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I Fell 15,000 Feet and Lived (2009)

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

#241

Post by yesenadam »

dctoedt wrote: post #234
angrais wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did you say "what we call" in reference to the Vietnam war? Is there another name for it? Besides the obvious name of whatever the "enemy" called it at the time?

> Why did you say "what we call" in reference to the Vietnam war? I guess I was thinking that HN is a very multinational forum, and I don't know what people in other countries would call the Vietnam War. (I'm reminded of how genteel Southern ladies supposedly used to refer to the Civil War as The Late Unpleasantness.)

Apparently in Vietnam it's commonly called (what translates as) "Resistance War against America".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_the_Vietnam_War

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

#242

Post by lefstathiou »

angrais wrote: post #218
dctoedt wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Why did you say "what we call" in reference to the Vietnam war? Is there another name for it? Besides the obvious name of whatever the "enemy" called it at the time?

Technically not a “war”

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

#243

Post by bitexploder »

m463 wrote: post #233
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…

I think it takes "processing" to realize the gravity of a situation. A lot of things have happened in my life where all I think at the moment is "that's funny..." or "hmmm" :)

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has taught my brain how to keep my body moving even when fight/flight is in full effect. You can understand things are going to hell and lessen the effects of the hormones. There are situations where you literally feel like you have to shit your pants in BJJ. Knees on the chest, chest compression moves, etc. it hits the CNS hard. You learn to be calm and work through it. Panic means you will actually shit your pants or lose the position / match. You effectively learn to operate in the worst situations. It all comes down to training really, and pilots have a ton of it for just this reason (operating in unexpected and bad situations).

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

#244

Post by cm42 »

codegeek wrote: post #102
cm42 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Constant training, even/especially in bad weather, and constantly preparing for specific tasks like this. "Amateurs practice till they get it right; professionals practice till they can't get it wrong."

Can I steal this quote.

It's free!

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

#245

Post by cm42 »

bmitc wrote: post #172
cm42 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Constant training, even/especially in bad weather, and constantly preparing for specific tasks like this. "Amateurs practice till they get it right; professionals practice till they can't get it wrong."

Is that your quote or did you get it from somewhere? It’s really good.

It's not mine, and I'm not certain of the origin, but I think I saw the words "musicians" and "theater" in the Google preview when I checked the wording.

I've only seen it a handful of times in the wild - notably, a flight school wall - and every so often to close out blog entries on High-Speed, Low-Drag™ topics in (i.e.) aviation, search and rescue, emergency medicine, etc.

There's a few clever "practice" ones too that I can't seem to recall, other than: "Oops, guess that's why they call it practicing medicine!"

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

#246

Post by heliodor »

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…

You're probably referring to this amusing read: http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/carkeet.html

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

#247

Post by daguava »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #148
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…

>and soon afterwards got medically grounded — which meant he lost flight pay, with four school-aged kids while stationed in the Washington DC area; my mother had to go back to work as an RN (registered nurse) to make ends meet. That’s so, so wrong.

How we treat our wounded and hurt is so incredibly fucked up. I won't candy coat it - if we put you to training and battle and you get hurt I fully expect you + family to get an upper-middle-class experience.

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

#248

Post by CoastalCoder »

hinkley wrote: post #219
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…

> after the flame-out, after the fire, after the lack of radios, after the failed ejection, after the canopy manual ejection, after jumping out of the plane, after not hitting the tail, then after pulling his parachute and it doesn't open does he finally think - man this is serious. If you're a theist, you might be forgiven for thinking that someone was trying really hard to get your attention, after a day like that.

Yeah, your maintenance crew!

(Just kidding. Not sure about that pilot, but the book's author, Ron Knott, has written a number of Christian books. Wouldn't surprise me if that's related to why the book included that story.)

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

#249

Post by refracture »

heliodor wrote: post #246
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…

You're probably referring to this amusing read: http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/carkeet.html

Probably, I saw this thread earlier today and couldn’t find that page until later.. found it but you beat me to it!

A great read.

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

#250

Post by bmitc »

ars wrote: post #159
bmitc wrote: post #58

"Jesus Christ!" is my only reaction. This guy survived a sequence of catastrophes, any one of which could have killed him: fire in a plane, failed ejection and being ripped out of the plane, parachute not deploying and hitting water, and being in open ocean for a few hours. I do wonder how in the world he survived hitting the water. Is it just that he hit the jackpot in terms of his entry angle, body position, clothi…

Re: surface tension, see my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33348619

Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense, and I suppose I was just regurgitating one of those things you hear without thinking about it.
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