You wake to the sight of serene blue skies, but something’s not quite right… the sound
of wind rushing past your ears and the unnerving sensation of falling is your first clue.
HOLD ON!
You were in a plane when you went to sleep!
GREAT SCOTT!
You’re plummeting towards the earth!
What are you going to do?
I’m Stu, this is Debunked and we’re here to sort the truth from the myths, and the
facts from the misconceptions.
There are a couple of different scenarios you could find yourself in when hurtling towards
the ground from heights of 35,000 feet (10,668m); you will most likely either be attached to
your seat, or an assortment of parts of the plane’s fuselage, maybe a piece of the tail
or a bit of the wing, or alternatively, you’ll be free falling solo.
I realise that being in free fall would technically mean that you encountered no air resistance,
but this is widely considered the term to use for someone falling out of the sky.
So do you have any hope at all of surviving such a predicament, or should you relax and
achieve a sense of inner peace as you say goodbye to this world?
Let's start with the scenario where you're still strapped in to your seat or have some
part of the wreckage attached to you.
To better your situation, your first thought might be to detach yourself as soon as you
can, thinking the extra weight will only cause you to hit the ground with even greater impact,
but surprisingly you may be better off staying put.
One incredible survival story is that of Vesna Vulovic,
who fell with a chunk of the plane’s tail, including her seat and a catering trolley,
after the plane exploded at 33,300 feet (10,160 metres).
After falling the distance, Vesna was lucky enough to land in a bunch of trees situated
on a snowy hillside.
As she crashed down, the trees are believed to have slowed her decent and the snow cushioned
her final impact.
However, trees usually come with their own set of hazards, primarily; skewering.
The tail section that Vesna was in, essentially acted as a cocoon as she smashed through the
branches.
Although she still didn't exactly get off scot-free.
Vesna suffered a cracked skull, broken legs, and three broken vertebrae, but she was alive
and eventually made a near-full recovery.
Surviving this way gives you the extra kudos of the title ‘Wreckage Rider’.
Unsurprisingly Vulovic holds the World Record for the ‘Highest Fall Survived Without A
Parachute’.
Whether you find yourself in freefall or attached to a part of falling fuselage, the thing you’ll
want to establish is your terminal velocity, which is the top speed you will be at when
you hit Earth.
The two forces acting on you are Air Resistance, or Drag,
And Gravity
As you fall, atmospheric molecules will collide with you in the opposite direction of your
descent, this creates resistance to your freefall called drag.
The faster you fall the more drag you create and this eventually slows your acceleration
all the way down to zero.
And at this point you have achieved your terminal velocity, and will not fall any faster.
The factors that will affect your terminal velocity are
Your Weight Your Size
And, Your Orientation
When attached to wreckage, you'll need to factor in its bulk as well.
If you were in freefall without any debris, the truth is it wouldn’t matter whether
you were falling from 5,000 feet (1,524m) or 35,000 feet (10,668m)
because it’s estimated that the average human body will reach 99% of its terminal
velocity after falling 1,880ft (573m) which should take you between 13 and 14 seconds.
This will give you a whooping top speed of around 124 miles per hour (200 KM/H),
but this depends heavily on your body falling flat.
If you were in say a nose dive you could hit speeds of between 260 and 270 miles per hour
(418 - 434 KM/H)!
Alternatively, what speed would you be falling if you were still attached to part of the
plane as you plummeted towards the earth?
Well, this will obviously differ dramatically depending on the amount of wreckage you’re
attached to, its weight and its surface area.
If we used the size of an average car as a point of reference
then according to Theoretical Physicist Matthew Kleban (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY) you would hit
a terminal velocity of between 200 and 300 miles per hour (322 - 483 KM/H).
So it’s your call whether you want to take advantage of the cocoon of the wreckage despite
the fact that you may hit the ground at a higher speed.
There will be some viewers wondering whether you should unclasp your seat belt and try
jumping off of your wreckage in an attempt to counter your speed.
If you are wondering this, then I’m guessing you haven’t seen this video (POINTS TO ELEVATOR
FALL VIDEO), that will explain why you shouldn’t bother spending your precious seconds attempting
such a stunt.
Anyway, statistically speaking thanks to the likes of Vulovic, you are actually more likely
to survive as a Wreckage Rider, this accounts for nearly two thirds of the survival tally
over those who survived an unaided ‘freefall’, so it may be worth staying put.
But that doesn’t mean if you find yourself going solo that you’re resigned to certain
death, since the dawn of aviation there have been a surprising amount of freefall survivors,
but we’ll get on to them shortly.
Because before you’ve had a chance to make any actual decisions you’ll pass out, the
oxygen at 35,000 feet is so thin that hypoxia sets in and you'll be unconscious for a mile
or so as you tumble uncontrollably towards the Earth.
Another factor to consider at this altitude is the outside temperature, during our investigation
many people have questioned whether you’d freeze to death outside the plane.
Well at 35,000 ft the average ambient temperature is around -65 degrees fahrenheit or -54 degrees
Celsius, so it’s pretty darn chilly.
Take into account your fall rate, and the wind chill factor would take the temperature
down towards -100 degrees C (APPROX -148 f).
But you are accelerating towards 125 MPH so you’d fall through this temperature into
warmer conditions below fairly quickly.
If you’re in freefall, with no wreckage to protect you then you’re likely to suffer
some frostbite, and in the worst case scenario you could die from Thermal Shock, but in this
scenario you’ve been lucky enough to survive and now you’re awake...
Now you’re awake, let’s set about reducing your falling speed as much as you can.
You essentially want to create as much drag as possible,
the more surface area you have the more atmospheric molecules you will collide with and the slower
you will descend.
So spread your arms and legs out in a similar formation to how you envision a skydiver to
do so, this is known as the ‘Box’ or ‘Arch’ Position.
And it will not only slow you down but give you a greater dynamic stability, preventing
you from tumbling uncontrollably any further.
Once you’ve managed to stabilize your fall, you can attempt the ‘Slow Fall’ technique
by pushing down on the air with your arms and legs, flattening out further.
Many skydivers claim to reduce their fall rate by around 10-15% after employing techniques
like this.
Well baggier, heavier clothes with long sleeves and legs can help slow your descent, numerous
skydiving jumpsuits are specifically DESIGNED TO PROVIDE MORE DRAG.
I With these types of suits many Skydivers claim
to be able to reduce their fall rate from around 125 MPH (201 KPH) or above, down to
between 100 and 110 MPH (160 - 177 KM/H), depending on their size.
However, most passengers aren’t likely to be wearing one of these on your regular Scheduled
Flight.
If you were, well you may as well go the whole 9 yards and swap your hand luggage out for
a parachute.
For most of us, you’ll find the average sweatshirt or pair of jeans aren’t designed
with air resistance in mind, but you could still reduce your speed by around 10%.
With our speed decelerated as much as we possibly can, it’s now time to decide what to land on.
Past survivors have landed on a whole host of different surfaces and lived to tell the tale.
The longest unaided fall, i.e. in free-fall with no wreckage or safety systems, was survived
by Russian Airman Ivan Chisov who bailed from his plane at of 22,000 feet (6,706m) as it
was shot down in 1942.
He lost consciousness and crash landed on the edge of a ravine covered in 3 ft (0.9m)
of snow and survived with a fractured pelvis and temporary spinal injury.
Being in the middle of WWII, a lot more people were jumping from the sky than usual so he
was shortly followed by US airman Alan Magee, who fell from 20,000 feet (6,096m).
He didn’t experience quite such a soft landing.
After losing consciousness he crashed through the glass roof of a train station before hitting
the stone floor.
Magee suffered a broken right leg and ankle, a nearly severed right arm and multiple shrapnel
wounds from the glass, but survived to fight another day.
Nicholas Alkemade followed in 1944 jumping from 18,000 feet (5,486m), crashing through
the branches of some pine trees before hitting a snow covered forest floor.
He hobbled away with nothing much more than a twisted knee.
In 1971 Juliane Koepcke survived falling 2 miles (3.2 KM) strapped, only, to her airliner seat.
But more recently, survival stories have been from skydives gone wrong.
Michael Holmes, a seasoned skydiver who fell 2 miles (3.2 KM) after a parachute malfunction
over Lake Taupo in New Zealand had only a blackberry bush to break his fall.
In his case the extra drag of the failed parachute reduced his speed to 80 mph (129 KM/H) before
impact, but the imprint of his body on the ground was still visible for weeks after the
incident and incredibly he could recount every moment of his fall.
“WHEN I WAS UP ABOVE LAKE TAUPO (TOW-PAW), I HAD A LITTLE BIT OF HOPE THAT I'D LAND IN
THE WATER.
"BUT EVEN THEN, THE SENSIBLE PART OF ME KNEW IT WOULDN'T BE ALL RIGHT - THAT I'D PROBABLY
BE KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS AND AT BEST DROWN.”
"TOWARDS THE END, I THOUGHT I WAS HEADED TOWARDS THE AIRFIELD CAR PARK”
“I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HIT THE CONCRETE AND GRAVEL AND BE KILLED INSTANTLY."
MICHAEL HOLMES | SKYDIVER
So what would be the best surface to aim for?
If like Holmes, you think aiming for water is any better than hitting the car park, then
I’m afraid you’d be wrong, water doesn’t really compress, so colliding with it at 124mph
(200 KM/H) would smash your body in the same way as if you hit concrete.
If water is the only option however, then studies about bridge jump survivors indicate
that a feet first entry offers the most survivable outcome.
Your legs are likely to be shattered, but you may be able to ‘doggy paddle’ to safety.
Oh and tense your butt cheeks closed, because a colonic irrigation blast at that speed is
likely to do you internal damage that you won’t be paddling away from.
But if you can, aim for something other than water.
Professor Ulf Björnstig from Umeå University in Sweden, who has co-authored studies on
the risks of skydiving,
says that a person who has hit terminal velocity will need at least a half meter of give or
flexibility in the surface they hit to decelerate their speed enough to avoid fatal injuries.
Thick snow, haystacks, bushes and grassy marshlands are your best bet, but even a ploughed field
has proved a life saver in the past.
If you are about to collide with some trees, then the advice that skydivers follow when
they come down in trees under normal conditions will also come in useful.
Position your elbows to cover your midriff with your hands covering your face.
This will protect your vital organs from being sliced open as you crash down through the
branches, and keep your legs springy and together to absorb as much of the impact with the ground
as possible.
With your sights set on your desired surface, just how on earth are you going to steer yourself
towards that spot on earth?
Luke Aikins demonstrated the plausibility of such a task in 2016 when he set the World
Record for a freefall from 25,000 feet (7,620m) into a 100ft by 100ft (30m x 30m) net suspended
20 stories above the ground.
Yeah, I know, that’s a pretty niche World Record, but how did he do it?
Well, as we have established, skydivers use the ‘Box Position’ to give them the most
stability in free fall, but this also allows them to control their movements in the air.
Banking your arms essentially means you use them like the wings of a plane to steer yourself.
Always start in the Box Position:
To fly forward, pull your arms back slightly at the shoulders and straighten your legs.
To go back, extend your arms and bend your knees.
To steer right, twist your upper body slightly to the right, dipping your right shoulder.
And twist it slightly to the left dipping your left shoulder to steer left.
This is obviously a lot easier said than done, but you needn't jump out of a plane to practice,
there are vertical wind tunnels all over the world that simulate the conditions of freefall
where you can refine your skills should they ever be called upon.
Depending on the height you’re at, you can easily cover a few miles horizontally while
in freefall so don’t despair if you think your desired landing spot is out of reach.
The last stage of our epic journey is actually landing… or more accurately hitting the
ground.
Having been in the Box Position for the majority of your fall it’s now time to flip around
and let your legs take the brunt of the impact.
At 1,000 feet (305m) prior to your collision with Earth, you’ll have roughly 6-10 seconds
to get yourself in the legs down position.
This is roughly what 1,000 feet (305m) looks like.
Remember, keep you legs bent and springy and protect your midriff with you elbows and your
face with hands.
And finally, if you’ve successfully managed all of that, then do your best roll to the
side on impact, this is suggested to offer protection to the Aorta, the body's largest artery.
"MOST PEOPLE WHO FALL FROM A GREAT HEIGHT DIE BECAUSE THEY FRACTURE THEIR SPINE NEAR
THE TOP AND SO TRANSECT THE AORTA WHICH CARRIES BLOOD OUT OF THE HEART,"
SEAN HUGHES, PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, IMPERIAL COLLEGE, LONDON.
As a side note, statistically you are most likely to survive a fall from the cruising
altitude of an airliner if you are a child.
Why?
Well a study by the Federal Aviation Agency suggests that the disproportionately higher
survival rate of children under the age of 4 may be due to the fact that their skeletons
are more flexible,
their subcutaneous fat levels are higher, meaning that their internal organs are more protected,
and of course they weigh less which inevitably reduces their terminal velocity.
But if you’re over the age of 4, which I imagine most of you are, then don’t forget
to take your newly acquired knowledge with you on your next flight, because you just
don’t know when you might need to call upon it.
If you would like to work out your terminal velocity, and find out what the highest survivable
fall into water is then visit our sponsors over at Brilliant.org/debunked where you can
sign up for a free account or download their free app.
Brilliant is an incredible resource of science based problem solving tasks, puzzles and quizzes
that will put your grey matter through its paces.
Brilliant are offering the first 200 subscribers a 20% discount to access the premium content too!
The support of partners like Brilliant enable us to keep making videos, so please head on
over and check them out.
Thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time.