# Cats land unharmed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 11, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020 "2009-08-11T02:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JackH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e495f1/32.png) [@JackH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackH)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/1 "2009-08-11T02:17:23Z")
[Do cats always land unharmed on their feet no matter how far they fall?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1143/do-cats-always-land-unharmed-on-their-feet-no-matter-how-far-they-fall) Fine article. Though I have a problem with one part of it. > [@](#): > > No, that’s stupidity. I got another note telling about some moron who dropped (a) a cat and (b) a chicken out of a Cessna at 800 feet to see what would happen. The cat survived. The chicken didn’t. While that might seem to validate the flying-squirrel hypothesis, what it really tells me is that the teenage sadists of the world have gotten the idea that cats are immortal, so anything goes. Nonsense. Let’s review the facts: You’re throwing baseless accusations about people because they don’t happen to share your same view point on the innate rights of animals. Calling them sadists, don’t have a problem with that because it has a foundation. Really, you just wanted to insult someone because you don’t like what they did, I don’t care about that, go ahead – but the baseless attacks on their intelligence makes you look like a moron yourself. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/2 "2009-08-11T11:31:56Z")
Hmmm, methinks you don’t know too much about Unca Cece and his sharp tongue. 😉 But welcome anyway! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/3 "2009-08-11T12:09:40Z")
You don’t think throwing animals out of a plane is sadistic? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/4 "2009-08-11T13:08:20Z")
Seems OP considers sadism a serious - and seriously meant - accusation. Perhaps he’s a teenager himself, or has been worked over by some particularly nasty animal rightists, leading him to red-flag any allusion that fuzzbutts might have “innate rights.” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/5 "2009-08-11T15:13:17Z")
If I parse his comment correctly, he isn’t arguing with calling them sadists, he is arguing with calling them morons, too. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/6 "2009-08-11T17:37:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > You don’t think throwing animals out of a plane is sadistic? “So help me God, I thought turkeys could fly!” * * * When I was growing up in Toronto in the late 60’s and early 70’s, there was a hi-rise building, Rochdale College, that was designed to be a progressive new age college (and student residence). There was supposed to be no structure, people learned at their own pace and organized their own classes etc. Sort of an “anarcho-syndicalist commune”. The predictable happened, people were cracking the stairwells driving their motorcycles down the stairs, the drug dealers took over whole floors, lookouts would pull the fire alarm whenever there was a raid. A policeman in an interview described one drug raid, they were walking up to the building when **SPLAT** a cat landed on the pavement just missing them, launched possibly from as high as the 17th floor. He never mentioned whether it landed on its feet, but apparently it did not matter. Not all cats survive every fall. OTOH, I recall an Scientific American article on freefall where they had a sequence of photos of a cat held by its legs upside-down and being dropped from a foot up. It still landed on its feet. The article described the kid of gyrations cats and gymnasts go through to change orientation in midair with nothing to push on or against. Then there’s the famous story about the guys in NASA who decided to find out what a cat would do in zero G? Which way does he orient himself if there’s no gravity? They weren’t making a special flight of the 707 Vomit Comet just to give a cat a ride, so they mounted a camera in a fighter cockpit and instructed the pilot to put the jet in a zero-G parabolic arch and then release the cat. They have some fantastic footage of a fighter jock trying to shake a cat loose from his arm, and the cat hanging on for dear life. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/7 "2009-08-11T17:42:47Z")
Well, of course, sadism, _sensu stricto_ probably wasn’t involved. And the individual involved probably isn’t, _sensu stricto_, a moron, either. Just a jerk, a bozo, and, by the way, a criminal. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/8 "2009-08-11T21:34:36Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Then there’s the famous story about the guys in NASA who decided to find out what a cat would do in zero G? Which way does he orient himself if there’s no gravity? They weren’t making a special flight of the 707 Vomit Comet just to give a cat a ride, so they mounted a camera in a fighter cockpit and instructed the pilot to put the jet in a zero-G parabolic arch and then release the cat. They have some fantastic footage of a fighter jock trying to shake a cat loose from his arm, and the cat hanging on for dear life. Having recently struggled to stuff a cat into a carrier, I would love to see that footage. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/9 "2009-08-12T01:15:30Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > “So help me God, I thought turkeys could fly!” “As God is my witness…”, actually. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/10 "2009-08-12T11:10:07Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > “As God is my witness…”, actually. And you are proud that you know that? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/11 "2009-08-12T15:21:13Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > And you are proud that you know that? :dubious: I am less concerned about my geekhood knowing at least 2 others recognize the source of the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/12 "2009-08-12T16:25:18Z")
**md2000** said: > [@](#): > > Then there’s the famous story about the guys in NASA who decided to find out what a cat would do in zero G? Which way does he orient himself if there’s no gravity? They weren’t making a special flight of the 707 Vomit Comet just to give a cat a ride, so they mounted a camera in a fighter cockpit and instructed the pilot to put the jet in a zero-G parabolic arch and then release the cat. They have some fantastic footage of a fighter jock trying to shake a cat loose from his arm, and the cat hanging on for dear life. A few points. 1. The “Vomit Comet” was a KC-135. 2. A KC-135 is not a jet fighter - it’s an airliner. This one has the passenger/cargo section open for experimenters to have room to move around. 3. It does fly a parabolic arc to create free fall. 4. The experimenters do wear flight suits, but are not typically fighter jocks. Rather, they are mostly engineers. 5. Of course the cat is going to hold on. Someone wasn’t thinking when they expected to be able to pull a cat out and release it without incident. I mean, cat’s come armed with razor-sharp gripping devices. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/13 "2009-08-12T16:31:57Z")
They should have used one that was declawed. ---
**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/14 "2009-08-12T16:38:05Z")
> [@JackH](#): > > but the baseless attacks on their intelligence makes you look like a moron yourself. I don’t see how it was a baseless attack… If you need to carry out the mentioned experiment in order to “figure out” what will happen when you drop any living creature from 800 ft 99.9999999% of the time… you are pretty fucking stupid… FWIW I don’t believe the author of the note as far as the cat surviving is concerned… The real question is if an airplane with a cat in it would be capable of overcoming the friction between the ground and its wheels in order to take off… ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/15 "2009-08-12T16:53:29Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > And you are proud that you know that? :dubious: I take my aptitudes where I can find them. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/16 "2009-08-12T16:55:14Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > 1. The “Vomit Comet” was a KC-135. > 2. A KC-135 is not a jet fighter - it’s an airliner. This one has the passenger/cargo section open for experimenters to have room to move around. > 3. It does fly a parabolic arc to create free fall. > 4. The experimenters do wear flight suits, but are not typically fighter jocks. Rather, they are mostly engineers. md20000 said that they weren’t going to take the Vomit Comet up just for this one experiment, so they used a fighter. What part are you disputing? Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/17 "2009-08-12T17:04:33Z")
fuzzbutts?🆒 ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/18 "2009-08-13T15:45:13Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **md2000** said: > A few points. > > 1. The “Vomit Comet” was a KC-135. > 2. A KC-135 is not a jet fighter - it’s an airliner. No, it’s a tanker. (Boeing internally designated it the “717”, but no 717 airliner was ever made.) ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/19 "2009-08-13T16:27:18Z")
> [@kfraser34](#): > > The real question is if an airplane with a cat in it would be capable of overcoming the friction between the ground and its wheels in order to take off… no, the real question is … what happens to a cat on a treadmill ? ---
**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020/20 "2009-08-13T16:33:36Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > no, the real question is … > what happens to a cat on a treadmill ? I think putting a cat (with claws) on a treadmill would be about as sadistic as dropping it from 800 ft… in either case kitty isn’t gonna do to well… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-land-unharmed/506020.md?page=2)