Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

uss-la-ca135.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 274 posts

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#91

Post by mabbo »

whoisjuan wrote: post #5

Still not as impressive as Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

I'm even more impressed with Nicholas Alkemade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade

He was the tail gunner on a WW2 Avro Lancaster that was on fire and going to crash. So he simply opened the door and jumped.

> His fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg.

> Alkemade was subsequently captured and interviewed by the Gestapo, who were initially suspicious of his claim to have fallen without a parachute. This was until the wreckage of the aircraft was examined and his parachute was found as Alkemade had described it. The Germans gave Alkemade a certificate testifying to the fact. He was a celebrated prisoner of war, before being repatriated in May 1945.

He fell 5 km and basically walked it off. Even the Germans were duly impressed.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#92

Post by vikingerik »

googlryas wrote: post #46
hsnewman wrote: post #16

Quoted post unavailable.

If you're going to be pedantic, at least be correct. "Absolute zero" is basically always referring to temperature, and space is not absolute zero. You're probably thinking of zero g. And in any case, zero g isn't even pedantically correct because you're still in Earth's gravitational field, so it should really be something like zero g-forces.

"Microgravity" is the usual term for orbit - it's never quite zero, due to irregularities in the Earth's mass distribution, the tidal differential across the span of your body or the spacecraft, and also influence from the moon and sun. There are also nonzero forces other than gravity acting on the spacecraft, in atmospheric drag, radiation pressure, and thermal emission, so "free fall" isn't quite fully correct either.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#93

Post by tunesmith »

cdelsolar wrote: post #71
throw827474737 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow.. so much bad luck (the original failure, ejection failure, parachute failure) countered by that much luck (not hitting the plane during "manual" eject, not bleeding to death because havin his spleen removed 4 years earlier) ..amazing unbelievable story with some good end :)

i didn't understand something. he said impact with the plane tail will usually kill someone during a manual eject, but why? the plane and the person are going at the same speed at first?

It's why it was pretty brilliant that he skewed the plane.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#94

Post by throwawaymaths »

whoisjuan wrote: post #5

Still not as impressive as Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

Terminal velocity is terminal velocity, so the speed at which you fall tops out relative to altitude pretty quickly

Water is basically concrete at terminal velocity. I'm not an expert, but I wouldn't be surprised if he survived because he fell into the water at the location of his plane, which was emitting bubbles that break the surface tension and make water safer to fall into

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#95

Post by jrumbut »

the-printer wrote: post #37
crdrost wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren't subs, they are ships. I would imagine the plane circled overhead at a low altitude several times, tried to get their attention, kept going away and seeing if they would follow, kept going back when they didn't. And people on the ship were probably looking up being like, “what's his deal?” A “shot across the bows” is a colloquial expression for a warning demanding imminent action. The idea was that long a…

The dynamics of how humans can communicate with each other, especially in spontaneous occasions like this, are so interesting. From what you’re explaining, the expression wasn’t something necessarily standardized “code yellow” sort of thing. Could two novices been able to convey or comprehend the meaning between themselves? With stories like this, who needs film!

It's also possible that the ship was already aware of a lot of context, or perhaps after seeing the plane they called to another ship and got the story.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#96

Post by throwawaymaths »

Someone wrote: post #25
whoisjuan wrote: post #5

Still not as impressive as Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

Remarkable, yes, but I wouldn’t use “impressive” for either fall. Surviving such ordeals is (almost) 100% luck. I would use impressive for cases where the main subject has considerable influence in the outcome, as, for example, Ernest Shackleton had, or as people lost at sea for months with very limited resources had. (In this case, the part where he survives while in the ocean may be impressive, but I have no idea h…

I believe there was a woman whose parachute failed and she knew her highest likelihoog of survival was to find a big and fall into the bog. She survived with relatively few injuries

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#97

Post by anderspitman »

Reminds me of a web page I stumbled upon many years ago. It was very much visually designed in the 90s style.

The whole page was dedicated to tips and tricks for surviving falls from very high distances. I only remember 3 points:

* For most of the fall, try to spread out like a flying squirrel to reduce your terminal velocity.

* As you get close to the ground, rotate to take the impact primarily on your feet and legs.

* After you bounce, try to land on your feet again.

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#98

Post by Vox_Leone »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #67
slingnow wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your definition of "wordy" is "anything longer than a 20 word phrase", I mean, I don't know what to say really. Your response to OP was definitely wordy then. And so is this response. You've basically redefined the word so that it no longer has any meaning.

I think your response was sarcastic but I actually fully agree - yes language changes, cultural & social norms change. Today in 2022, based on average of media creation & consumption, this article is wordy (or "long form", if we feel "wordy" is loaded with negative connotation:). It would not have been wordy in different times & places. I like long form. I like essays and articles and geeking out and getting in depth…

I want to believe that there is still an audience for long form. Besides, great debates can't be carried out with 20-word pieces. Long form blogs of the web 1.0 were instrumental for the tech environment we have today. I would say that "you want to make articles as short as possible, but not shorter" [0]

[0]https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/374887/meaning-o...

Re: I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

#100

Post by prego_xo »

anderspitman wrote: post #97

Reminds me of a web page I stumbled upon many years ago. It was very much visually designed in the 90s style. The whole page was dedicated to tips and tricks for surviving falls from very high distances. I only remember 3 points: * For most of the fall, try to spread out like a flying squirrel to reduce your terminal velocity. * As you get close to the ground, rotate to take the impact primarily on your feet and legs…

after you bounce is a terrifying concept.
Post reply on HN