SNAP went the crocodile... or was it the croc?

[RedHerring2]

There's an interesting line at the end of the original quote:

Zambian tourism minister Given Lubinda sought to dispel any fears over the safety of bungee jumping in the area, Langworthy’s organised by a company called ‘Safari Par Excellence’.

"The bungee has proven to be a very viable operation considering that more than 50,000 tourists jump on it every year," Lubinda said. "It has been in operation for 10 years. This is the first time I am hearing of an incident. The probability of an incident is one in 500,000 jumps."

Hmmm, 50,000 jumps a year, over 10 years just happens to work this accident out nicely at the accident 'probability' factor! The frequency and timing seems surprisingly precise!

He did say that more than 50,000 jumps are made so it was only an approximation.
However, I would crtiicise on another aspect.
If 50,000 jumps a year are made, that'll be nearly 150 a day. On an 8 hour day, that'll be about 18 each hour, every hour. That'll be one every 7.5 minutes, continuously, no breaks. (oops 'scuse the pun )
Super fast bungee chords must be in use, me thinks.

He doesn't refer to other similar operators and his inference is that he's talking about this one operator.

 

[Blasphemous]

He did say that more than 50,000 jumps are made so it was only an approximation.
However, I would crtiicise on another aspect.
If 50,000 jumps a year are made, that'll be nearly 150 a day. On an 8 hour day, that'll be about 18 each hour, every hour. That'll be one every 7.5 minutes, continuously, no breaks. (oops 'scuse the pun )
Super fast bungee chords must be in use, me thinks.

He doesn't refer to other similar operators and his inference is that he's talking about this one operator.

Yeah i'd worked that out after re-reading my post but you beat me too it RedHerring.

I'd actually worked it out as: 50,000 jumps ÷ 365 days a year = 137 jumps per day (rounded up). If we work on a 10 hour day (possible I suppose if they work from say 9am till 7pm), that's 137 jumps a day ÷ 10 hours = 14ish jumps per hour. That still seems like an awful lot of jumps in one hour and assumes they work EVERY single day of the year! I can only assume that the figures are in relation to the company as a whole and they have multiple platforms at multiple sites. I'm still struggling with the figure of 50,000 people a year willing to pay, queue up and jump off a platform with a piece of elastic tied to their legs!

 

[RedHerring2]

Quite, Blas. I was allowing for approx a 12 hour day, each day as near to the equator.
But then assuming they (crew and punters) travelled in daylight, rather than in darkness, and we have no idea how far they'd have to travel to and from the jump.
Then allow at least a couple of hours each day for set-up, maintenance, inspection, etc.
Add to that the days off each year..........

Conveyor belts come to mind..................
No planes, just airborne thingies...........