It just came to my attention that we lost a friend, BASE jumping legend and BirdMan TopGun Jimmy Pouchert.
Jimmy was renown personality, coach, mentor, instructor, stunt performer, professional, business owner, skygod and guru but above all a real human being and friend to so many of us in skydiving and BASE jumping scene. He will be much missed, our thoughts and condolences to Marta, the family and friends.
"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you
touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an
hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any
number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed,
my son, is being there." - Richard Bach
Jimmy was in the same age with me and seen and experienced a lot of death. below is something he wrote to all of us and showed the size of his heart.
“Soul Coals-How I personally deal with death
In the sport of BASE jumping, unfortunately, we have to deal with the death of our friends. Being in the sport for about 20 years, I’ve had to deal with the death of many friends who were way beyond just friends, your closest friends are your family. As jumpers, we are all experiencing PTSD in some form or another, we wouldn’t be human if we weren’t. I spend a lot of time in denial, that’s one way to deal, but it’s not healthy. I also have developed a black sense of humor, that’s another way, ask any soldier or law enforcement officer. It helps, but it’s not the long term answer. I thought that I would share how I personally deal with the loss of close friends, it may help some of you, I know we all deal with loss in different ways, but I figure it can’t hurt to check it out, unfortunately, I've had a lot of practice and I would probably be insane if I hadn't come up with a way to deal with this monster. The moment you hear that a close friend has died, you are assaulted with overwhelming emotions. Terrible grief and anger are chief among them. When you reach a certain point in a deep friendship with someone, it’s said that you give them a piece of your soul and they give you a piece of theirs. When they die, they take that piece of your soul with them, but you hold onto theirs. When you think about it, any emotion that you feel is how their death makes YOU feel. They are gone. The trick is how you remember them. You can choose the emotion you feel when you think of them. You can choose to only be sad when you think of them, because they are gone, or you can do what I do. I keep about 30 soul coals inside of me. 30 friends who were family, who affected my very being. I’ll think of one of these friends, pull their coal out, and blow on it. Make it spark and glow. I do this by thinking of one of the times that we shared an adventure, a jump, a climb or most importantly, a time when we laughed so hard together we couldn’t breathe. That’s the good stuff. Those are the emotions that I hold onto. Then I’ll put that bright hot coal back in with the others. At first, it’s almost impossible to do this. The dread, sadness and the anger that you feel because you will never see this person again is overwhelming. Then time passes and you can reach this point. If you can’t let go of the sadness, it will consume you. Many choose to quit the sport of BASE because they just can’t handle the loss. I don’t blame them. We are not supposed to lose this many close friends. But this sport and the love of flight is what brought us all together. To be truly free. To be surrounded by people who don’t judge you, they just accept you for who you are, flaws and all. People whose goal in life is to laugh like your life depends on it, and it just might, from my experience. To realize that we only get one chance to truly live. We get caught up in the day to day bullshit and forget that it is just that. Not what’s important. Did you laugh today? I haven’t yet, and it definitely feels like there’s something missing. I’d better get together with a good friend and fix that.”
-Jimmy
See you on the other side brother
Blue Skies, Black Death
Jari
I just got done watching Fly and went thru a whole box of tissues. It was one of the best docs I've seen and also the saddest. I am not sad for the jumpers because they lived their lives to the fullest. They were free. I'm sad for all of their loved ones left behind, who will never have a chance to be with them again. I am also sad for those who might choose not to put their wingsuits on again after watching it. There is always a risk when living your life to the fullest. But is it worth it? I think so. 💯