And if you do survive, please do sue the airline company for putting a "Flotation device" under your seat and not a parachute. It is about time somebody stop this madness.
Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
21–30 of 35 posts
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Over most of America this gives you ample opportunity to find a tree. I've also read that you should come down in a sitting position on top of a tree. Haystacks seem like they would be too hard to spot until it's too late. A grain silo might be recognizable and have a thin enough roof to be helpful. I suppose you c…
> I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Skydiver here. You could manage a mile or two; no more. But both this and changing your body position is quite a bit harder than you might think. You have to push against the air in quite a counter-intuitive manner. A beginner will just flail about and probably start spinning; especially without any tuition.
Yeah. Somebody who's really good at "tracking" (flying horizontally) can fall at about a 45 degree angle. So, from a couple miles up, ...
Another thing not mentioned is that terminal velocity decreases as the air gets more dense. So, if you fall four miles, you can't track four miles -- the 45 degree thing is based on dense air.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#23I've read about quite a few documented survival cases of shot down pilots during WWII landing without a parachute. Pretty much all of them had the same scenario: landing site was a steep slope covered in snow. Snow helped cushion the initial impact, and the rest of the kinetic energy was dissipated during the roll to the bottom of the slope.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
If someone's hobby is throwing themselves off of high cliffs and buildings, I think that would prevent me from ever accepting their advice about anything.
Well, you could also look at it as taking advice from people with domain expertise in hard landings :)
Or they had a hard landing as a child and have been trying to recapture the experience ever since...
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#25While very nicely written and a good read, I too was taken aback by "Lower body weight reduces terminal velocity" - Physics 101 anybody?
Gravitational acceleration (acting "down") is proportional to mass. Air friction (acting "up") is proportional to the velocity of the object. Terminal velocity is reached when the force of air friction equals the force of gravitational acceleration: gm = nv^2. Since g, n are constants, if m decreases, v decreases.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#26"To slow your descent, emulate a sky diver. Spread your arms and legs, present your chest to the ground, and arch your back and head upward." You will fall slightly (5MPH-ish) slower if you instead arch your back and arms in the opposite way, as if attempting to hug a large beachball. This position is slightly less stable though, so you risk flailing around and increasing your speed. What the article did not discuss…
FTFA:
Glass hurts, but it gives. So does grass. Haystacks and
bushes have cushioned surprised-to-be-alive free-fallers.
Trees aren’t bad, though they tend to skewer. Snow?
Absolutely. Swamps? With their mucky, plant-covered
surface, even more awesome. Hamilton documents one case of
a sky diver who, upon total parachute failure, was saved
by bouncing off high-tension wires. Contrary to popular
belief, water is an awful choice. Like concrete, liquid
doesn’t compress. Hitting the ocean is essentially the
same as colliding with a sidewalk, Hamilton explains,
except that pavement (perhaps unfortunately) won’t “open
up and swallow your shattered body.”Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#27"To slow your descent, emulate a sky diver. Spread your arms and legs, present your chest to the ground, and arch your back and head upward." You will fall slightly (5MPH-ish) slower if you instead arch your back and arms in the opposite way, as if attempting to hug a large beachball. This position is slightly less stable though, so you risk flailing around and increasing your speed. What the article did not discuss…
FTFA: Glass hurts, but it gives. So does grass. Haystacks and bushes have cushioned surprised-to-be-alive free-fallers. Trees aren’t bad, though they tend to skewer. Snow? Absolutely. Swamps? With their mucky, plant-covered surface, even more awesome. Hamilton documents one case of a sky diver who, upon total parachute failure, was saved by bouncing off high-tension wires. Contrary to popular belief, water is an awfu…
My point was that, given the choice between a swamp and a nearby and deep ball pit in the middle of a parking lot, the swamp would be a much better option given the low probability that one could actually hit the ball pit -- an argument not made in the article.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
something safer than a parking lot One of those pools of colored balls at a McDonald's Kids Playland?
That's the thing...unless you're a very experienced skydiver, you could not land under with a parachute inside something that small much less by flying your body at 120MPH. So, I think you'd be best off aiming for something big and kinda good -- like a bunch of scrub brush or a marsh.
Agreed, even aiming for trees is a better prospect than concrete. You may run the risk of impalement, however you run a greater chance of catching a ton of weak branches and landing in a bed of mulch a foot thick. Again a corn field would be better than concrete, especially if you had horizontal momentum.
Water is a bad idea, as stated in the article. If you're lucky, hitting a waterfall could possibly allow you to survive unharmed, although your targeting would have to be world-class. Landing mid-stream of a waterfall (that's not over rocks) would allow you to land in aerated water, which is essentially a giant cushion. Similarly, if you're over sea you'd either want to follow down a piece of your plane, or pray a major ocean liner just went down, because you'd want to hit the aerated water they'll leave behind.
Also note: If you're over Venezuela, don't target any tall waterfalls. Hitting Angel falls is pointless, the water that hits the ground (not much does, most turns into vapor) is falling at its own terminal velocity . . . so you'll just hit wet stone at 120MPH. Concrete + Water, both things you're told to avoid.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#29I've always wondered what I'd do. I imagined ripping off some clothes (pants in particular, if I still had them) and creating just enough of a "parachute" or flying squirrel effect that I'd be able to slow down to about 60mph and hit the ground at 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees. Inspired by, e.g. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21240738.h...
Agreed, I imagine I'd remove my pants and attach them around my waist with my belt, tying the ankles shut. Similarly I'd tie off the wrists of my shit (I always wear a long-sleeved t-shirt when I fly, I'm naturally warm so a jacket makes me hot and a regular t-shirt makes me cold) and hold that.
As another poster said, falling like you're hugging the top of a giant ball can reduce your terminal velocity by an extra 5MPH, but it's unstable. However with your pants acting like a drogue, you might be able to stay stable enough to use it's effect.
I'd agree with you however, gaining lateral velocity instead of vertical is perhaps key because 'tuck and roll' could probably save your life. It's also worth remembering that the human body can survive more g-force through their back than their front, so the 'tuck and roll' landing increases your odds. Although carrying a backpack full of foam would be preferable if you wanted to try the 'tuck and roll' landing.
Re: Just in case you fall out of a plane without your 'chute
#30I've always wondered what I'd do. I imagined ripping off some clothes (pants in particular, if I still had them) and creating just enough of a "parachute" or flying squirrel effect that I'd be able to slow down to about 60mph and hit the ground at 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees. Inspired by, e.g. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21240738.h...
Agreed, I imagine I'd remove my pants and attach them around my waist with my belt, tying the ankles shut. Similarly I'd tie off the wrists of my shit (I always wear a long-sleeved t-shirt when I fly, I'm naturally warm so a jacket makes me hot and a regular t-shirt makes me cold) and hold that. As another poster said, falling like you're hugging the top of a giant ball can reduce your terminal velocity by an extra 5…
well, if you are going to carry a backpack full of foam just get a parachute instead.