# Is it true that if you jump on an airplane you'll die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157 "2011-01-02T18:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/121 "2011-01-06T11:47:54Z")
The posts on this thread made me laugh so hard my tummy hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/122 "2011-01-06T17:14:07Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Nu uhh… I saw them doing it on _House_ an there weren’t no sliced ham. 🆒 Well, they play fast and loose with the science on _House_. Anyone who has had a _real_ MRI knows that it’s quite noisy, as you can hear the ham being sliced. On the shows…no noise. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/123 "2011-01-06T17:35:54Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Well, they play fast and loose with the science on _House_. > > Anyone who has had a _real_ MRI knows that it’s quite noisy, as you can hear the ham being sliced. On the shows…no noise. That’s true. It happened to my cousin. Only thing was, he didn’t come out of the MRI…in one piece. Turns out _ **he** _ was the one being sliced!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/124 "2011-01-06T18:15:41Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Well, they play fast and loose with the science on _House_. > > Anyone who has had a _real_ MRI knows that it’s quite noisy, as you can hear the ham being sliced. On the shows…no noise. You just can’t hear the noise over the clicking of the cane, the witty banter, and the screams, vomiting, etc. of the patient. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/125 "2011-01-06T19:15:10Z")
So if I go to a special clinic in Minnesota for an MRI, could I get my sliced ham with cheese on rye at the Mayo? And should I avoid jumping while on the plane there? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/126 "2011-01-06T19:36:11Z")
The plain in Spain is where you really gotta be careful. ---
**Author:** ![billigan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@billigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billigan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/127 "2011-01-06T23:09:15Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Just want to know if could avoid being smashed into the back wall if I were on a treadmill on the plane? If you were on a treadmill on a plane that I was on, you’d better _start_ at the back wall. That would keep you from getting all smashed and stuff. But, more importantly, if the drink cart with my rum-and-coke(s) can’t get by, we’s gonna talk. Which might end with somebody getting smashed up against the back wall. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kapntoad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@kapntoad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapntoad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/128 "2011-01-08T14:41:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m touched by your concern. Still alive as far as I can tell. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/129 "2011-01-08T15:51:43Z")
Yeah well what happens if the plane is going at the SPEED of LIGHT and you jump? Then you’d be going faster than the speed of light and all sorts of bad things would happen I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/130 "2011-01-08T17:07:42Z")
> [@alindallas](#): > > The posts on this thread made me laugh so hard my tummy hurt. You may need a MRI-T, or an MRI-Tummy. Unfortunately, due to laws and regulations resulting from the 1971 fiasco, they can only be done in a plane on a treadmill at the equator. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/131 "2011-01-08T17:08:28Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Yeah well what happens if the plane is going at the SPEED of LIGHT and you jump? Then you’d be going faster than the speed of light and all sorts of bad things would happen I’m sure. There once was a lady named Bright, Whose speed was much faster than light. She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night! ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/132 "2011-01-08T20:30:31Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The pilots developed a nearly unbreakable code to identify the race of the passengers. Some were “vanilla ice cream cones” others were “chocolate ice cream cones”. The entire code was deemed a state secret by then President Nixon. The National Archives is scheduled to release the code in 2021 (50 years after the event of 1971). Then and only then will we understand what a “rocky road with sprinkles” ice cream cone was. Odd you should mention this but in 1980 I had the opportunity to talk with Bob Haldeman. Just once and only for 20 minutes. Anyway, he was talking about this exact thing. Seems like the code wasn’t just in reference to race. He told a story about the time Charles Nelson Reilly was aboard Air Force One (obviously this was subsequent to the event of 1971) and he was going to jump in the air. Apparently, Bebe Rebozo was there and told the pilot to radio the ground crew they had “a cone of tutti-frutti to clean up.” (He also told the story about how Sherwood Schwartz based the Skipper/Gilligan relationship on the Eisenhower/Nixon dynamic, but I digress.) ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/133 "2011-01-10T15:20:48Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Odd you should mention this but in 1980 I had the opportunity to talk with Bob Haldeman. Just once and only for 20 minutes. That’s too bad. If the plane had been going fast enough close enough to one of the poles and you two jumped the right direction each time you crossed the International Date Line the conversation may have lasted indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/134 "2011-01-11T19:38:41Z")
Ok, so one time, Randy Beaman went on a plane with his mom. And his mom said “Don’t jump, you’ll go splat in the back of the plane.” But Randy Beaman didn’t believe her, and he jumped, and he went splat in the cone in the back of the plane. Ok, bye. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/135 "2011-01-11T21:28:26Z")
\*\*mrklutz \*\*for the win! I love Randy Beaman stories. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/136 "2011-01-11T21:33:48Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > That’s too bad. If the plane had been going fast enough close enough to one of the poles and you two jumped the right direction each time you crossed the International Date Line the conversation may have lasted indefinitely. This is only theoretically possible. The Earth is pear-shaped and the stalk would collide with you rotationally. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/137 "2011-01-12T23:40:10Z")
Quoth **Irishman** : > [@](#): > > Orbital mechanics is funky. Throwing the wrench sideways will put it on an orbit that moves slightly away from the ISS, then as you come back around the Earth, the wrench will come back and smack the ISS in the side. Unless there is some other disturbance along the way. Like, say, a thruster burn. Close, but not quite. The two orbits would almost certainly have slightly different periods, and the difference would probably be enough that, when the wrench came around to the same height again, the ISS would probably be in a slightly different point in its orbit, and it’d miss it. It might still eventually hit it on some later orbit, though, so it’d still be a bad idea to try it. Oh, and I wrote a [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2099/if-youre-in-orbit-is-it-possible-to-throw-something-down-to-earth) on throwing fastballs from the Space Station, back in the day. To summarize, neglecting air resistance, you can’t hit the Earth, and with air resistance, you’ll hit the Earth eventually even without the pitch. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157/138 "2011-01-13T15:58:15Z")
You’re right - it’s not just the next orbit you have to worry about, but subsequent ones as well, and as you say, it’s more likely the later ones will get you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-if-you-jump-on-an-airplane-youll-die/566157.md?page=6)