falling out of the plane at 35,000 feet

Factual Questions
1

If someone falls (or is pushed) or jumps out of a plane flying at high altitude, say 35,000 feet or so, what happens
to the body? Will he/she still be alive upon reaching the ground (I mean before the fall kills them)?

2

They might be alive, but definitely not conscious. They’d pass out from lack of oxygen, and then either be alive when they hit or freeze to death on the way down.

3

Once you reach terminal velocity it doesn’t really matter how high you are, as you won’t be going any faster. If you can survive the lack of oxygen (actually, the lack of air pressure) until you get down to thicker air, and you don’t freeze to death, you have a chance of living until you hit the ground.

There was a case of a Russian tail gunner (I believe) in WWII whose parachute was on fire, so he jumped without it from 18,000 feet. He crashed through some trees and into a deep snow drift. He broke his ankles, but he lived. Of course, this could be an Urban Legend but I’ve never heard of it being debunked.

4

i met a guy last year who claims he fell 1200 feet as a result of a glider mishap. I had no reason to doubt him. Anyway, I asked him what it was like approaching the ground and he said he had no memory of that. I found that interesting.

5

I don’t have my references handy, but it’s not an urban legend. If I recall correctly, he was an RAF gunner though; his name was Nicholas Alkemande. His story was corroborated by the Germans who captured him after his fall–they found the wreckage of the aircraft, and the charred remains of his parachute where he said it would be inside the aircraft.

I believe (again, I don’t know for sure) that he holds the record for greatest height fallen from without a parachute and surviving, so you could probably check this in Guinness.

6

At a first approximation, assuming a terminal velocity of 125 mph, you would fall 22,000 feet in 2 minutes. You would not reach terminal velocity instantly which this first approximation assumes, so the time would actually be less.
At 13,000 feet you could breathe and the temp would be livable. Neither the lack of air or the cold should kill you in the less than two minutes it would take to fall 22,000 feet.

I don’t know what physical damage might be sustained due to the sudden horizontal deceleration and buffeting that would occur.

7

Thanks, Spoons.

Note that Alkamande’s fall was broken by trees and deep snow. I wouldn’t recomment trying a 'chuteless bailout over a dry lakebed in the summer.

8

There was a fantastic book out a couple of years ago about tests the USAF conducted on high-altitude ballooning. I can’t remember the title of the book, but it included a section on some high altitude skydiving by an Air Force captain.

I found some info on the web at http://www.spiritofpeace.org/history.htm

Here’s a quote:

“…in 1960, US Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger jumped out of a balloon at 102,800 feet altitude and holds that parachuting record to this day…”

The book includes his impressions of stepping out of a balloon nearly 20 miles up. The sky was nearly black, and the curvature of the Earth was clearly visible. IIRC, his velocity (due to the thin air) approached Mach 1 before being slowed in the denser air down below. He may have had a drogue parachute in the high altitudes to mainitain his upright attitude.

Sorry if this has turned into a hijack…

With respect to the OP, there was a (Scandinavian?) flight attendant in the early 70’s (?) who fell from cruising altitude and while injured, survived the fall. I think she also hit trees and a snowdrift.

9

How about 30,000 feet? Close enough?
http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/30Kjumps.html