I remember the Snake River Canyon jump. EK wanted to jump a side canyon
of the Grand Canyon but the NPS wouldn't have him risking his life in
the Park, so he went somewhere else. They gave enough information
during the jump that you could tell that the rocket performed exactly as
expected. But they never checked the wind direction. The rocket
crossed all the way over the canyon, then the wind blew it back in. It
was one of my early examples of why people need to pay attention to
science. Anyway, I loved EK! I thought he was crazy, not a hero so
much, but I SO wanted him to make that jump. By the way, the loss of
the Challenger in 1986 was caused essentially by the same error as
Knievel's failed jump: failure to appreciate the implications of KNOWN
weather effects on the shuttle. I call this "failed eighth grade
review", because an average eighth grader could probably spot the error
in reasoning if they were told just a few facts about the system in
question. (Though I was in seventh grade when Snake River happened.)
Greggg
David Locklear wrote:
In the mid-70's, I was in elementary school, and nearly every boy
I knew wanted Evil Knievel toys. There was a wind-up motorcycle
and we all couldn't wait to see what the next toy would be. I am
pretty sure I had the EK Rocket or played with one owned by a friend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEUVm-Ja6lY&feature=related
He was a hero to us, in a time when there were no heroes.
We all waited in anticipation for over a year, as rumors spread that
he was going to jump "The Grand Canyon," on a motorcycle.
We were all disappointed when the jump was relocated to some
canyon in Idaho that none of us had ever heard of.
And then we waited, patiently to watch the launch. We were
all very upset to see that he wasn't on a motorcycle, but was on
some kind of corny rocket.
When the parachute opened, we were all pissed. We shouted
that it was a rigged event.
I never cared for Evil after that, but did watch the movie and thought
it was stupid.
Fortunately, KISS came along, so we had some heroes again.
Evil is gone now.
All I can do now, is cherish the pleasant memories that his toys
brought to my childhood.
David Locklear
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