Denver's mayor jumps without chute

[377 22]

In the current issue of Air Trans inflight magazine their is a puff piece about Denver's Mayor John W. Hickenlooper whose email is: MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us

At the very top of the article is a photo showing the Mile High mayor in solo freefall titled: "actually John Hickenlooper, actually at 13,000 feet"

Yeah, sure.

Something looked wrong about the photo, deliberately made less detailed by the insertion of faked video scan lines. On closer examination, no cutaway handle, no 3 rings, and no container. It was a tandem jump with the tandem master carefully cut out and replaced by blue sky.

The mile high mayor has a faked solo jump photo. Oh well, what do you expect from politicians. He should have put himself into the Thailand 400 way. With Adobe Photoshop anything is possible.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[piisfish 140]

show the pic please

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[jheadley 0]

I remember seeing on here maybe a year or so ago about another politician who had a campaign ad on TV of him skydiving. It was the same thing, him in freefall, with the tandem master digitally cut out, except it was actually a video clip, maybe 5 seconds long. Is that the same guy? Anyone remember what I'm talking about?

[kelpdiver 2]

that's pretty funny. Is he running for reelection this year? Send this info to the opponent, the press, and the local dive clubs and watch 50 votes move.

It may be fake, but it still good publicity for the sport, not just the mayor.

[dhattrup 0]

It was part of the campaign for Referendums C and D in Colorado.

He did a tandem up at Mile Hi Skydiving, production did edit out the tandem master, and in some parts of the commercial (IIRC), they insert a rig on him (or maybe they had someone else jumping solo).

Regardless, it wasn't him doing anything for his own reelection, but rather an attempt to pass a badly needed change to a [IMHO] stupid amendment to the CO constitution.

His own election campaign ads were really funny -- he kept his campaign positive despite a lot of attack ads. The guy doesn't need to put out poseur adverts -- he's got a great CV with his businesses, political work and now as mayor.

[377 22]

He does sound like a decent mayor and I have to admit that the faked solo jump picture isn't like Watergate or Monicagate. I want to hire that photo editor. Finally, I can be in a big way, just as big as I want. Hell, lets double up the Thailand pix and put me last man into an 800 way... or a 1600 way.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[tdog 0]

As someone else said...

He did a tandem jump...

Twice...

He actually said the lines in freefall, and then they voiced over it to make the noise go away.

Then there are shots of him under canopy, and the landing.

No stunt doubles...

However, they did remove the TI from the shots...

(I don't think AFF was an option - do you want someone on their first few jumps remembering lines and pull priorities???)

I guess there is something to be said about the fact that the TI was removed...

But, it does take a heads up guy to remember his lines in freefall on his first skydives!

BTW... The mayor is a pretty cool guy... I don't like everything he does, but he is better than our last mayor by a long shot, who had his followers change Denver law to allow a building to be named after him while he was still in office and plastered his name on everything he could, as if he paid for it personally....

Hickenlooper (the mayor) actually owns a bar downtown and that is where he got his money. Smart business man, and pretty darn honest from my dealings with him. (Yes, I actually communicated with his office).

[tdog 0]

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I want to hire that photo editor. Finally, I can be in a big way, just as big as I want. Hell, lets double up the Thailand pix and put me last man into an 800 way... or a 1600 way.

Hey - we just did a thing for RE/MAX.... An 8 way became a 40 way, and three canopies landing became 40 canopies landing (high performance turns on to final and all).

The video is 9 minutes long - and I have to admit, even though I am in it, helped script it, and was the production coordinator, and worked with the Director, Producer and Norman Kent thru the process, I have a hard time telling who is fake and who is real... I even asked once the editor, "is that me, or a fake me?"

If you think the Mayor shot is cool editing - you should see this RE/MAX thing. Want a 800 way... I know the guy who can do it for ya.

[JohnRich 4]

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show the pic please

I don't see the photo, but the story is here:

http://airtranmagazine.com/contents/2006/09/the-denver-mayor/

The only reference to skydiving is this:

"Politicians have to learn to be aware of the power of mass media and how it can be used intelligently to get your message across. When we wanted to reform an anti-tax law, I jumped out of an airplane for an ad to demonstrate how the economy was ‘falling, falling, falling.’ It worked."

[cpoxon 0]

Article with picture

Video - which is quite spooky actually

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[tdog 0]

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Video - which is quite spooky actually

Spooky in the fact the canopy changes colors from yellow and purple to purple and yellow in the matter of a few hundred feet.

• Quote

[tetra316 0]

Definitely freaky where they are actually showing him but have removed the tandem instructor.

[Guest]

yea..haha, they could have at least hired a better rotoscope artist. That's what, a couple hundred frames at most to cut out the TI? Lol...

[dhattrup 0]

I was pretty sure they got a video of someone jumping w/ the sport rig on... Tdog, was that 2 thumbs up aka the guy we host the boogie for from 29-31 February each year?

Just wondering.

[mattaman 0]

What a pussy, hopefully he doesn't see it that way in his head, do you know how many lies he's gonna have to tell to cover that shit up, thats why politicians are liers, once you start one, its a slippery slope, I stand on my box, what a fucken pussy, not for the tandem but for the false impersonation of testicles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those stuck in maya, seek to be seen.

[kenneth21441 0]

I just was wondering who paid for this?

I mean to have this editied. I am sure it was not doen for free.

Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

[Icon134 0]

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Spooky in the fact the canopy changes colors from yellow and purple to purple and yellow in the matter of a few hundred feet.

I thought something else looked off... I'd bet most people don't ever notice that though.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[JohnRich 4]

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What a pussy, hopefully he doesn't see it that way in his head, do you know how many lies he's gonna have to tell to cover that shit up...

He was probably not the person who ordered the photo done that way. Since the article was about him only, it might have been an editor or publisher which decided to "remove" the extra person, the tandem master, from the photo. That way, the public wouldn't be confused as to which person was the Mayor, nor would the fact that someone else was in charge of the skydive detract from the "get 'er done" tone of the Mayor's story.

[377 22]

Whether or not he ordered the retouching is irrelevant. He knows the photo and video are heavily doctored and he says absolutely nothing to correct the mis-impression it gives of him as a solo jumper. By knowledge and silence he has ratified the faked photo and video. It is not Watergate, it isn't stealing, but its something falls far short of being truthful. It's like resume' fraud... like saying you have a PhD when you just have an AA. No theft, nobody gets hurt, but it creates the impression that you had more training than you actually received.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Oh puleeease...what's Lickenpooper up to now?

_________________________________________

[JohnRich 4]

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Whether or not he ordered the retouching is irrelevant. He knows the photo and video are heavily doctored and he says absolutely nothing to correct the mis-impression it gives of him as a solo jumper.

I just don't see it as a big deal. He DID make a skydive. That's all the public really cares about. They don't know the difference between a tandem jump and an AFF jump. And I respect him for having the guts to make the jump, regardless of which type it was.

Let him know how you feel:
http://www.denvergov.org/Mayor/

[dhattrup 0]

We are officially at the bitch less, jump more stage of this thread.

[flyangel2 2]

So everything that happens in the movie Point Break is true because it's on film?

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[LordRatner 0]

Are you guys being serious?

He's not hanging out at the DZ talking about all his jumps... He had a cool idea for a commercial, and he went with it. How anyone could consider this a lie is a bit beyond me. If he made the commercial for skydivers, you might have a point, but the majority of the people watching that commercial couldn't care less about whether he's a student or licensed skydiver.

Did you think the Hummer H2 was really born from two gigantic monsters? Or that Jeeps can shake off the mud when you get home? It's creativity, nothing new to a commercial.

[DSE 5]

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So everything that happens in the movie Point Break is true because it's on film?

I think that is one of the most odd statements I've read in this community.
It's entertainment, folks! And advertisement is engineered to garner attention and entertain for the most part. Obviously the ad worked; people are discussing it and talking about it.

Dinosaurs are on film (Juriassic Park) and the Titanic has sunk how many times now with how many heroes? What about "Mars Attacks?"
It's entertainment. It's designed to cause viewers to disengage with the moment and engage the message. It's designed to get you to quit thinking about the fact that you're trying to decide between sleep and mowing the lawn and that the neighbor next door bumped your fence and whatever.....and think about what you're seeing, or in the case of films/Hollywood, to allow you the disreality of escapism to stop thinking about your life and for a brief moment enjoy someone else' life.

Do you really believe Halle Berry can jump around like a cat just because "it's on film?"

The Mayor had a message to share.
He wanted people to pay attention.
He got their attention through an unusual means (referred to as a Startling Statement in the industry).
They listened more closely because his message was unusually delivered.
That's classic advertising/entertainment.
But what's not classic advertisement, is the guy jumped from the plane. So what if it was a tandem that they keyed out? He was committed enough to the message that he really jumped instead of being in a studio with fans blowing, key drop to replace the sky, and Foy rig to allow him to fly up/down/sideways. That takes balls, as far as I'm concerned. Wesley Snipes could barely do that and he was allegedly a "tough guy."

either way, the ad worked. People are talking about it, they remember it, and while I don't know if he won his issue or not, I'd be surprised if he didn't. Damned creative, IMO.