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I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

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Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#201

Post by odammit »

agumonkey wrote: post #106
iopuy wrote: post #27

Earlier this year on a white water rafting expedition I had the misfortune of falling out of the raft and into a series of category 5 rapids. It was absolute chaos. The force of large bodies of moving water is astounding. Any notion of "swimming to safety" is ludicrous. A more accurate description is "being washed to safety" because you have no control over the larger movements of your body. I've heard in avalanches…

Never went into rapids, but I went into a beach between caribean sea and atlantic ocean, known for having a bit more waves (nothing like a class V rapid, maybe 1m waves max.). I failed to catch one at the right time and got swallowed into the crashing tube, it was hard to describe how being embedded in a fluid with enough internal energy feels. Between the chaotic directions and the actual strength I turned into a wo…

I was on the barren craggy side of Aruba with my wife standing on this sheer “cliff” about 15 feet above the ocean watching these big waves roll in.

All of a sudden a wave about 20 feet appeared out of nowhere and almost swept us off the cliff.

I was recording a video of the waves. We looked back at the video later and you hear me go “oh shit”, pick up my wife, and run just to get pummeled by this thing from behind with water splashing over us. We got pretty far from the cliff and I’m not positive how much of it was running verse being pushed.

The end of the video is us soaked cracking up with broken flips flops and me saying “my phone got wet”. We absolutely don’t remember any of it. It was pure adrenaline the second we saw the wave.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#202

Post by module0000 »

This guy's ability to keep calm is incredible. He's falling after being sucked out of the cockpit with a useless parachute, and his remark is:

```“This is very serious,” I thought.```

This is balls of brass and nerves of steel combined.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#203

Post by odammit »

odammit wrote: post #130

That’s pretty wild. For another good falling from the sky story check out this woman that fell two miles after a commercial airliner broke up in the air[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LANSA_Flight_508

Found the podcast I originally heard this story on. It’s a good listen.

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2017/07/10/podcast-episode-16...

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#204

Post by bitexploder »

Mitchhhs wrote: post #174
howard941 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WTH was a sailboat mast doing in front of the runway? Was the pilot performing a short approach?

So at this airport, there is a shipping channel you fly over right before the airport (the airport is on an island). However, this sailboat was motoring closer to the airport side and didnt have any sails up making it harder to see. Also, we were in an Extra 300, which is a tail dragging aircraft so we couldnt see over the front cowling. We impacted the boat at 40 feet, so gives you a sense of how close it was to the…

I have seen bad car accidents happen and been in minor ones.

I am curious about how you remember your perception of time. This is a simple description, but it is "fast not fast" when it is happening to you. "Yep this is happening. Oh, they are going 25. Yep they are going to hit me, that is going to be scary, possibly hurt, and cost a lot to repair. I hope this doesn't hurt my neck. I should put my feet flat. Crunch. Okay, that didn't hurt. The airbag didn't deploy. ..." In about 1 second.

Watching the accidents it is sort of surreal, just sort of flat. Bang. Spin. Stop. Airbags deflate. I immediately check surroundings, move out of danger, call 911, try to recall safety things, keep people in place if their injuries seem serious and their vehicle isn't on fire, but it all feels "real time" watching things. It just doesn't register the same in my brain.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#205

Post by bitL »

Garfgon wrote: post #196
bitL wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Avalanche bags work nicely in small slab to medium powder avalanches where you might end up upside down a few feet under the surface and suffocate without these bags. It won't help you with most killer avalanches such as large powder ones (220mph and acting as concrete when they stop, filling your cavities), heavy wet ones in spring taking grass, rocks and tree trunks, and most importantly large frozen slab avalanche…

When I did avalanche safety training, we were told your chance of surviving an avalanche with (shovel/probe/beacon) is about 50% overall. Roughly 25% of people are killed in the avalanche (before it stops). If you survive the initial avalanche, if you're buried your buddies have about 10 minutes to dig you out. After that, survival rates drop rapidly.

Assuming you have people around that can locate you/dig you out (beacon/shovel/etc. you mentioned), and you manage to have some breathing space (that could allow you to survive for a few hours in the best case). If not, then probably those stats with lightning strike might be comparable, i.e. you rarely survive. There are plenty of "lone wolf" tourists/off-slope skiers. I used to ignore these when I was a reckless teen, now I try to be super careful.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#207

Post by codingdave »

Mitchhhs wrote: post #144

I was once in a plane crash in which the wing of our small plane hit the mast of a sailboat that was motoring in front of the runway and we didnt see it. We impacted the seawall and flipped over onto land and slid upside down a few hundred feet. The author's description of both not feeling his injuries until he tried to move as well as his own recognition of not being dead were spot on. I would have described it exac…

It is amazing how little you feel immediately after an accident. Mine wasn't so death-defying, but I did shatter my shoulder in a bicycle accident, and called a friend to come get me and drive me and my bike home. I did not realize I was hurt until he got there, and could not stand up or move the left half of my body. Then we decided to go to the hospital instead of my home. But for about the first 10 minutes, I thought I just was just scraped up a bit...

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#208

Post by Mitchhhs »

bitexploder wrote: post #204
Mitchhhs wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So at this airport, there is a shipping channel you fly over right before the airport (the airport is on an island). However, this sailboat was motoring closer to the airport side and didnt have any sails up making it harder to see. Also, we were in an Extra 300, which is a tail dragging aircraft so we couldnt see over the front cowling. We impacted the boat at 40 feet, so gives you a sense of how close it was to the…

I have seen bad car accidents happen and been in minor ones. I am curious about how you remember your perception of time. This is a simple description, but it is "fast not fast" when it is happening to you. "Yep this is happening. Oh, they are going 25. Yep they are going to hit me, that is going to be scary, possibly hurt, and cost a lot to repair. I hope this doesn't hurt my neck. I should put my feet flat. Crunch.…

Yeah id say this is pretty accurate. My memory of the event is non-continuous, meaning it is composed of very matter of fact thoughts and images not a continuous video. Overall, id say it is real time, though probably drawn out given the amount of thoughts I remember from what was probably 5-10 seconds of real time.

My direct memory is basically as follows:

1. Whoosh of pole, bang noise. 2. "Was that a sailboat" 3. See/feel the world rotate 4. "I think we are going to crash" 5. "I could die" 6. I don't actually remember the impact just flipping and all of a sudden seeing the ground above my head upside down 7. "I'm still alive...but its not over yet" 8. The glass shatters and we come to a stop 9. My friend asks if I am okay. I respond yes. 10. I quickly feel my face as i'm not sure how injured I am, there is some blood on my hands, but not a large amount. 11. I start to feel a burning sensation as some jet fuel and other chemicals are reacting with my skin 12. I start to panic as I realize the gravity of the situation and begin to call for help. 13. Just as I am beginning to really panic, I feel a hand reach in and the plane lifts up. 14. I undo my harness, as my leg moves for the first time, I realize a sharp pain in my foot. 15. I am pulled from the plane and dragged from under my arms with my legs facing the plane. I watch the plane get farther away as im dragged. 16. I am layed down and am instructed not to move until the paramedics come.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#209

Post by alexasmyths »

cyberferret wrote: post #48
alexasmyths wrote: post #8

That there was a mechanical failure, + 2 failures on the ejection, and a parachute failure - is not a fluke. This is an extreme dereliction of duty by design and/or maintenance teams. There would be blame to go around as a result of this, and surely some op changes.

> That there was a mechanical failure, + 2 failures on the ejection, and a parachute failure - is not a fluke. This is an extreme dereliction of duty by design and/or maintenance teams. Re: Ejector seat, it could also have been pilot error, if he had forgotten to take the safety pins out of the ejector system during his pre flight check. They are there specifically to prevent the ejection rocket from firing while mai…

That's why there is a parachute, which also failed?

The 'odds' are not that there was some unlikely event.

The 'odds' are that someone/some group was not doing their job.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived

#210

Post by jules-jules »

rconti wrote: post #198
dmitrygr wrote: post #79

One important note is that this was NOT free fall as you'd expect. The pilot chute is still pretty large and provides a LOT of drag. Instead of 120mph, you'd be falling near ~90mph with just it behind you. That is 44% less kinetic energy!

He mentioned not preparing for the impact. How would one even prepare for an impact if one wanted to? Ground or water, I just can't think of a good way to land. Anyone have any insight?

Someone posted this earlier. It gives insight into how one could increase chances of survival during a free fall

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/carkeet.html

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