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

221–230 of 274 posts

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

#221

Post by hinkley »

dctoedt wrote: post #189
Diesel555 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the craziest part was where in this sequence of events does the pilot say > “This is very serious,” I thought. It's just after > "The main, 24-foot parachute was just flapping in the breeze and was tangled in its own shroud lines. It hadn’t opened! I could see the white folds neatly arranged, fluttering feebly in the air. So... after the flame-out, after the fire, after the lack of radios, after the failed…

>> “This is very serious,” I thought. That's typical of military pilots — their ethos is to present a calm, unruffled mien to the world. Phrases such as, "I was a bit concerned" would translate as "I was this close to sh*tting my pants from terror" in normal human-speak. (Source: Dad and sister were military pilots, plus my own service aboard an aircraft carrier.) There's a great and probably-apocryphal story in Tom…

"Houston, we have a problem."

The other pilot is not wrong. If I can't already see that there's a MiG on your tail, what on earth am I gonna do about it? Least of all because in that era would I even know which direction you are from me at that moment, if I wasn't your wingman? Meanwhile you're screaming over everybody else's wingman.

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

#223

Post by margalabargala »

jbverschoor wrote: post #171
margalabargala wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The closed parachute acted as a streamer, slowing him down enough to cause only severe injury on a water landing. Had the parachute opened, an unconscious water landing would not have caused such injuries. That would only happen at speed. Am a licensed skydiver.

Not even when it opened at the last moment? I don’t know how fast he was falling, but even in water it seems almost impossible

You'd be surprised how much having even a couple dozen square feet of canopy can slow you down (his full canopy was probably over 250sqft when fully open).

Here's a video of someone whose reserve and main chutes get tangled, and despite them spiraling out of control into the ground, walks away without injury:

https://jointheteem.com/videos/friday-freakout-skydiving/fri...

You can search videos of "parachute double malfunction" to find other similar examples.

The person in the video above certainly had a fair amount of canopy open, but there are others where the person has little more than some crumpled streamers.

As far as opening at the last moment, if the person in the OP story had had it open above like 150 feet, it would have slowed him enough to have essentially no injuries. If they fell 15k feet, most of it unconscious, there's no reason it would have opened in the last 150 feet and not the 14850 feet beforehand.

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

#224

Post by hinkley »

csallen wrote: post #209
Diesel555 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He skidded the airplane. He applied rudder trim so that the tail was not directly behind the aircraft. He also mentions trying to be nose high. What this would look like I think. Slow down to increase angle of attack in level flight. The nose is now high (likely already occurred after flameout and ejection attempts without thinking about it - check). Go full deflection rudder trim to skid the aircraft. Now trim the a…

As someone who doesn't fly planes, it's almost impossible to understand this comment or the author's original passage lol

Do some of the weird shit planes do while they're landing, but also while flying crooked.

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

#226

Post by smeej »

Diesel555 wrote: post #144
michael_fine wrote: post #22

In a story of insane luck (and unluck!), the craziest part is definitely this " He said that if I had had a spleen, it almost certainly would have ruptured when I hit the water, and I would have bled to death. Of the 25 pilots in our squadron, I am the only one without a spleen. It gives me something to think about. Maybe it does you as well."

I thought the craziest part was where in this sequence of events does the pilot say > “This is very serious,” I thought. It's just after > "The main, 24-foot parachute was just flapping in the breeze and was tangled in its own shroud lines. It hadn’t opened! I could see the white folds neatly arranged, fluttering feebly in the air. So... after the flame-out, after the fire, after the lack of radios, after the failed…

Up until then, there were backup plans and options. There was something left to try.

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

#227

Post by heikkilevanto »

merely-unlikely wrote: post #136

It amazes the quantity of resources that will sometimes be deployed to rescue a sole man (or a handful) lost at sea. Not to say this is a bad thing; I would certainly appreciate it if I were lost at sea. But it might be questionable to a pure utilitarian. I counted at least one plane, two ships, and a helicopter all being diverted for the rescue. That's a great deal of expense in terms of fuel, I assume hundreds of c…

"It is hard to hang a man for stealing a sheep", he said. But the judge replied that we are not hanging you for stealing a sheep. We hang you so that other people would not steal sheep.

In the same way, we spend resources to save one drowning man, not so much to save that one man, but to let all seafaring men to know that if need be, we will do our best to save them.

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

#228

Post by nwiswell »

dctoedt wrote: post #157
lefstathiou wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My childhood best friend went into the Army to be a Ranger. He once told me that there is basically no higher priority event than a search and rescue mission. Down to a man, if you are captured, or at risk of capture, special forces and black hawks get called in with the ability to use any means necessary to get you out of there alive. He said it was an extreme source of pride for him personally to see how far they w…

See, e.g., the unbelievable heroics — and losses — in rescuing a shot-down American flier during (what we call) the Vietnam war, including a Navy SEAL who was awarded* the Medal of Honor for his astonishing feats in finally getting the guy out more than ten days after he was downed. * For those who don't know: Recipients of medals for valor in combat (I'm not a member of that august group) don't like it when people s…

Sounds like there was something at play besides pure camaraderie and no-man-left-behind ethos:

> Hambleton had Top Secret access to Strategic Air Command operations and was an expert in surface-to-air missile countermeasures. The North Vietnamese Army may have possessed information about his presence in Vietnam and his capture would have meant a huge intelligence bonanza for the Soviet Union.

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

#229

Post by lern_too_spel »

dctoedt wrote: post #146

Something similar happened to my dad (USAF fighter pilot) in around 1961 or 62: He was test-flying a T-33 single-engine jet trainer assigned to his unit after it'd had repair work. The engine quit and wouldn't restart. He ejected, but his parachute didn't deploy fully (much the same as in the article) and he got tangled in the shrouds. He said a quick Hail Mary just before crashing head-first in a muddy, fresh-plowed…

How does that not qualify for VA disability compensation?

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

#230

Post by Blackthorn »

dmitrygr wrote: post #194
ghoward wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, absolutely. I have a pilot acquaintance that would refuse to go to the doctor when he was younger. I also tried to become a pilot, but because of a documented history of taking anti-depressants, the FAA grounded me for life, despite being years removed from needing them. [1] I wish that history was not documented. [1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2022/09/grounded-for-life-losing-the...

Are you sure? Last I checked (a friend was on anti-depressants), as long as you only want a private (not commercial or ATP), a year off the meds or a year at a stable dose and a letter from your doc that you're ok will be enough to get a 3rd class medical.

The FAA rarely follows their own guidelines and procedures on this matter.
Post reply on HN