# Man sucked out of B-52. Lands on water tower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347 "2003-10-19T12:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/21 "2003-10-20T09:46:28Z")
When is the emergency de-pressurisation of aircraft mentioned furthur up in the thread necessary? Wouldn’t be for putting out fires in the cabin, or is that just something I saw in Star Trek? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/22 "2003-10-20T10:01:02Z")
**Pushkin** that is exactly what it was for…the C-141 was a cargo aircraft, and the “worst case” scenario was cargo in the middle of a pallet that caught fire. With no way to apply fire-fighting agent to it, the only way to stop the fire was to starve it of oxygen. The theory was that every crewmember put on an oxygen mask and then the airplane was rapidly de-pressurized, thus snuffing out the fire. The Air Force lost a C-141 taking off out of Sigonella, Italy because of a cargo fire, so it was a high priority. AFAIK, no airplane was ever “saved” by the new system, but several hatches were lost over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/23 "2003-10-20T11:52:09Z")
Quick anecdote / hi-jack to debunk the notion that all news gets covered. In the mid-nineties a bomb was detonated at the Citibank Champs-Elysées branch in Paris. I was working for Citibank in Paris at the time. As far as I know this got no news coverage - certainly no major coverage or I would have been getting all those terrified phone calls from family… Although most of the exterior damage was on a side street, and nobody was killed, you would still think this would rate a couple of paragraphs right ? Plus, as I recall police were looking at one of the 3 letter islamist extremist groups for it, so we’re not talking about a disgruntled client with a molotov. A quick google today turns up 1 hit from a very much secondary source (I’m not too sure about their date for it either) [www.hri.org/docs/USSD-Terror/95/append-a.html](http://www.hri.org/docs/USSD-Terror/95/append-a.html) “Le Monde” (French ‘Times’) shows no matches Another interesting point was how fast the street was cleaned up - a few hours later there was barely a trace unless you were looking for it - not hinting at a cover-up, I believe it’s just the same process whereby car wrecks dissappear so fast. So - not a secret, but the only people who know about are those that were involved or present. Sorry for the hi-jack, but at least it was about bombs… ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/24 "2003-10-20T13:52:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pilot141 \* > \*\*BTW, great link **Michael**! \*\* Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/25 "2003-10-20T15:31:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pilot141 \* > \*\*AFAIK, no airplane was ever “saved” by the new system, but several hatches were lost over the years. \*\* 🙂 I see, interesting. Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/26 "2003-10-20T23:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pushkin \* > \*\*When is the emergency de-pressurisation of aircraft mentioned furthur up in the thread necessary? Wouldn’t be for putting out fires in the cabin, or is that just something I saw in Star Trek? 😉 \*\* Shouldn’t that be “slight _skyjack_”? Oh shit, I probably just triggered something over at the NSA, huh. Please send cig money to: 😃 Peace, mangeorge. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/27 "2003-10-23T17:34:10Z")
**Bill H.** wrote > [@](#): > > Duckster, I have wonderful news: Everyone was fine at the show. > > From Bill H. to KATU, a sponsor of the show: > (…) Not to harp further on this, but when I sent the email above to KATU, the TV station who covered that airshow, I also sent a similar one to the company that actually put on the airshow. I just received their response this morning. Again, great news in that everything went very smoothly that weekend. A fortunate misunderstanding. From Bill H. to Judy Willey, Oregon International Airshow > [@](#): > > Hello, > > An acquaintance says he saw one of the Golden Knight parachutists fall to his death at the September Airshow in Hillsboro. I don’t believe it, especially since the event had a lot of media there, and nothing like that was ever reported. Could you tell me if such a thing happened? > > In any case, the show was excellent. And of course both my friend and I hope he is mistaken and look forward to more of your shows. > > Thanks, > Bill Her response: > [@](#): > > I am glad to say this is not true at all! We did have a great show and NO accidents whatsoever!! > > Thanks - judy ---
**Author:** ![alimarx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@alimarx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alimarx)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/28 "2003-10-23T19:01:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl Snake-Hips Tucker \* > \*\*It also seems that something this freakish would be more-or-less well known, especially in the Wichita Falls (I’m pretty sure it was Wichita Falls, not Wichita) \*\* _As Falls Wichita, So Falls Some Guy Out Of A B-52 And Onto A Water Tower_ or something like that… ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/29 "2003-10-25T01:10:05Z")
Here’s the scoop from the Air Boss at the Hillsboro Air Show: “Your eyes did not deceive you but you apparently missed the narration during the act. This was a demonstration by the Knights of how a jumper handles a failing parachute. The opening was normal and then the jumper intentionally disabled some lines on the chute to demonstrate a failure. They then disconnect the first parachute and open the second. This jumper has a third parachute as an additional safety measure for this demonstration. It was part of the act, not an actual problem.” ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/30 "2003-10-25T01:31:00Z")
A college roommate’s father got blown out of a chopper in 'Nam at 800 feet. Broke most of the bones in his body and spent months and months in the hospital. Now the height may have been exagerated a bit but he had the right for special handicapped parking. More amazing was the guy was physically a giant stud. Mr. Scripa was known as the “crunch monster” and I watched him set the world record for stomach crunches in 1983. IIRC something like 17,000 stomach crunches. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/31 "2003-10-25T05:38:03Z")
With regard to **Bill H.** and **Duckster’s** discussion, I have this to add: I’ve been a skydiver since 1992 and over those years I’ve seen a number of instances where a jumper had a problem with his/her main canopy and had to cut it away (not literally). I’ll never forget the first time I witnessed this. It REALLY looked as if there were a person under the “garbage” and I was freaking out while everyone else stood around as if it were no big deal. You would think you could easily spot the difference between a discarded canopy coming down by itself as opposed to a jumper coming down under garbage but to an untrained eye, they look surprisingly similar. I have no doubt whatsoever that you saw something which looked very much like a person coming down under a malfunctioned canopy, however, it sounds like what you were seeing was only the canopy itself. It’s the risers which connect the harness to the parachute lines that create this illusion. Whilst you were in distress, the jumper was undoubtedly marveling at what an incredibly beautiful silhouette his reserve canopy made against the sky. After landing, he undoubtedly made a beeline toward the nearest liquor store to pick up the obligatory case of his rigger’s favorite beverage. For what it’s worth, my reserve is baby blue and it’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on…and my rigger? Well he’s not pretty but I do owe him my life two times over. Hell I’d have even kissed him if he wasn’t so damned ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/32 "2003-10-25T08:51:56Z")
\*\*Man sucked out of B-52. \*\* Was he sucked out of Fred Schnieder or Kate Pearson? sorry bout that… ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/33 "2003-10-25T12:10:13Z")
SkyBum, isn’t it also true that the jumper community maintains pretty detailed statistics and incident reports on every jumping death? If I’d wondered about Duckster’s story, I’d be looking into those sources. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/34 "2003-10-26T07:02:50Z")
You’re absolutely correct **CrankyAsAnOldMan**. Incidents involving death and/or injury are published in [Skydiving Magazine](http://www.skydivingmagazine.com/) as well as [Parachutist](http://www.uspa.org/publications/), a USPA publication. The reports are very detailed and can be extremely helpful to the community by pointing out the sequence of events which may have contributed to an accident as well as bringing up concerns with equipment, procedures, and also offering practical advice. [Here is a list](http://www.skydivenet.com/fatalities/fatalities_us_01.html)of the 32 fatalities which occured in the U.S. during 2001 (please keep in mind that there were millions of sucessful jumps made during that period). I’m not aware of a comprehensive, up to date list of incident reports available online, though I’m sure that it must exist out there somewhere. Once each year, a complete list of the year’s fatalities and injuries is published by the USPA with all incidents broken down by category. Parachute equipment itself is rarely indicated as a causal element. If I can go off on a tangent slightly, something that never ceases to amaze me is just how inaccurately the news media reports these incidents. For example, they tend to say “A skydiver was killed today when his parachute failed to open” when in reality (more often than not) accurate reporting would have stated “A skydiver was killed today after he failed to deploy his parachute”. A _very_ important distinction. A surprising number of skydivers die each year having made no effort to deploy either parachute or having fixated their attention on a malfunctioned main when they could have simply jettisoned the main, deployed their reserve and been under canopy in seconds. The human mind is vastly more fallible than modern parachute equipment and the majority of skydiving incidents can easily be attributed to “user error”. Unfortunately, the media continues to portray the equipment as the villian even when the operator was clearly at fault. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/35 "2003-10-26T07:27:02Z")
Hmmmm. The USPA website does have a comprehensive list of this years incident reports. I never noticed it before… [2003 incident reports](http://www.uspa.org/safety/incident.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/36 "2003-10-26T10:41:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SkyBum \* > Unfortunately, the media continues to portray the equipment as the villian even when the operator was clearly at fault. The media seems to do that to _every_ aspect of aviation. Not to mention, you only hear about the _bad_ incidents, never the millions of _good_ incidents where happy people make safe landings. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/37 "2003-10-26T13:33:57Z")
Never give a bore a Chance to ralk about himself: Parts of this this thread reminds me of a thread I started about 1.5 years ago : \*\* Has anyone Ever Fallen from a Plane in Flight and Survived?\*\* [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=114684](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=114684) ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347/38 "2003-10-26T13:36:00Z")
that would be “talk” about himself [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sucked-out-of-b-52-lands-on-water-tower/208347.md?page=1)