Erik Gates, an amateur rocketeer who appeared on several episodes of "Mythbusters," died following an accident in Southern California.
Gates, 47, died Dec. 20 in Newbury Park, Calif., after falling through a skylight at the headquarters of Xirrus Inc. He owned an electrical company and was doing contract work at the building, according to the Ventura County Star.
"He was a good guy," Steve DeGennaro, Xirrus' co-founder (along with Gates' brother, Dirk), tells the paper. "He survived cancer, he jumps with parachutes, he base jumps. He's an active guy who was used to taking precautions. This was a freak accident that shouldn't have happened."
Gates appeared in several episodes of "Mythbusters," including shows where hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman tested myths about an astronaut from China's Ming Dynasty and a Confederate missile supposedly used during the Civil War.
The show dedicated its Monday episode to Gates and offered this statement via...
Gates, 47, died Dec. 20 in Newbury Park, Calif., after falling through a skylight at the headquarters of Xirrus Inc. He owned an electrical company and was doing contract work at the building, according to the Ventura County Star.
"He was a good guy," Steve DeGennaro, Xirrus' co-founder (along with Gates' brother, Dirk), tells the paper. "He survived cancer, he jumps with parachutes, he base jumps. He's an active guy who was used to taking precautions. This was a freak accident that shouldn't have happened."
Gates appeared in several episodes of "Mythbusters," including shows where hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman tested myths about an astronaut from China's Ming Dynasty and a Confederate missile supposedly used during the Civil War.
The show dedicated its Monday episode to Gates and offered this statement via...
- 12/30/2009
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Erik Gates dies after 30 foot fall. Gates, one of the cast members of the hit TV show "Mythbusters", died yesterday in what some would call a freak accident. He and a friend were working on top of a roof when Gates fell through a skylight, falling 30 feet until hitting the floor. He was taken to a hospital where he later passed. Though he wasn't a regular on Discovery Channel's series, he appeared numerous times as a rocket expert.
What's odd? Gates was still speaking after he hit the floor, but apparently the impact of the fall was too much for his body to handle thus he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Read more...
What's odd? Gates was still speaking after he hit the floor, but apparently the impact of the fall was too much for his body to handle thus he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Read more...
- 12/30/2009
- by Chad Langen
- Reel Empire
'Mythbusters' Erik Gates dies from a tragic 30 feet fall. The death toll just keeps piling up in 2009 as 47 year old Erik Gates who was a regular on the popular Discovery Channel TV show, "Mythbusters" took a tragic 30 feet plunge to his death. Gather.com reports that Erik Gather was walking across the roof of a building on which he and a colleague were working,and then all of a sudden, he fell off the building and dropped 30 feet to his death. They say he fell through a skylight on the building and died of blunt force injuries to the chest. He was actually conscious and talking at the scene immediately after he fell,but his body couldn't handle that type of fall,and he died later on at the hospital.
- 12/29/2009
- by Chris
- OnTheFlix
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