Sonic'

Skydiver survives 1000ft fall - , - Latest news & weather forecasts - MSN News UK

Surely he survived a 10,000ft fall and not just a 1000ft fall

A spokeswoman said: "The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet, spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot sky-dive."


Now ive done a parachute jump, and I know you freefall until a few thousand feet (or less the more daring you are) and then under canopy till reaching the ground

But to me if you jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet and your chute doesnt open then you have fell 10,000 feet not only 1000 feet

Very lucky to have survived though, unlike my old boss from many years ago who didnt survive the fall

boxst

Yes, that doesn't make any sense. He survived falling 10000ft. Unless his parachute opened to slow him down and then twisted and he had to release it?

Steve

Sonic'

the story does say his parachute failed to open

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Cheap news reporting. Does not make that much sense from how they have written it. Does sound like he is lucky to be alive though.

RoadrunnerV2

News article I read said second chute fully opened, then tangled which made him go into an uncontrollable spiral. He crashed onto the roof of one of the hangers.

StickyMicky

I may be posting some thick waffle here, but....

Once you are up to full speed, does actually it matter what the height is?

Snazy

Maybe this will help...

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Shropshire | Skydiver in warehouse roof crash

Sonic'

As far as I know, no it doesnt matter on the height

GlesgaKiss

He must have bent at the knees when he landed!

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

slight change in topic but I have a friend who was in the parachute regiment. I asked him, as you do, the highest jump he'd jumped out of a plane at.

He told me 300 feet

Sonic'

According to the BBC video footage, he landed on the roof of a building which took a lot of the impact away from his body, and then what bits of his chute where there caught on a bolt on the roof, and he effectively slid down the roof to the floor

Very very lucky

Snazy

Still the most amazing I have ever heard was the passenger who survived their plane breaking up (commercial passenger jet) at high altitude. Passing out, remaining in the seat, belted in, and waking up on the seat, upright on the floor of a jungle. Sadly seated next to dead people.

Now THATS lucky!

Simon C

Not that site again!!!! H+S must love them...

From what I can gather, the main chute failed and got cut away, and he deployed the reserve. This then got tangled / malfunctioned, but did deploy enough to slow him down, he then crashed onto the roof of the hanger.

Will

yoza

I can just picture him waking up looking around and reaching up to press the trolley dolly button........BingBong........Hello.

DYK

yep kinda lucky but their has been many amazing stories...




Falling 22,000 Feet - And NO Chute!

Alan Magee ranked among the luckiest of those who served in the Air Corps during World War II. A B-17 ball turret gunner, Magee had no choice but to jump out of a disabled, spinning-out-of-control bomber from about 22,000 feet without a parachute...and miraculously lived.

His incredible story was featured in a Smithsonian Magazine on the 10 most amazing survivals during World War II. Magee seldom spoke of that death-defying drop. He died 60 years later of complications from a stroke and kidney failure in San Angelo, Texas. His niece described her uncle as "just a regular guy." "He didn't like to talk about it...then he wouldn't dwell on it," the niece said.

"One of the people who saw him fall through the glass roof of the railroad station tracked Alan down. Before that, Alan wasn't interested in discussing this."However, he did mention: "God was certainly looking out for me."

Magee, was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. The youngest of six children, he enlisted after the Pearl Harbor attack. He was 5-foot-7...and just barely small enough to fitin the B-17's ball turret...a cramped, donut-shaped plexiglas and metal turret on thebomber's underside. It was a tight fit - a gunner's knees were practically against his chest- that Magee had to leave his parachute up on the (flight) deck of his four-engine Flying Fortress.

"His ball turret offered a panoramic view, but it was also a vulnerable target for (the attacking) German fighter planes. And there was a high casualty rate among B-17 gunners," said Don Jenkins, Magee's friend of 38 years and a World War II Navy veteran." He was very easy to get along with - very cheerful, very talkative and a verysweet person," Jenkins said. But, he said, in all those years, Magee only spoke to him three times about the incredible events taking place on January 3, 1943.

Sgt. Magee, 24, was one of the oldest of the 10-man crew who flew out of Molesworth,England, on a bomber nicknamed "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" His pilot was only 19. His seventh mission was a daylight bombing run on St. Nazaire, France, called "Flak City" because of the many anti-aircraft guns defending the German's submarine pens.On that day, his 303rd Bomb Group had sent 85 B17s with fighter escorts.

Over the target area, flak damaged Magee's plane...then German fighters shot off a section of his aircraft's right wing. Magee, who was wounded, scrambled out of his restrictive ball turret, and up on to the flight deck where he noticed his parachute was ruined. "He saw a gap in the side of the spinning plane and jumped out," said Jenkins,who explained that in the confusion Magee forgot he wasn't wearing a chute. "He remembered tumbling, but at that high altitude, he quickly lost consciousness from lack of oxygen.

Eyewitnesses saw Magee's body crash through the Nazaire train station's glass skylight - breaking his fall. When he regained consciousness, Magee said to his German captors: "Thank God I'm alive."

Magee's injuries included 28 shrapnel wounds - a punctured lung and kidney - nose and one eye ripped open - right arm nearly severed from his body - a broken right leg and ankle. The Germans decided that anyone who could so miraculously survive deserved "real special medical attention." With the doctors' high priority assistance, Magee fully recovered.

In total, 75 U.S. airmen were killed that day, 7 Fortresses were shot down - forty-seven damaged. Two other members of Magee's crew survived. McGee was a prisoner of war until May 1945. He received the Air Medal for meritorious conduct and the Purple Heart. "Alan was never the type to look in the past," said his friend. Despite the harrowing experience, Magee still loved to fly airplanes and earned his private pilot's license. He lived for the enjoyment of each moment - did a lot of walking and backpacking, and led a pretty good life.

Leslie

His secondary 'chute opened but the controlling lines were tangled so he had no control of where he was going to land and in which direction. It was a heavy landing but not as if he had been travelling at the speed he would have been without a 'chute.

Les

Simon 69

This fellows story pales into insignificance after the 22,000 feet survival! Mick's comment about it not mattering how high after you reach maximum velocity is spot on, but this bloke survived hypoxia and falling through a glass train station roof!

andythejock01wrx

Had heard of the the US airman's story before, although I'd always imagined he'd landed on marshy ground!

Re the height, I would suppose that if a human body has a terminal velocity (122mph?), then it will reach that speed fairly quickly and after that it won't matter if you drop from a greater height or not.

Andy TJ

Sonic'

That is one impressive story

I remember years ago a story doing the rounds of a woman skydiver whose 'chute failed to open, so she headed for some woodland and the trees broke her fall and I think she only ended up with a sprained ankle and bruises etc

That night she had a bath, and on getting out of the bath she slipped and cracked her head on the sink and died !

A bit Final Destination if you ask me

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

22,000 feet is childs play...

Vesna Vulovi? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

No, lucky would be coming to with the hostesses drinks trolley intact at your side, and possibly an intact hostess.

Account deleted by request

I know the airfield where he fell. The 'hanger' he landed on is actually a grain store now, not relevant to the story though I imagine the construction of the roof made a difference, it is of the newer aluminium type which I guess has a relative amount of 'give' which would have been a lesser impact on the body. I'd rather land on that than concrete either way.

One very very lucky man as a very busy A road is only 25 meters away.

Chop

dazdavies

iTrader: (22)

Complete and utter sh*te.

I'm ex forces and have done P company training at Brize during which you do many types of jump including the "Halo" jump. High Altitude Low Opening.
Often these are in excess of 14,000 feet. If he hasn't jumped any higher than 300 feet then he only managed the wooden tower and never made it to the planes and the big boys stuff.

Leslie

Your TV depends how high you are. At high level where the air is thinner there is less drag and the TV is faster.

Jumping at high level ie 40K feet you had to wait until your TV decreased at a lower altitude or the shock loading of the parachute opening at the higher TV was likely to cause injury.

Les

Tidgy

after 300 feet how much after that is irrelevant, the human body reaches terminal velocity after 300 feet of free fall.

lucky to survive though

NotoriousREV

Exactly. When Joe Kittinger jumped from 100,000ft in 1959 he reached something like 650mph before his small stabiliser chute opened. At that temp/pressure he was travelling at Mach 0.9.

EddScott

Would that not have chaffed a little?

NotoriousREV

Possibly, although I'm guessing the pressure suit he wore took the brunt of it. Apparently on one of his earlier jumps he passed out and got into a flat spin at 120rpm and the force at his extremities was 20G

Brave man. Still holds the records for highest, fastest and longest freefalls.

Sonic'

Was he the one who jumps out of hot air ballons as they can get higher?

I have seen some very old videos of the 90k feet jumps, awesome stuff, and I thought 13-14k was cool