This man supposedly jumped or fell from the 39th floor of a Manhattan apartment building and landed on a Dodge Charger. He landed feet first, crashing through the sloped rear windsheild and onto the rear seat, sustaining two broken legs.
I don’t understand how he avoided fatal head or internal organ injuries.
There was that famous story a few years ago about a window washer surviving (barely) a fall from the 43rd floor, riding down on his platform. But in that case it’s theorized that the ends of the platform made contact with both that building and the one adjacent, slowing him down just before impact.
So is it possible, or perhaps there is another explanation? Maybe he went out a window on a lower floor?
People have survived falls from thousands of feet without parachutes. It’s rare and requires a damned lot of luck and probably a fair bit of toughness, but it happens.
Yes, but she was still strapped to her seat, which was attached to part of the fuselage, which probably slowed her fall and provided some protection. However, there have been instances of people free-falling from airplanes and surviving. The trick is to hit something that slows you down gradually, like the outer branches of a tree.
Going back to the OP, I’d say it’s plausable. The rear window and back seat would absorb quite a lot of energy if he hit them just right, as would his legs.
Actually, most of the extreme free-fall survival stories I know involve freshly-plowed fields. Plus apparently, in one case in WWII, a factory roof.
Remember, terminal velocity for your typical free-falling human* is only about 120mph. Anything that could cause you to survive a 120mph collision could help you survive a free-fall.
presuming you haven’t gone and done something to speed your fall, like wearing a refrigerator instead of a parachute.
These survival stories always depend on the perfect situation that could never be planned or duplicated. Hitting water is like hitting cement they say, but if the angle is right it can save the faller. Same with and awning or a plowed field. In this case it was a vehicle with the correct aspects to save the man.
Usually in these situations, we hear about the survival. What we don’t hear is that the person broke his back and 20 other bones. Recovery is often incomplete. I wish we could hear the story behind the story. What did the car look like? How much impact damage was done to it? Did the seat get mangled and the floor pan bent? And does the owner keep the vehicle or give it up as jinxed? Will the faller sue the owner of the car?
I remember reading somewhere that ideal surface to land on would be initially a steep slope which levels out gradually and is covered in light snow.
I’m trying to find the article, I believe it was about a pilot who fell 10 000 ft with no parachute and survived with mimimal injuries.
Nicholas Alkemade (wikipedia), who fell 18,000 feet (5500 m) after his plane was shot done in World War II? "[H]is fall was broken by pine trees and a soft snow cover on the ground. He was able to move his arms and legs and suffered only a sprained leg. "
or Ivan Chisov (wikipedia), who survived a fall of 22,000 feet (6 700 meters) also in a plane shot down in World War II? “He hit the edge of a snowy ravine at an estimated speed of somewhere between 120 and 150 mph, then slid, rolled, and plowed his way down to the bottom. He suffered spinal injuries and a broken pelvis, but was able to fly again three months later.”
I mistrusted the reporting as much as the event. In the initial article, since edited, there was a quote from a fireman that he’d jumped somewhere between the 5th and 7th floor. But it turns out there are several witnesses so I guess it’s true.
I understand there are “perfect circumstances” wherein people survive falls from great heights, but landing on a car doesn’t seem like one of them. I’m just glad he didn’t land on a pedestrian.
This is a bit misleading. People (myself included) often take this to mean that she was thrown clear of the fuselage by the blast, and fell all that way ‘naked’, but in fact she remained inside the fuselage.
She didn’t survive a fall so much as survive a crash.