they have a right to believe, we all have rights and feelings.

I would have liked to see him come back safe

[StuTodd]

Jeremy,

This particular idiot chose to die in a manner that suited him, with gravity playing its part of course. Feel as sorry for him as for Nicholas Copernicus, who had to wait until his death bed to publish a work we now take for granted.

[N1]

If only, Peter.

Last time I checked, rockets as we know them today were developed in order to kill, destroy and morally weaken the British. Very much driven by feelings, would you not agree? Probably the worst emotion of them all. Von Braun collaborated with the most despicable regime this planet has seen to realise his dream. And later development aimed to beat the Russians/Yanks (take your pick) to Space and the Moon, and again to kill and destroy. Science came second. All of it was so politically correct, it was actually politically sanctioned. I'm grateful for every rocket flight that has a peaceful purpose, because such flights are vastly outnumbered by those that don't.

[Sunfish]

I think rockets were developed originally by a bunch of amateurs just for fun and science well before the Reich took over and corralled everyone into Peenemunde. Interesting that many people employ the cloak of of science to pursue a kind of anti science based on narrow belief.

There are very many things developed by amateurs and academics who later became professional in their own field after monetising by one or other corporation or Government. Personal computing comes to mind. These are just tools and toys first.

[leee]

Julianh72 -- Not an Engineer ? Engineer is defined as : An Engineer is a person who uses scientific knowledge to design, construct, and maintain engines and machines or structures such as roads, railways, and bridges
Mad Mike - Qualifies as an Engineer. Maybe even a Mad Scientist / Mad Engineer. Certainly as -- Mad Mike. :P

[xelasnave]

I think the Chinese were first with rockets and no doubt they started out as "fireworks" and progressed to tools of war.
Using steam was rather clever.
Alex

[Sunfish]

I suppose I mean rocket in the sense that a jet propelled projectile is controlled in flight. Not so much fireworks, but can produce plenty of fireworks.

The ultimate in steam punk. Iron Sky.

I don’t care where they come down says Werner von Braun.

[Kirthgersen]

It wasn’t really faux indignation...more tired indignation. It was past my bedtime. But really why do you care why or how he spent his life or what his motives etc were. He’s got the right to spend his life harmlessly to others. Fatally to himself to be sure...but good on him for having a go.

Who really cares why he was allowed to get that far?

And we all learned something from it...parachutes inside the rocket next time.

I haven’t looked up how the steam propulsion system worked yet. Busy atm...intrigued to learn about it tho.

Also want to know about how you saved lives while at quaintarse...are you allowed to talk about it?

[LewisM]

Meh, gravity sux.

What goes up, must come down - preferrably slowly.

[Peter Ward]

It was not while I was with QF...suffice to say flight into terrain never ends well.....as Mr Hughes discovered.

While it is a cliche' " There are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but no old and bold ones...." there is much truth to the saying.

[LewisM]

Better still: There are First Officers who should be Captains, and Captains that should be baggage chuckers...

I knew quite a few of the latter...the literal 4 Stripes and you're out type :P