Broomstick,
Thanks for an informative reply.
Maybe “probably survivable” was a little optimistic at 15m. Still, if I wanted to commit suicide, I’d climb an extra 5 or 6 stories just to be sure.
15m does seem like a height where how you fall could significantly affect your chances especially if one could land on grass.
30m was more of a “how can I double my already statistically insignificant chances instead of just screaming all of the way down” sort of thing.
Since the odds are already stacked against you on the terminal velocity scenario I like the lateral movement idea. In trying to find answers, I stumbled on some testimonials from bikers that have survived 55-70mph crashes. Not 100mph to be sure, but sounds better than just plain going “squish”.
According to the already mentioned “Worst Case Scenario” handbook, landing on your back in a dumpster. It’s easy to jump too far out from a height - just jump a little bit outward.
Unless his stall speed was really low, I don’t see how this would help. He’d just wind-up slamming into the ground at whatever his stall speed was, and then tumble along until he ran out of energy. It’d be not unlike jumping out of a moving truck.
With the limited wing area we’re talking about, I’m guessing his speed at impact would be pretty damn high.
Look for something soft (you can move horizontally up to a third up to a third of the distance you are traveling vertically) and land on as many points as you can simultaniously i.e. ankle, knee, hip, elbow, shoulder. This disperses the force of impact over several areas instead of just one. IIRC, a WWII English pilot survived, and the guinness word book cites a stewardess that survived a fall from 13000 feet (IIRC)
SCSimmons
Great link. Probably the best advice anyone will give you on the subject.
The 5 point parachutist landing seems like a good idea. But I wonder how you can execute at a significant speed.
Unless you are landing on a very deformable surface (deep snow or mud, water, a stuntman’s airbag, etc) do not try to “spread out the impact”. You want to maximize the distance over which you’re decelerating, and for most ground conditions, that means that the most you’ll have to work with is your own height. If you land flat on your back, then the distance over which you’re decelerating is limited to the amount by which th ground and your ribcage can deform. What you want to do is spread yourself out flat for as long as you can while falling, to reduce terminal velocity, and then immediately before impact, bring yourself upright, with your legs below you. Do not lock your knees. As you hit, you’ll want to bend your legs and go into some sort of roll, culminating in you being flat on your back. The key here is that a lot of your body ends up hitting the ground, but not all at once.
The situation is entirely different if you have an appropriate landing surface. In that case, you’re not relying on the length of your body, you’re relying on the thickness of your pad.
perspective-at least one parachutist with a badly tangled 'chute has survived this way. The emergency 'chute tangled with the main lowered terminal velocity a bit, but the five-point landing probably saved his life.
Oh, and coming down on a freshly-sodded lawn. In the front yard of a doctor who specialized in trauma medicine. (A little luck comes in handy, too. )
Nothing to add about how to fall but wanted to share something.
I was at the movies last week and started talking to a lady a couple of seats over. She had a splint on her finger and I joked that she liked to point a lot. She laughed and said she broke the finger in her sleep but could not remember how. She has some sort of illness that means her bones are weak and the healing process is three times longer for her than that of a normal person. She then spoke of an incident several years back in which her left hand cramped on the armrest in the movie theater. She opened her hand wide to see if that would help only to hear a lot of bones snapping. I did not ask but she probably left that movie early.
Anyway, before the movie starts she introduces her husband who had been in the lobby getting snacks. We got to talking and he told me he worked in construction and one time he fell off the roof of a building from 30 feet up. He said he landed on a rock with his face and broke the rock. :eek: He said there was quite a bit of swelling and had to be held back from strangling the doctor when he tapped his face to see if that hurt. I would not have guessed it because his face looked normal to me. He then showed me quite a few scars on his arms and hands from other incidents. Not sure I would want to be around them for fear of seeing them get hurt or something.
I got to thinking they reminded me of the movie Unbreakable because she was very injury prone but he seemed able to withstand quite a bit.
I don’t think ‘tuck and roll’ is going to work for someone falling at terminal velocity. The impact forces are too fast and powerful for you to be able to control the impact, other than by setting up your body position beforehand.
I think the proper way depends on the surface you are landing on. People who land on their legs from a height break them. That’s a good thing in this case, because the breaking legs would absorb some of the impact.
However… The odds of surviving a fall from a height are very small. My wife, who is paid to know these things, says that falls from a height are the single most reliable way to kill a human being, and that suicides from jumping off a building are more likely to kill you than shooting yourself in the head.
So maybe asking what the best way to fall is would be about like asking the best way to shoot yourself in the head… Some ways may be slightly less lethal than others, but you’re probably going to die no matter what you do.
Incidentally, cable pulled elevators have brakes that are actually held in the retracted position by the tension on the cable. If the cable snaps, the brakes in the elevator are automatically deployed. Very safe.
Tried the dangerous 15m version onto concrete sidewalk. Can’t recommend it. If you feel that you must absolutely do it, avoid electrocution by water pipe short circuited to neon sign before the fall (I did not). In any case I recommend to pull in your head and be like a ball followed by a quick roll to the right (less vital organs), and then break your fall with your arms. They’ll break, but that’s better than your back. If my heart hadn’t already stopped when I initiated said operation I might not have broken the 34 bones I did, on the other hand had I not initiated said operation at all I might have broken more and worse parts.
In any case my general recommendation must be to just stay away from the falling from buildings industry, it’s a lot less glamorous than people think.
Here’s the web page of a skydiver who collided with another diver and lost his chute at about 80 feet above ground. (http://www.deadmike.com) He survived. His tips: Land horizontally, somewhat feet first, followed by the face. That way all the bones shattering will absorb some of the impact. Another important safety tip – make sure that a full paramedic team is about 100 feet away from where you impact, and be close to a good trauma unit. It’d be a good idea to have a whole lot of insurance too. (Note: lots of gory pictures of reconstructive surgery.)
As a kid I remember putting togather a model rocket that did not use a parachute. Instead it used a ribbon that flapped in the wind. Could some engineer this with a large roll of paper?
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