I found it quite distressing that Just Some Guy hasn’t replied to this post, then I searched and found posts by him in other threads from as late as today.
Phew.
Step 1: Long before getting on plane, become Superman’s girlfriend.
Step 2: During fall, relax and enjoy the view. You will shortly be plucked from headlong plunge by a Kryptonian.
The upside of this plan is that you’ll pretty much be guaranteed rescued from just about any life-threatening situation. The downside is constant kidnappings and occasionally being threatened with rape by Lex Luthor.
Here’s something only partly related to the problem. Some years back, General Motors, in researching the biophysics of humans crashing into stuff, hired a high-diver. This guy, in circuses and carnivals, would set up a long ladder/tower over a relatively small pool on the ground. After a lot of patter and a drum roll, he’d dive into the pool from a terrifying height. GM had him strap a measuring device on his chest, and they filmed his dive in slo-mo. I saw the pix in an internal GM publication. He arched his back to the degree that the lower rib cage struck first. The impact was spread out by the un-arching of his body, and no part of his body directly followed another into the pool. That is, his legs didn’t crash into his already-stopped chest.
Obviously, he wasn’t going as fast as the OP would be. However, as somebody already said, water doesn’t give much. You’re more likely to get hurt water-skiing than snow skiing.
My purpose in this post is only to tell you about the diver’s energy absorption technique.
He was trying for something almost opposite that of the skydiver. The skydiver wants to take as long as possible to come to a stop, while this guy wants to take a very short time (since it is a shallow pool).
Douglas Adams suggests aiming for the ground but missing.
Unless the OP was falling from, say, 400,000 miles up, I’m assuming it’s too late at this point.
What can I say? There was a convenient haystack.
I like Bobotheoptimist’s point best. Now I too am no physics guy, but I have to wonder Bobo: if you can find your way into the loo with a stewardess as the plane is falling- what would be the best position for the two of you to assume in order to maximize you chance of survival?
zombie or no
open your pants. hold them and your underwear open to act as a parachute.