Abbott Flaunting Machismo for Trump
with Sky Dive at Venue with April Death
Capitol Inside
November 24, 2023
Governor Greg Abbott hopes to prove to Donald Trump that he's macho enough to be his running mate with plans to jump out of an airplane with a veteran from World War II at a facility near San Marcos where an experienced skydiver was killed less than six months ago.
Abbott's office announced on Saturday that the governor would be teaming up with Al Blaschke for the excursion that's set for 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the Skydive Spaceland in Fentress about 45 miles from Austin.
Blaschke is a Texan who's 106 years old and will be diving from the sky for the third time he hit the century mark. Blaschke was an aircraft mechanic during the war. He made his first foray into skydiving to celebrate his 100th birthday. Blaschke landed a spot in the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to ever make a tandem jump from a plane with an experienced professional. He jumped again at age 103.
While Abbott's staff didn't offer any additional details, it's probably safe to assume that the governor and Blaschke will be attached to divers who are certified for tandem jumps with amateurs. Abbott has been training for several weeks if not months for what would apparently be his first dive.
George H.W. Bush went skydiving for his 85th and 90th birthdays. But Bush was a highly-decorated bomber pilot who flew 58 missions in the Pacific theater in WW II. The eldest of the two Bush presidents was always extremely fit and athletic. Abbott ran track in high school before a jogging accident as a young man left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Abbott never served in the military.
Abbott had shown no affinity in the past for daredevil activities or other recreational pursuits that might pose some degree of physical danger or the threat of injury. But Abbott appears to be jockeying now for a spot on the national Republican ticket as the vice-presidential nominee for Trump in 2024.
Trump played host to Trump on Sunday in the Rio Grande Valley where they served some Thanksgiving meals in advance to Texas National Guard members who are deployed at the border for Operation Lone Star. Abbott appeared undaunted by Trump's record of disrespect for military officers and American war veterans, who he referred to as "losers" in the past.
But Trump also has a history of mocking people who are disabled - having ordered staff to keep them out of his sight as much as possible. Abbott is trying to show the former president with the skydiving adventure that he's worthy despite his own physical limitations.
Twenty people died in skydiving accidents in the U.S. in 2022 alone. The national average for skydiving fatalities has been about 17 a year here. Texas has recorded at least three skydiving deaths in 2023 so far.
Colorado resident Jake Todd, who was 36, went skydiving more than 100 times in 2023 alone before he died in October in a jump in Texas in Seagraves when his parachute malfunction. An experienced diver from Australia was killed in June while diving at the Skydive Spaceland Houston facility. Another skydiver with substantial experience lost his life in April when a parachute failed to open at the Skydive Spaceland park outside San Marcos where Abbott plans to jump.
A skydiving instructor was killed and a student severely injured when chutes failed to open during a jump near Houston in early 2022. An experienced diver died at the San Marcos venue in 2001 when she flew into the propeller of a second plane.
more to come ...
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