January 3, 1943 - During an air raid, B-17 bombers darken the skies over Nazi-occupied
Saint Nazaire, France.
An attack from German anti-aircraft artillery rips through a gun turret on one of the planes.
Thankfully the gunner, U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sergeant Alan Magee is unharmed, but
his parachute has been shredded.
Suddenly more flak blows off part of the plane’s right wing, setting the bomber aflame and
sending it into a deadly tail spin.
What happens next is miraculous--Magee blacks out and is thrown clear of the plane.
He falls over 4 miles, some 22,000 ft (6,706 m) and lives.
He crashes through the glass roof of a train station, suffering severe injuries.
However, German doctors nurse him back to health and Magee spends most of the rest of
World War II as a POW.
Interestingly, Sgt.
Magee isn’t the only person to have survived falling out of an airplane.
On January 26, 1972, Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant was the sole survivor after a bomb
exploded aboard JAT Yugoslav Airlines flight JU 367.
She fell some 33,330 ft; (10,160 m) earning a spot in the Guinness World Records for surviving
the highest fall without a parachute.
Also, who can forget brave Juliane Koepcke, whom we profiled in our episode She Fell 10,000
Feet And Survived 11 Days In The Amazon Rainforest!
Juliane survived an incredible 2 mile (3.2 km) fall and then a trek through the jungle
while severely injured!
We don’t even think we could survive a 2 mile jog, let alone a fall…
How common is it to survive falling out of an airplane though?
Is there anything you can do to improve your chances of surviving?
The median lethal distance for falls is four stories or about 48 feet (14.6 m).
This means that 50% of people who fall from four stories will sustain fatal injuries.
It only gets worse as height increases.
At 7 stories or 84 feet (25 m), the chance of survival are 1 in 10.
So unfortunately, the chances of survival when falling out of an airplane are pretty
slim.
No official statistics exist, however according to various aviation accident websites there
are less than 50 known cases of survival when falling from a plane.
That would include falling out of an airplane without a parachute like Sgt.
Magee or falling attached to airplane debris like Vulovic or Koepcke.
If you’re gonna survive a plummet, it’s better to fall from the cruising altitude
of a commercial flight which is typical around 35,000 ft (10,668 m) rather than a shorter
distance of 1,500 ft (457 m).
That sounds a little crazy, but hear us out.
Falling from around 1,500 ft (457 m) or a distance just a little taller than the Empire
State building, means you’ll reach your terminal velocity before you hit the ground.
As gravity pulls you toward earth, you fall faster, however at the same time your drag
increases.
When downward force equals upward resistance, acceleration stops and you reach the fastest
speed you will descend at or your terminal velocity.
For average adult humans this is around 120-130 mph (193-209 kph).
So the impact speed is the same whether you fall from 35,000 ft (10,668 m) versus 1,500
(457 m).
What’s different is time.1,500 ft (457 m) is going to only give you approximately 10-12
seconds of freefall before impact while falling from 35,000 ft (10,669 m) or over 6.6 miles
(10.6 km) will give you about 3 minutes of freefall before you potentially become a pancake.
Actually, before and as you fall out of the plane, if possible grab ahold of plane debris.
Becoming a ‘wreckage rider’ a term coined by Jim Hamilton, creator the Free Fall Research
website, a database cataloguing known free falls, can help you survive the plunge by
adding some protection and even somewhat cushioning your fall.
Also, the larger surface area of the debris area increases air drag, slowing your descent.
Flight attendant Vulovic fell jammed between her seat, a catering cart, the body of another
crew member and a section of the airplane.
Though she was severely injured, being enclosed in debris helped to shield her from the worst
of the impact.
Based on statistics from plausible free fall incidents, you are more likely to survive
if you’re attached to debris, than a free fall solo.
When free falling from 35,000 ft (10,669 m) you have enough time to possibly make some
very quick decisions on how to mitigate your impact.
However, there are drawbacks from falling from such a high distance.
At higher altitudes, it’s extremely cold, the temperature at 35,000 ft (10,669 m) is
often in excess of -67 F (-55C).
A reaction to the cold or rapid change in temperature as you drop is possible, however
there are no reports detailing how individuals have been affected.
Frankly, temperature is the least of your worries.
At 35,000 ft (10,669 m) oxygen is thin; it’s likely that you will experience hypoxia and
spend roughly the first minute of your fall unconscious.
You might stay unconscious for the duration of your fall, and be spared the last few terrifying
moments of your life, but most likely you’ll come to once you’ve fallen around 2 miles
(3.21 km).
Of course how fast you’re falling and how quickly you regain consciousness are tied
to several variables that we cannot account for such as air currents, the trajectory at
which you leave the plane, your mass and personal blood oxygen saturation level.
Once you awaken, you’ll have around 2 minutes left to execute any strategies for survival.
The first thing you want to do is calm down.
We get it, it’s extremely hard to adopt a zen like attitude when death is most likely
imminent, but take a deep breath and try anyway.
Although you’ve regained consciousness, your body is still feeling the effects of
hypoxia.
If you panic, it’s really easy to hyperventilate, slip back into a black out and lose valuable
free fall seconds you could be using to mitigate injury or fatality.
You need all your wits about you to focus on planning your landing; you cannot do that
if you’re freaking out.
Great, now that you’ve taken a split second and gotten ahold of yourself, the next thing
you want to do is attempt to slow your fall and gain a few extra seconds of precious freefall
time.
A good position to create wind resistance is the classic skydiver's pose called the
‘box’.
To assume, flip onto your stomach and arch your back, lifting your head and shoulders
slightly.
Spread your arms and legs equal distance.
Bend your arms at the elbow.
Also bend your knees at about a 45 degree angle, leaving your lower legs slightly extended
into the wind.
Not only will this position help to slow your descent a little, in skydiving it’s considered
a neutral, stable freefall position from which other maneuvers are performed.
From the ‘box’, you can move into the slow down position: lower your head, turning
it to one side, straighten your arms and further extend your legs, spreading out into an ‘X’.
Flatten your torso, point your feet and toes as much as possible and tense your muscles,
deliberately pushing against the air.
This position provides the greatest resistance possible.
If you start to wobble or flip, return to the sky diver’s box posture, before trying
the slow fall position again.
Now take a quick look around, it’s unlikely, but you may have a second chance at grabbing
ahold of some plane debris to cushion your fall.
If suitable wreckage is falling nearby, you might want to try to angle yourself towards
it so you can grab on.
Skydivers form formations before deploying their parachutes, so it is possible to steer
towards and grab ahold of objects while falling.
However, maneuvering during skydiving does take practice, and generally it’s not something
you do on your first jump.
Remember time is at a premium and it’s better to get yourself in the best position possible
for impact rather than crash land in a poor position because you were chasing debris.
Whether maneuvering to reach debris or aiming for a landing spot, here are some basic moves
for steering.
From the box position, to turn yourself left, deflect more air off your right arm than your
left by moving your left arm down and your right arm up in equal proportion.
Imagine an airplane banking--that’s exactly what you’re doing.
To turn right, do the reverse: right arm down, left arm up.
You’ll continue to turn according to your arm actions until you resume the neutral box
position.
Another common skydiving move is tracking or moving horizontally while free falling.
For a basic tracking stance, from the box position straighten your legs and arms.
Bring your arms to your sides and rotate them out slightly, so your palms are facing downwards.
Flatten your back, lower your head and curl your body in just a little.
Frankly, you’re not going to have much time to think about proper skydiving form, so do
whatever movement that seems to alter the direction of the drag force acting on your
body to try to produce the desired motion to guide yourself.
Your next step is to look down for a suitable landing area.
It’s best if you can land on or in anything that offers give such as a tree canopy, haystack
or snow drift.
Swampland or grass are better than plain ground.
Even power lines are preferable to the ground, because they break your fall.
Any ground cover that spreads your impact over a longer period, or absorbs it in stages,
could mean the difference between a couple of broken bones and severe trauma to internal
organs.
Try not to land in water, it can be as dangerous as landing on concrete.
Firstly, you have no way of determining depth.
Even when the water is deep enough for landing, once you break the surface of the water, your
velocity drops almost instantaneously to zero, exerting strong g-forces on your body.
If you must land in water, try to minimize impact by assuming a posture that causes a
minimum surface area of your body to bear the brunt of the force.
That would be a pencil dive position.
Jump feet first with your arms held tightly to your sides and your feet pressed together
and pointed downward; you’re striving to enter the water in a straight, vertical line.
Also clench your muscles, especially your butt unless you want a painful and damaging
forced enema.
Among experienced cliff divers injuries such as broken bones, spinal compression and concussions
occur.
Even if you survive the dive into water with only a few broken bones, you may be stunned
and slow to respond.
Watch out!
It’s easy to ingest water and possibly drown.
To minimize body impact on landing, many researchers think the best posture is to assume is one
similar to a parachute landing fall.
That means landing on the balls of your feet with legs together and your knees a little
bent.
Immediately allow your body to crumple slightly backwards and into a horizontal position while
turning towards one side of your body as determined by dominant directional speed.
Basically you’re attempting to distribute the force of the landing step by step up your
torso along five points of body contact with the ground: feet, calf, thigh, hip/buttock,
and side of the back.
Also you should tuck your chin and wrap your arms around your head for protection as you
land.
Furthermore, relax your body as much as possible, this allows you to use your body’s natural
elasticity to help slow things down over a greater unit of time.
Ultimately you’re sacrificing the long bones in your legs which can absorb a large amount
of impact energy before fracturing for the good of your torso.
No matter how you land, of course, you want to try to protect your head and neck as much
as possible.
Landing headfirst almost certainly guarantees death.
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