Freefall from an airplane is completely survivable with some
planning. Caught in a freefall? Your airplane explode? Your parachute
didn't open? Here's what to do! Your body doesn't keep increasing in
speed, it hits what's called terminal velocity. You're a human being, so
you'll max out at about 120 miles per hour. Even less if you stretch
out like a flying squirrel. That's not even that fast, really.
The first thing you'll usually do is wake up. There's not a lot of oxygen where airplanes fly, so you'll pass out when you get sucked out. This is fine, orient yourself, figure out which way is up and which way is down. You have about four minutes of quality time to come up with a solution to your very real problem.
Look around. Do you see a parachute barreling towards the Earth near you? Grab that shit, problem solved! Don't see a parachute? No problem, do you see debris? A big flat piece of airplane scrap is perfect, ride that shit to safety. It will slow you down immensely.
Nothing around you to grab onto? No problem. Look down, find yourself somewhere nice to land. Water? Avoid it! The only difference between water and concrete is that water will swallow your shattered body after it kills you. You need something that likes to compress when force is applied. Snow loves that shit. Find your ass some snow. No snow? Mud is good too. Deep ass mud is perfect. You want swampy marshland. It's hard to tell how deep mud is, so it's not a great bet, but it's better than nothing. Do you see trees? Trees have a great habit of slowing you down a little bit by beating the shit out of you with branches. Each one will probably break a bone as you blast through them, but that's fine. If each one takes 10 mph from your descent, just 12 branches could save your life. Avoid redwoods. You'll slow down enough to survive only to fall 50+ feet from the last branch and die anyway.
No snow, no trees, and no mud? No problem! Hit the ground with the balls of your feet as close to the last second as possible. Each leg will take the impact, dividing it in half, shattering your legs, and then your hips, but preserving your soft organs and vitally important head. Look for shallow slopes that will cradle your broken body when you come to a stop. Avoid falling forward or backward, try to fall to the side. A boy survived an incident because the glass took a lot of his momentum away, severely diminishing the speed he landed with.
That's your goal. Slow yourself down, slam into as many friendly things as possible on your way down. Land with your head up and your feet down. Falling out of an airplane is safer than falling out of a six story building. At least you have time to plan out where and how you land. Stay smart!
The first thing you'll usually do is wake up. There's not a lot of oxygen where airplanes fly, so you'll pass out when you get sucked out. This is fine, orient yourself, figure out which way is up and which way is down. You have about four minutes of quality time to come up with a solution to your very real problem.
Look around. Do you see a parachute barreling towards the Earth near you? Grab that shit, problem solved! Don't see a parachute? No problem, do you see debris? A big flat piece of airplane scrap is perfect, ride that shit to safety. It will slow you down immensely.
Nothing around you to grab onto? No problem. Look down, find yourself somewhere nice to land. Water? Avoid it! The only difference between water and concrete is that water will swallow your shattered body after it kills you. You need something that likes to compress when force is applied. Snow loves that shit. Find your ass some snow. No snow? Mud is good too. Deep ass mud is perfect. You want swampy marshland. It's hard to tell how deep mud is, so it's not a great bet, but it's better than nothing. Do you see trees? Trees have a great habit of slowing you down a little bit by beating the shit out of you with branches. Each one will probably break a bone as you blast through them, but that's fine. If each one takes 10 mph from your descent, just 12 branches could save your life. Avoid redwoods. You'll slow down enough to survive only to fall 50+ feet from the last branch and die anyway.
No snow, no trees, and no mud? No problem! Hit the ground with the balls of your feet as close to the last second as possible. Each leg will take the impact, dividing it in half, shattering your legs, and then your hips, but preserving your soft organs and vitally important head. Look for shallow slopes that will cradle your broken body when you come to a stop. Avoid falling forward or backward, try to fall to the side. A boy survived an incident because the glass took a lot of his momentum away, severely diminishing the speed he landed with.
That's your goal. Slow yourself down, slam into as many friendly things as possible on your way down. Land with your head up and your feet down. Falling out of an airplane is safer than falling out of a six story building. At least you have time to plan out where and how you land. Stay smart!
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