1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: Welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, you welcome to Stuff 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb, and 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: I'm Joe McCormick and Robert. I know you've got a 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: love for older aircraft, so I wanted to start off 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: talking today about an aircraft. I think I know you've 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: mentioned it before. I think you've got a spot in 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: your heart for it. It's the best seventeen flying Fortress. 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: Oh of course. Yeah. So this was a gigantic four 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: engine heavy bomber developed by Boeing that was used by 11 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: the United States in World War Two, primarily for long range, 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: high altitude bombing raids against Germany and Nazi occupied targets 13 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: in Europe, and to a lesser extent it was used 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: some in the Pacific theater. Oh and I guess just 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: to clarify what I said a minute ago, I mean 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: when I say you've got a spot in your heart 17 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: for this, I don't mean like you love war and 18 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: bombing and killing. I mean that like I know that 19 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: you have a kind of love for the aesthetics of 20 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: airplane design. Yeah, yeah, I mean, my my dad was 21 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: World War Two buff and he and more importantly he 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 1: was he was really into creating, to working on scale 23 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: model kits and mostly World War Two scale models. And 24 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: so the B seventeen uh was certainly a plane that 25 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 1: was one of his favorites. And you know, he was 26 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: always telling me about it, and he had like a 27 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: prized model of it, like probably like you know, his 28 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: the masterpiece of his his scale modeling time. Uh and 29 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: uh and so yeah, I grew up amid these depictions 30 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:34,759 Speaker 1: of the B seventeen. I mean, it's it's a very 31 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 1: iconic plane. Um. And it's the third most produced bomber 32 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: of all time. It was an icon of US air 33 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: superiority and uh. And it's a highly successful design and 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,559 Speaker 1: they were used for various post war purposes as well. 35 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: And there's actually there's somewhere in the neighborhood of like 36 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: I want to say, ten B seventeens that are actually 37 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: still airworthy. Oh yeah, I think I was reading that 38 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: there are like some that are actually still in flight somewhere. 39 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: Well they're kept, you know, in an air worthy condition. 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: And it's harder to keep an older plane like this 41 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: in airworthy condition. But but with a plane that where 42 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: the design is solid and it has this iconic status 43 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: in uh, you know, in American aviation history. You're going 44 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: to to to to keep those going as long as 45 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 1: you can, and even the ones that aren't air worthy, 46 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 1: there are a number of just fantastically restored um B 47 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: seven teams in museums aviation museums around the world. Yeah. Uh. 48 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: And it's so it was a strategically important aircraft, right, 49 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: I mean, so it was this heavily armored aircraft that 50 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: was played a huge role in in Allied victory in Europe, 51 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: and it was it was sort of famous for like 52 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: taking a beating in the course of its mission before 53 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: returning to base intact and landing with lots of visible 54 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: combat damage. Right. And I guess this is tied up 55 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: in the idea of that that it's called the flying fortress. Yeah. 56 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: And then again we don't want to romanticize the this 57 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: weapon of war too much. It was used to kill 58 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: a lot of people, of course, and lot of people 59 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 1: died flying them, but just from a purely designed standpoint, 60 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: it is fascinating because there they were. They really was 61 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 1: this flying fortress. It's this idea that you you have 62 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: this this vessel, this uh, this this airplane you're sitting 63 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: up into the sky, sending it into into into enemy 64 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: territory to rain bombs down on them, and then you 65 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: want to have it protected. So, of course, the main 66 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: thing you can do is have if you have fighter 67 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: planes to accompany it, faster subtle uh death machines that 68 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: can fly about and pick off things that are trying 69 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: to interfere with the bombing fleet. But on top of that, 70 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: you need to have some guns on that flying fortress 71 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: on your bomber to protect it. But since the bomber 72 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: itself is not going to be like super maneuverable, especially 73 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: compared to fighters that are coming up to intercept it, 74 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: what you need to do is you need to have 75 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: all your directions covered. You have some machine guns poking 76 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: out the front, you have tailgunner in the back, you 77 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: have a turret on the top side, gunners, etcetera. But 78 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: one of the defense features of the B seventeen, what 79 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: you're getting to is now famous, or maybe more importantly infamous. 80 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: It's the ball turret, the lower turret, that is this 81 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: pair of manned machine guns inside a plexiglass dome or 82 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: ball on the bottom of the aircraft. Yeah, it's I'm 83 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: sure it looked science fiction in at the time, and 84 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: it still looks science fiction and when you see it now, 85 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: if you if you're not expecting it. Uh So, this 86 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: is the Sperry ball turret. And it was only introduced 87 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: in the in the B seventeen E series, but it 88 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: was included on in all subsequent series of the B 89 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,239 Speaker 1: seventeen bomber. It was also deployed in the B twenty 90 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: four Liberator, which is another heavy bomber, and then a 91 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: couple of a couple of other planes. But yeah, it 92 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: was super small, so small that you typically had to 93 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: pinpoint a particularly small adult airmen to go into the ball. 94 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,839 Speaker 1: And then on top it was in a comfy not comfy, 95 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,799 Speaker 1: the exact opposite of comfy, cozy, snug tight. Yeah. In fact, 96 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: he is essentially in a fetal position the whole time, 97 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: only instead of of having all the warmth and safety 98 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: that you know comes with the idea of returning to 99 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:16,919 Speaker 1: the womb, you are not you are not in the 100 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,160 Speaker 1: womb in the ball turret. You're not even in the 101 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: middle of the plane. You're you're beneath the plane. You're 102 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: sort of halfway hanging out underneath this this bomber exposed 103 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: to any interceptor aircraft that are flying up underneath, and 104 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: hopefully you're gonna be able to do something about it 105 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: with your machine guns. And if something goes wrong, well, 106 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: the bad news is there's there's not actually room in 107 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: the ball for you to wear your parachute. Uh. In 108 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: some cases they would leave the parachute uh just above 109 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: them in the main fuselage, or if there was room, 110 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: you might bring it in strapped to your chest. That's 111 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: gonna come back in just a minute. So I've thought 112 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: about the ball tour it a lot, not because I 113 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: I know nearly as much about about older aircraft as you, Robert, 114 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: but because specifically because of a poem that I read 115 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: for the first time many years ago. That it's just 116 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: a five line poem by the American poet Randall Jarrell 117 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: called the Death of the Ball Turret Gunner. It was 118 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: written in nineteen about is World War two experience, and 119 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: it captures this, uh, the sort of cramped terror. Here. 120 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: It goes from my mother's sleep, I fell into the 121 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: state and I hunched in its belly till my wet 122 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,239 Speaker 1: fur froze six miles from Earth, loosed from its dream 123 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: of life. I woke to black Flak and the Nightmare Fighters. 124 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: When I died, they washed me out of the turret 125 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: with a hose man. That is rough. I don't think 126 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: I've heard that before. UM, I should throw in like 127 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: a couple of things. So first of all, the turret 128 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: does like rotate and move around. It's like a little 129 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: carnival ride right underneath the plane, so you can aim right. Yeah, 130 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: you need more degrees of freedom to chase the moving 131 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: targets that are coming at you from below right, And 132 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: and on top of that, I cannot begin to imagine 133 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: how terrifying it really was. Like I get a little 134 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: anxious when I fly in general, and to imagine myself 135 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: like slung below this uh this you know, rattling warplane 136 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: trammed into a clear ball, the bottom just exposed. And 137 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: then if you have like you know, all these uh 138 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: you know, all the chaos of war, the explosions happening 139 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: all around you. UM. I recently watched Hulu's adaptation of 140 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: Catch twenty two, which is different aircraft, um and no 141 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: ball to it, but it does a great job of 142 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: just showing, uh, you know, immersing you in this idea 143 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: of just how terrifying a bomber run was even in 144 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: Catch twenty two, they're not even dealing with interceptor craft. 145 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: They're just dealing with anti aircraft fire, and it's they 146 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: just do a wonderful job of just making you feel 147 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: the sheer terror of the characters flying into battle without 148 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: any you know, a bunch of heroic nonsense, you know, 149 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: label ladled on top of it, because ultimately that's what 150 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: Catched twenty two is about, dispel ling the hero myth 151 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: with a healthy dose of absurdity. Yeah. Well, I want 152 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: to talk about one of those terrifying experiences and use 153 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: that to connect to the subject of the rest of 154 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: today's episode. So, h let's look at the story of 155 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: one particular bald turret gunner during World War Two. He 156 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: was an American staff sergeant named Alan either Magey or 157 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: McGhee m ag e e. I'm gonna call him McGhee 158 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: for the rest of the episode here. So, in January 159 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty three, Staff Sergeant McGhee was manning the 160 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: turret of a B seventeen that had been nicknamed snap 161 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: crackle pop. Uh. Don't know what that comes from, but 162 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: I have to imagine it's from probably bullets hitting the plane. 163 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: I don't know, but that's my guess. So the plane 164 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: was on a bombing run over an area of Nazi 165 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: occupied France when it suddenly took heavy fire from German 166 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: fighters and it began to break apart in the air 167 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: at about twenty thousand feet or about six thousand, seven 168 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: hundred meters up and in the chaos us as the 169 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: airplane was coming apart in the atmosphere, McGee managed to 170 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: escape his ball, tore it and jump out of the 171 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,599 Speaker 1: falling and uh separating plane parts. But he didn't have 172 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: a parachute. He had not been wearing one, probably because 173 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: he couldn't fit into the ball with it on. So 174 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: he's outside the plane falling at twenty feet So you 175 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: would think, obviously this is just certain death, right, Yeah, 176 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: there just would be no way you'd survive. You're just 177 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: you're just dead in the air basically, Yeah, falling without 178 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,440 Speaker 1: a parachute for twenty feet, which is about six point 179 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: one kilometers in altitude, there's no way to survive that. 180 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:41,439 Speaker 1: But strangely McGee didn't die. He lost consciousness during the fall, 181 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: probably due to a lack of oxygen. Right because up 182 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: at that atmosphere. The up that altitude, the atmosphere is thinner, 183 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: you can't get enough oxygen, so you pass out. But 184 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: then he woke up. He woke up hours later on 185 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 1: the ground to find himself a prisoner of war being 186 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: treated by German medics. And he had a few broken bones, 187 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: and he had cuts all over his body, but he 188 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: was alive. Apparently, the way McGhee survived had to do 189 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: with how he landed. Instead of hitting the ground, McGhee 190 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: had just by luck, crashed through a glass ceiling in 191 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: a train station at St. Nazaire, and the impact of 192 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: crashing through the glass must have slowed his fall enough 193 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: that he was not killed when he hit the floor below. 194 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: And so as unbelievable as this story is, McGhee is 195 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,959 Speaker 1: not the only one. There are actually lots of interesting, 196 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: fascinating long fall survival stories in which people fall, you know, 197 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: what would normally be absolutely lethal distances without a parachute, 198 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,600 Speaker 1: but somehow managed to survive in one way or another. 199 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: And that's what we wanted to talk about today, and 200 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: and it should we should drive home like we're doing. 201 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: We're dealing with distances here that are almost this seemed 202 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: almost absolutely lethal and you certainly do not have to 203 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: fall far at all to suffer a fatal injury. Oh no, 204 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: you can easily die from a ten or twenty footfall. 205 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: But they're falling from ten thousand, twenty thousand feet. It 206 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: just seems astounding, It seems unreal, Like to survive such 207 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,599 Speaker 1: a fall, you would just have to become just instantly 208 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,719 Speaker 1: hyper religious, right, you just have to assume angels appeared 209 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: and uh and took your unconscious body down to the earth. Well, 210 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: a lot of people do kind of go to those 211 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: miraculous explanations, but it turns out that there are some 212 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: pretty consistent, not totally consistent, but there are some common 213 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: physical characteristics of the types of falls that people survive from. 214 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 1: It has to do with how you fall, how you land, 215 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: where you land, and so that's what we wanted to 216 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,959 Speaker 1: explore for the rest of the day. Now. One thing 217 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: that's funny is that, like, it seems like falling out 218 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: of an airplane must be so much worse than just say, 219 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: falling off of a really tall building or something, but 220 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: in fact that's not the case. If if you are 221 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: falling long enough to achieve eve what's called terminal velocity, 222 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: will explain more about that in a bit. It's a 223 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: speed that's not a not a constant, but it's going 224 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: to vary depending on who you are, what you're what 225 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,320 Speaker 1: you weigh, what you're shaped like, what you're wearing, you 226 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: know how, all that kind of stuff. As long as 227 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: you fall far enough to achieve that, and that might 228 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: just be you know, a few hundred meters, then you 229 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: then you're basically falling as fast as you're gonna fall, 230 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: And actually falling from an airplane isn't any worse and 231 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: in some crazy ways could actually be better. Uh So, 232 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: But anyway, well we'll come back to all that. I 233 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: wanted to talk about a few other known cases from history. 234 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: So one case of somebody who fell out of an 235 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: airplane and survived is Christine Mackenzie. She didn't actually fall 236 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: out of an airplane. She jumped. She's an experienced South 237 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: African skydiver who had already jumped more than a hundred times. 238 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: When both her main parachute and her backup parachute failed 239 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: on the same freefall in August two thousand four, so 240 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: she fell about eleven thousand feet and survived by instead 241 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: of hitting the ground directly, she first hits some suspended 242 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: power lines before impact, and sort of like the glass 243 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: ceiling and McGee's fall, the tension of the power lines 244 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: is thought to have absorbed a lot of the energy 245 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: of her fall and slowed her down in the process, 246 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: so that when she finally hit the ground, she ended 247 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: up with only a broken pelvis. Her fall lasted about 248 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: forty five seconds. So let's let's entertain belief in guardian 249 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,679 Speaker 1: angels again for a second. Can you imagine the sort 250 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: of scenario where you're falling and then the angel appears 251 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: and says, look, I know this looks bad, but don't worry. 252 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: You're headed towards some high tension wires. Everything's gonna be fine. 253 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: I just assumed I would be. I would assume I 254 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: would be torn in half. You know, well, I mean 255 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: I'm sure, I'm sure. It depends on how you hit 256 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,559 Speaker 1: them and all that. Another name, this one comes up 257 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: a lot. It's a very famous case. This is Vesna Volkovich. 258 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: Some of the details of the Volovich case have been disputed. 259 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: I'm not going to get into those whole disputes. I'm 260 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: just going to talk about the version that's most often reported. 261 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: So Vesna Volovich was a Serbian flight attendant on a 262 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: DC nine that was in the air over the Czech 263 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: Republic in nineteen seventy two when the cabin exploded, probably 264 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: due to a bomb from a terrorism attack. She fell 265 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: more than ten thousand one ms or more than thirty 266 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,360 Speaker 1: three thousand feet without a parachute, and she suffered severe 267 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: injuries and broken bones and was in a coma for weeks. 268 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: But she survived, and the question is how well Her 269 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: survival is usually attributed to the fact that while most 270 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: of the rest of the passengers were blown out of 271 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: the cabin when the fuselage broke apart, Volkovich was pinned 272 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: inside by a food card and possibly by another member 273 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: of the crew or a passenger, and so she stuck 274 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: inside the fuselage. And then the broken part of the 275 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: fuselage in which she was stuck just happened to land 276 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: on a snowy recovered hillside, and it's believed that the 277 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: trees and the snow cushioned the impact. After she woke up, 278 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: she had no memory of the crash, and she lived 279 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: until sixteen. She's often cited as the record holder for 280 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: the survivor of the longest fall without a parachute. Wow, 281 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: that that is incredible. And also I just want to 282 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: apologize to any other nervous flyers out there who are 283 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: listening to this. Hopefully you are not listening to this 284 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: at the airport. Oh maybe we should have warned you now, 285 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: you know, if you if you weren't aware by now, 286 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: if you didn't pause the episode by now, then I 287 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: guess maybe you you do need this episode to make 288 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: it through your flight. Well, I'm sure you've heard it 289 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: a million times before and it probably doesn't help with 290 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: your fear, but it is a fact that flying is 291 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: extremely safe. Commercial flying these days is extremely safe. Yes, 292 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: if you know, if you are on a commercial jet 293 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: with like an accredited pilot and all that like your 294 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: your chances of having something bad happen are extremely low. 295 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: So stick that in the logical side of your brain. 296 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: It's probably already arguing with the logical side. That is 297 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: the whole reason you have the nerves. Anyway, let's go 298 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: with one more example here. This is a survival story 299 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: of Julienne Kepki now Julianne Diller. She's a German woman, 300 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: or is a German woman who as a teenager survived 301 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 1: a plane crash in the Amazon in ninety one from 302 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: an altitude of over three kilometers after a plane was 303 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: struck by lightning. She was the lone survivor of the crash. 304 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: And then she not only survived the crash from from 305 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: over three kilometers of altitude. After that, she had to 306 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: navigate her way through the rainforest to find help with 307 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: no supplies except basically a bag of candy. Oh my goodness. 308 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: And after searching for ten days, she found help from 309 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: a group of loggers and was taken back to civilization 310 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: for medical treatment. And she's still alive today. So at 311 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: this point you're probably wondering, well, how casting the angels aside? 312 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: What are the what are the logical, real life scientific answers? Uh, 313 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: you know behind the survive stories where we're gonna take 314 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: a break and when we come back we will discuss 315 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: just that. Alright, we're back. So Robert, you want to 316 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: look at the physics of falling from a great height. 317 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 1: Let's do it. Okay, So falling from a great height 318 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,120 Speaker 1: can kill you in a number of ways. I mean, 319 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: just not to get too graphic, but one problem would 320 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 1: be like what if you fall on a spike or something, 321 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: you know, they're all these sort of like specific cases 322 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: of what can happen to you when you hit the ground. 323 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: But that's the key, right, right, the fall itself. I mean, 324 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: that's that's easy enough to do. Um And surviving the 325 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: fall is one thing. It's surviving the impact that is 326 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: the problem, right. I mean, no matter where you land, 327 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: the main problem that that you're going to encounter is 328 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: going to be the difference between how fast you were 329 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: falling and how suddenly you stop. Uh So, what happens 330 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,639 Speaker 1: when you fall from an incredible altitude, Well, we know 331 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: there is gravity, right, There's an attraction between the earth 332 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: and your body due to gravity, and gravity accelerates you 333 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: relentlessly towards the center of the Earth. Not just when 334 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: you're falling, but even right now, no matter where you are, 335 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: gravity is relentlessly accelerating you towards the center of the Earth. 336 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: And you will continue to accelerate towards the center of 337 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: the Earth until something like the ground, or water or 338 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: the air provides a compensating resistance to stop you from 339 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,679 Speaker 1: from going faster towards the center of the Earth. So 340 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: that's probably the ground that's doing that to you right now. Yeah, 341 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,879 Speaker 1: I recently was thinking a bit about this when I 342 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: was jumping off of a high dive. Um, and I 343 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: had been a long time since I jumped off a 344 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: high dive, but I was just really struck by just 345 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: the feeling of of of being wanted by gravity that 346 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: like you, you really you really feel it, um, you know, 347 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,960 Speaker 1: more so than off of just a normal board. You 348 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: feel yourself accelerating, You feel yourself, you know, pulled down 349 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,360 Speaker 1: with dramatic speed toward the surface of the water. Well, yeah, 350 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: it's kind of weird to think about, but the force 351 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: of gravity and the force of acceleration feel exactly the 352 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: same to us. They are indistinguishable. They act the same 353 00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: way on our bodies. This is why you can you 354 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:04,960 Speaker 1: acceleration to provide artificial gravity and space. Right just by 355 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 1: like continuously accelerating a capsule or providing angular momentum acceleration 356 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: in a circular pattern, you can pretty much perfectly simulate 357 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: what gravity is like. So if you're on or near 358 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: the Earth's surface, you are sort of permanently on an 359 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,239 Speaker 1: invisible train that wants to begin accelerating straight down at 360 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: nine point eight meters per second per second, and we'll 361 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: just keep going nine point eight meters per second, faster 362 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,120 Speaker 1: every second, and it's always going to start chugging unless 363 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,919 Speaker 1: there's something pushing you back, pushing you to hold you 364 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,120 Speaker 1: in place. Now, there's one physics fact we all i think, 365 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: learned in school, which can be kind of confusing here. 366 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: So we need to make a sort of obvious but 367 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: important distinction. The acceleration due to gravity is the same 368 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: for all falling objects near Earth's surface. That's nine point 369 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 1: eight meters per second per second, no matter what you are, 370 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,880 Speaker 1: what kind of object you're talking about. But that does 371 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: not mean that all objects fall at the same rate. 372 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: This is obvious because of the effects of drag caused 373 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: by air resistance acting on the falling object. So this 374 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 1: is pretty obvious. When you drop a feather and a 375 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: hammer side by side, obviously the hammer hits the ground first, 376 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 1: unless say, you're on the Moon, where there is no atmosphere. 377 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: And this is actually a demonstration that was put on 378 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: during a moonwalk by the American astronaut David Scott in 379 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: nine they were out on the Have you seen the 380 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: video of this, Robert, I have, yes, Uh, it's it's impressive. 381 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: There also have been some recent videos that that have 382 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,400 Speaker 1: been put together using a vacuum chamber, but they're also 383 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: just as Uh. It's fascinating to watch because it seems 384 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,439 Speaker 1: it defies expectations because our expectations are based on a 385 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: world of atmosphere exactly right. Yeah, and the and the 386 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: vacuum chamber and on Earth works just as good because 387 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: it's nothing about the gravitational properties of the Moon that 388 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: make the feather fall just as fast as the hammer. 389 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 1: It's the fact, like you say that there is no 390 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: atmosphere to push up against it. Uh, no air to 391 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: slow down the feather. By the way I I looked 392 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: it up, it was a falcon feather. I wonder, without 393 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,120 Speaker 1: knowing the answer, if if there was like a committee 394 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: that decided that, where they're like, what kind of feather 395 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: are we sending on the mission, and someone's like, oh, 396 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: it should be the turkey, and it should be it 397 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: should be an American eagle. Uh, just like in basically 398 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: have the same conversation. They had a song about it 399 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: the dove. Uh. So anyway, if you're near Earth's surface 400 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: and you're falling, gravity is going to keep accelerating you 401 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: faster and faster until the drag of the atmosphere on 402 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: your body, which we call air resistance, stops you from 403 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,399 Speaker 1: speeding up anymore. And there you level out at a 404 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,120 Speaker 1: top speed, and it's never gonna be an exactly perfect 405 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: level top speed. You sort of approach a top speed 406 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: and get within of it and then wobble up and down, 407 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 1: and we call this terminal velocity. Now, exactly how fast 408 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: terminal velocity is depends on a number of factors. It's 409 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: the shape of the falling object. Like a one pound 410 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: dart will fall faster than a one pound blanket, right 411 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: because the blanket spreads out it catches the air, The 412 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: weight of the falling object. Obviously, heavier objects have more 413 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: power to overcome the air resistance forces on them. The 414 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: position or orientation of the following object. So imagine you 415 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: drop a plate and you could drop it flat side 416 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: down or you could drop it thin side down, and 417 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: that's going to make a difference. Another thing is what 418 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 1: medium the object is falling through and how dense the 419 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: medium is. For example, you can fall faster higher in 420 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: the atmosphere because the gas around you is thinner. This 421 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: is something that these high altitude jumpers of experience, like 422 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,159 Speaker 1: Felix Bomb gardner, you know, went up super high in 423 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: the atmosphere and jumped and was going faster earlier in 424 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 1: the jump, but got slowed down as the atmosphere got 425 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: thicker closer to the ground. So, based on all these 426 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: kinds of factors, for an adult human falling through the 427 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: atmosphere with no parachute, terminal velocity is going to vary 428 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: a lot. Of A common figure I've seen cited for 429 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: an adult human is that terminal velocity might be somewhere 430 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: around a hundred kilometers per hour, which is about fifty 431 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: four meters per second, or about a hundred and twenty 432 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,640 Speaker 1: miles per hour. And this seems to be the case 433 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 1: maybe if you are trying to fall as slowly as possible, 434 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,399 Speaker 1: say in a belly flop position, which sort of turns 435 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,400 Speaker 1: your body into a bio parachute, right because you try 436 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: to spread out and catch as much wind as possible. 437 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: But I was reading an article by Frazer Kine at 438 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: Universe Today, and he claimed that the skydivers who orient 439 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: their bodies like a dart so streamlined head first and 440 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: so forth, can accelerate to a much higher terminal velocity 441 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: of more like four hundred kilometers per hour, which is 442 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: around a hundred and eleven meters per second, which is 443 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: like double the speed of the belly flop orientation we 444 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: were just talking about. And again, of course it varies 445 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: depending on other factors about your body, your clothes and 446 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: all that. Another thing that's going to vary is how 447 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: far you have to fall before you reach or not reach, 448 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: but approach terminal velocity. Again, this is going to vary 449 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: according to all these individual factors about your body and 450 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: how you're falling in all that. But I've come across 451 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,680 Speaker 1: some wildly different estimates. So one article I was reading 452 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: in The Guardian by Ian Sample consulted Howie Weiss, who 453 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: is a professor of mathematics at Penn State University, to 454 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: calculate the rules, specifically for the case of Vestna Volkovich, 455 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: the Serbian flight attendant who survived the like thirty three 456 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: thousand footfall. According to Weiss quote, a free falling a 457 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty pound or fifty four woman would have 458 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 1: a terminal velocity of about thirty eight meters per second 459 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: uh and uh, and she would achieve of the speed 460 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: and about seven seconds. This means that she would be 461 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: falling about as fast as possible after falling for only 462 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty seven meters or about five hundred 463 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: and fifty feet. Other estimates for human terminal velocity takes 464 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: significantly more time and distance, but suffice to say that 465 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: if you fall out of an airplane at cruising altitude, 466 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: there is no doubt that you will end up falling 467 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,479 Speaker 1: as fast as you possibly can, and it will be 468 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,879 Speaker 1: very fast. It might be, you know, between two hundred 469 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:03,640 Speaker 1: and four hundred kilometers per hour. An interesting side note 470 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: is just some anecdotes I was reading about about skydiving 471 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,439 Speaker 1: that mentioned what it feels like when you approach terminal 472 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: velocity on a fall like Apparently the body sensation is 473 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 1: different from the sensation during that period of constant acceleration 474 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: that we're used to in a fall. Normally, we don't 475 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 1: ever reach terminal velocity, so we don't know what it 476 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,120 Speaker 1: feels like, so we think of a fall as this 477 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: feeling of weightlessness, you know, the free fall feeling. But 478 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: apparently once you get in your terminal velocity, I've seen 479 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: some people claim you sort of feel your weight again. 480 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: You sort of feel as if you are resting on 481 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: a cushion made of wind. Does that make sense, like 482 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: because you're not accelerating anymore, right, right? Yeah? Because like 483 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: I said when I when I jump off jumped off 484 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: the high dive a couple of weeks ago, I definitely 485 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: felt acceleration. I did not feel weightless. I felt very weighted. Um. 486 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, if you're reaching the point where where you're 487 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: no longer accelerating, yeah, it seems like you would. You 488 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: would reach to this point where everything is normalized at 489 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: least for a few more seconds. Well there you might. 490 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: This is interesting because I sometimes feel like the words 491 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: feel it that way too. But you're sort of inverting 492 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: the weight less versus weighted feeling. Right Like do astronauts 493 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: who are forever accelerating because they're forever in free fall? 494 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,239 Speaker 1: Do they feel weight less or weighted? I guess they 495 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: would say weight less, but yeah, you could also think 496 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: of it as like you feel weight less when your 497 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: body is supported by something, or if you just stop 498 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: to contemplate gravity, you can start feeling rather weighted. You know. 499 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,159 Speaker 1: It's because again, these forces are acting on us at 500 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: all all times. We just are used to a certain level. 501 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: As we brought up a minute ago, we know from 502 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: lots of human experience that a fall from just like 503 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: ten ft can easily kill a person depending on how 504 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: they land, and in those cases you wouldn't be traveling 505 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: anywhere near your terminal velocity. So obviously hitting the ground 506 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: from a fall of a few hundred meters or more 507 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,680 Speaker 1: is going to cause massive trauma to the body and 508 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: will almost always result in death. But like, how what 509 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: actually happens here in the body? Well, since falling from 510 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: a great height applies massive impact force to your body 511 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: when you hit the ground, there are a lot of 512 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: different ways for the fall to kill you, but apparently 513 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,440 Speaker 1: the most common fatal injury is caused by a fall 514 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: are arterial damage due to the breaking of the spine. 515 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: Sorry to get graphic here for a second, but this 516 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: is just for the sake of specificity. Uh. The article 517 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: in the Guardian quote Sean Hughes, who's a professor of 518 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: surgery at Imperial College London, who says the quote, most 519 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: people who fall from a great height die because they 520 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 1: fracture their spine near the top and so transsect the 521 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: a order which carries blood out of the heart. And 522 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,679 Speaker 1: so obviously that pretty clear why that would kill you. 523 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,919 Speaker 1: That that's very bad. Alright, so we have we have 524 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: we've described the problem here of falling from a great 525 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,920 Speaker 1: height and and and by necessity impacting the ground. We're 526 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: gonna take a break. When we come back, we're gonna 527 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:03,680 Speaker 1: discuss what the survival tactics actually are, you know too, 528 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: and the extent to which you can actually deploy them 529 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: during free fall. Thank all right, we're back. So obviously, 530 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: any fall from a great height is going to be 531 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: really dangerous and it would probably kill anybody. So these 532 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: high altitude survival stories are very unlikely, and you should 533 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,159 Speaker 1: not get it in your head that you can like 534 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: jump out of an airplane and survive. But there are 535 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: some factors that appear to increase a person's odds of 536 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 1: surviving a great fall out of the sky, at least 537 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,640 Speaker 1: based on the anecdotes we have, so let's talk about them. 538 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: I wanted to refer to a couple of pretty good 539 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: articles I found on this subject, sort of collecting the 540 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: opinions of experts over the years on long free falls. 541 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: One was a two thousand article in Popular Mechanics by 542 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: Dan Keppel. One was a more recent article in NPR 543 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: by Paul Chisholm and the Paul Chisholm article and NPR 544 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: spoke to an associate professor of physics Southeastern Louisiana State 545 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: University named Rhet Alan, who pointed out that obviously, human 546 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: survival of long free falls is not something you can 547 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: run real life experiments on. You can't push people out 548 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 1: of airplanes to test it out, So we can only 549 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: reason based on sort of hypothetical scenarios and by analyzing 550 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: the anecdotes of people who actually survive accidental falls. So 551 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: we're sort of, you know, it's kind of like digging 552 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: up fossils. It's like we're stuck with whatever data happened 553 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: to have already you know, been available to us. Yeah, 554 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: And it's also it's kind of a it's very much 555 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: like it's a modern problem that's presented itself, you know. 556 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: I mean, we've barely had airplanes and uh, you know, 557 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: into to a certain extent, we've barely had had had 558 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: the sort of massive structures or even access to some 559 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: of the massive features to to engage in these types 560 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: of falls to begin with. Sure, all right, so first question, 561 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: how to fall? Capital points out that you're you're actually 562 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: probably better off falling out of a plane lane than 563 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: falling out of a tall building from a height of 564 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: more than a few hundred feet, because you're gonna reach 565 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,719 Speaker 1: similarly high speeds either way. But if you fall out 566 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: out of a building, you don't really have any time, right, 567 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: You're gonna hit the ground pretty much before you know it, 568 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: Whereas if you fall out of the sky a few 569 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,440 Speaker 1: thousand meters up, you may actually have more time to 570 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: plan your descent, like the figures I was I was 571 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: looking at, or that if you were to jump, if 572 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: you jump out of a plane at ten thousand feet, 573 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: you basically have one minute, uh, not counting you know 574 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,920 Speaker 1: any you know, types of shoots you would deploy, et cetera. 575 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 1: But you basically have a minute of of of of descent. 576 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: Now there are some downsides there too, though. Jumping out 577 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: of a plane, Uh, if you're higher up in the atmosphere, 578 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: it's very possible that you could pass out due to hypoxia. 579 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: Thinner atmosphere, your your lack of access to oxygen means 580 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: that you black out and then maybe you know, you 581 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: are not able to actually plan your descent at all 582 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: because you because you're unconscious. Of course, I don't know 583 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: if there's anything you can do about that other than 584 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: if you know you always want to have an oxygen 585 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: mask with you that that doesn't seem very practical. Uh. 586 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: The Massachusetts based amateur historian Jim Hamilton's has collected reports 587 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: of free fall survivors and noticed a few trends about 588 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: survival rates in the different ways that people fall. So 589 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: passengers from airplanes, he finds, are more likely to survive 590 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: if they arrive at the ground among other wreckage He 591 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: calls these people wreckage riders. That's that they're more likely 592 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: to survive that than if they fall free of the 593 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: plane and hit the ground. Independently, He's found almost three 594 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: times as many cases of people surviving from airplane altitude 595 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: as a as a wreckage rider than he has of 596 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: people surviving a solo fall like Alan Magee did or 597 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: McGee did. And it seems that like airplane seats and 598 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: parts of the airplane fuselage and so forth can sometimes 599 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: have a protective cushioning effect at the point of impact. 600 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: So like, so you hit the ground, and sometimes these 601 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: things can absorb some of the energy or or slow 602 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: your deceleration. All right, So if it all possible, be 603 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 1: a wreckage writer, right, Chisholm points out that not like 604 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: you have any control over this, but it helps helps 605 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 1: you to be smaller because a person's falling speed is 606 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: determined by this negotiation between gravity and air resistance. Gravity, 607 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 1: of course accelerates your fall, but air resistance slows you 608 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: down and puts a limit on how much gravity can 609 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: accelerate you. So as a human increases in size, this 610 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: is going to affect the falling body equation in two 611 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: different ways. It will increase your weight, which helps gravity 612 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: overcome air resistance and makes your terminal velocity faster, pulls 613 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 1: you faster. But it will also increase your surface area. 614 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: So as you increase your surface area, you increase your 615 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: drag and function more like a parachute. So you just 616 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: have to look into the math of which of these 617 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: factors wins out, as like a normal like mammal becomes bigger, 618 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: and it turns out the gravity wins out. Even though 619 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: you increase your surface area, the extra weight makes a 620 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: bigger difference. So like if you drop an ant off 621 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: your roof, it's probably gonna be fine when it hits 622 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: the ground. You drop a horse off your roof, not 623 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: so much. Oh yeah, I mean insects and other invertebrates 624 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: are are a notoriously great followers. They can fall from 625 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: great heights and and suffer no damage. Yeah, there's a 626 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: quote from JBS Holliday in writing in who wrote, you 627 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: can drop a mouse down a thousand yard mine shaft, 628 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: and on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight 629 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: shock and walks away. A rat is killed, a man 630 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: is broken, a horse splashes. Uh. Keppel's article notes also 631 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: along similar lines, that it may help to be a child. 632 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: For some reason, many of the survivors of airplane related 633 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: free fall or children. And this is obviously anecdotal, but 634 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: the trend probably indicates something, uh, he writes. Quote the 635 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: Federal Aviation Agency study notes that kids, especially they're those 636 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: under the age of four or have more flexible skeletons, 637 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: more relaxed muscle tone us and a higher proportion of 638 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: subcutaneous fat which helps protect internal organs. Well, this, this, uh, 639 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,319 Speaker 1: you know, matches up with research I've done in the 640 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: past on just sort of the durability of children. You know, 641 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,279 Speaker 1: especially as parents, we often think of of of young 642 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: children as being just you know, highly vulnerable, and in 643 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,440 Speaker 1: certain respects they are, but they are also uh, they 644 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,799 Speaker 1: have evolved to be durable at that stage as well, 645 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,560 Speaker 1: and to you know, to survive falls and stumbles and 646 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: the you know, the various kind of hazards that they 647 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,719 Speaker 1: are inevitably going to encounter at that age. Also, this 648 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: feature of falling might be obvious, but if you can 649 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:44,719 Speaker 1: somehow slow yourself down with some kind of parachute like object, 650 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,560 Speaker 1: that's good. Yeah, And that's something that comes up in 651 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: some of the accounts I was looking at, because a 652 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: lot of the accounts do involve uh, sky divers, people 653 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 1: who of course putting themselves in a position like this 654 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: on a regular basis, you know, actually falling through the sky. 655 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: And you know, most of the time they you know, 656 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: their shoots are gonna work just like they hope they would. 657 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: But when you encounter a technical problem with the shoot, 658 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: like sometimes the shoot, even though the shoots failing, it 659 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,839 Speaker 1: is still sort of like half deploying or it's doing 660 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: something to spin them around and and potentially uh, you know, 661 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: disrupt their acceleration. Yeah. I mean, anything that is slowing 662 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: you down is good, even if it's not slowing you 663 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: down as much as it's supposed to. If it's slowing 664 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: you down some that's increasing your odds. Okay, next question 665 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,880 Speaker 1: is a big question where to land. So if you 666 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: accept that you can somewhat steer your fall by the 667 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: way you orient your body in the air, you might 668 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:43,279 Speaker 1: have some amount of power over exactly where you come down. Uh. 669 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: And the bottom line for for where you land is 670 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: that you want to increase your deceleration distance. You want 671 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,800 Speaker 1: to spread out your slow down over a bigger distance 672 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,480 Speaker 1: rather than slowing down and stopping all at once. So 673 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: if you, like in a cartoon, if you could aim 674 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 1: for the mattress factory exactly, that would be where you 675 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,279 Speaker 1: would want to land. And this is why landing in 676 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: a net helps or something. You know, the net, like 677 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,040 Speaker 1: the tension of it absorbs some of the energy of 678 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: your fall and it slows down your deceleration or you 679 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:17,439 Speaker 1: decelerate over a longer distance as the net stretches when 680 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 1: it catches you. So if you could actually aim for 681 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: any enormous circus tent like that would be ideal, not 682 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:25,560 Speaker 1: I mean, And if there happened to be a net 683 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: inside the circus tent for the trapeze artist, you know, 684 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: I guess that would help as well, right, now, normally 685 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: there's not going to be a net out anywhere that 686 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: you would be falling. But some there are some things 687 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: that might be kind of equivalent, probably not as good 688 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 1: as a net. Falling into trees or bushes seems to 689 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 1: have both positives and negatives, but I think the positives 690 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:49,880 Speaker 1: might outweigh the negatives. By hitting plant matter, you increase 691 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 1: your deceleration distance and you slow your fall more gradually, 692 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: because I mean, you probably are going to get very 693 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,319 Speaker 1: injured if you fall into plant matter. But by like 694 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: hitting branches at differ front levels instead of stopping at 695 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,239 Speaker 1: the ground all at once, you slow your fall. You 696 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,839 Speaker 1: kind of put your your your injury on installment plan. Yeah, 697 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,279 Speaker 1: but then also you I mean, there are downsides. You 698 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 1: run the risk of being like stabbed by branches as 699 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,319 Speaker 1: you fall into trees, But there are people who have 700 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: survived really long falls by falling into thick plant matter, 701 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,560 Speaker 1: into bushes or into tree limbs. Snow seems to be 702 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,200 Speaker 1: a very good choice. There are multiple accounts of people 703 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,800 Speaker 1: surviving great falls after landing in snow. I would imagine 704 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: that unpacked snow as best. Again, you want, you know, 705 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: a softer thing to crash into too slow to increase 706 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: your deceleration distance. Hay stacks are apparently good, and then 707 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 1: hitting the roof of some types of human structures can 708 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 1: be better than hitting solid ground. Specifically if you think 709 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,759 Speaker 1: that the roof might that you might break through the roof, 710 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 1: like Alan McGee crashing through the glass skylight at the 711 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: train station, because this breakthrough point is going to slow 712 00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: your fall without completely stopping you all at once. Yeah, 713 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 1: or like a thatched roope would be ideal as well. 714 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,640 Speaker 1: You know, to bring up a pro wrestling example here, 715 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 1: anyone who's watched the pro wrestling has probably seen somebody 716 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:12,320 Speaker 1: fall off of something through a table, through something like 717 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: a folding table. It makes an impressive noise. It looks 718 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: impressive to watch this falling body, uh, you know destroy 719 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: a table, sometimes two or three tables on the way down. 720 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: But of course ultimately that is breaking the fall of 721 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: the wrestler and hurt the more to just go straight 722 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: to the ground. Yeah. The accounts I've heard of from 723 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,359 Speaker 1: pro wrestlers of them taking bumps where they say, jump 724 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,520 Speaker 1: off of a top rope and land just on their 725 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: back at the ringside like that has been Like those 726 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:42,920 Speaker 1: have been the scarier bumps they've described where they talk 727 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: about their like feeling their organs like jostle around inside 728 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: their body. That is not a feeling I want to feel. Right. So, 729 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: in the same way, if you're falling off the top rope, 730 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,719 Speaker 1: you should aim for the tables and uh, you know, 731 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 1: even if it's not completely cafe. And if you're jumping 732 00:38:58,400 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: out of the if you're falling out of that plane, 733 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: you should aim for the thatched roof for the or 734 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,400 Speaker 1: even the the the the greenhouse, or you know, whatever 735 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: is better than just hitting just the you know, an 736 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,880 Speaker 1: open pavement area. Yeah, exactly. Again, what you want to 737 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,399 Speaker 1: think is something that will make you not stop all 738 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,720 Speaker 1: at once. Now, a big question here is actually about water. 739 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:24,000 Speaker 1: There's disagreement about weather water is a good choice. Hitting 740 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 1: water at high speed is not like jumping off the 741 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,800 Speaker 1: high dive. Hitting water at high speed will still cause 742 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,279 Speaker 1: massive injuries. It's often said that hitting water after a 743 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:37,360 Speaker 1: great fall isn't that much different from hitting concrete. Right. However, 744 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,279 Speaker 1: I will say, do a belly flop off the high dive, 745 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:42,439 Speaker 1: or actually don't do a belly flop off the high 746 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:44,799 Speaker 1: but just do a normal belly flop off of a 747 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: normal diving board or cannonball. What have you feel that 748 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:52,279 Speaker 1: smack of water against your body and uh, and you know, 749 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,399 Speaker 1: get a sense of what some of the physics we're 750 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 1: talking about here, because that that that smack can sting 751 00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: and we're talking a fall of like you know, four 752 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: five feet, yeah, exactly. Uh. And then also with water, 753 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: you had the risk that even if you survived the impact, 754 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,520 Speaker 1: you could be injured or knocked unconscious. And then you're 755 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,680 Speaker 1: at risk of drowning, right because you're in the water. Uh. 756 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: If you have to hit water. There's also a question 757 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:18,320 Speaker 1: of how best to orient your body. I guess we 758 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,279 Speaker 1: can look at that along with the next question, which 759 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: is how to land, not where to land? Uh. So 760 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: there's conflicting advice and research indications here. There there are 761 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,520 Speaker 1: very few clear takeaways except don't land on your head. Right. 762 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 1: But to explore the discrepancies we've come across, so Keppel's 763 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,239 Speaker 1: article introduces the difficulty in knowing the best way to 764 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 1: position the body for impact. UH. Kepple looks at in 765 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two study in the journal war Medicine that 766 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,160 Speaker 1: seemed to be of the opinion that the best bet 767 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:53,200 Speaker 1: is distribution of impact pressure across the body through quote 768 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 1: wide body impact. So that makes it sound like you'd 769 00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:58,960 Speaker 1: want a belly flop of the maybe not belly flop, 770 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: but somehow distribute it across the body, uh, you know, longitudinally. 771 00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:06,200 Speaker 1: Then again, there was a nineteen sixty three report by 772 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,399 Speaker 1: the Federal Aviation Agency that argued that survival is most 773 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,360 Speaker 1: likely if you get into quote the classic sky divers 774 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 1: landing stance feet together, heels up, flexed knees, and hips. 775 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: Keppel argues that studies of people jumping from bridges indicate 776 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,640 Speaker 1: that the best way to survive hitting water is probably 777 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,920 Speaker 1: what's known as the pencil. So that's like feet first, 778 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,439 Speaker 1: knifelike kind of entry. But obviously this doesn't always work. 779 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: And he also points out the tradition of cliff divers 780 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 1: of Acapulco who dive head first from great heights and 781 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,480 Speaker 1: they lock their hands together with arms outstretched over their 782 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: heads to protect their heads from the impact with the water. 783 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: He also advises for water landings quote clinch your butt. 784 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:53,040 Speaker 1: So unfortunately it seems like a jumble of conflicting advice there, 785 00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:55,359 Speaker 1: and and it doesn't get any better with the other 786 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,960 Speaker 1: sources we were looking at Chisholm's article consults some experts 787 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: here that also are not in agreement uh the the 788 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 1: the expert we mentioned earlier, Alan points out that for 789 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,480 Speaker 1: some reason, some studies have found that human bodies seem 790 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:12,920 Speaker 1: to be generally more tolerant of G forces in particular directions, 791 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:15,800 Speaker 1: like NASA figured this out during some of their experiments 792 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,640 Speaker 1: with test pilots in the nineteen sixties, that the body 793 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: seems more tolerant of G forces pushing from the front 794 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,359 Speaker 1: of the body to the back. This is referred to 795 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:27,080 Speaker 1: and you sort of picture this. This is referred to 796 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 1: as eyeballs in G force as opposed to eyeballs out 797 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,799 Speaker 1: up or down. Other types of forces such as eyeballs 798 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:38,080 Speaker 1: down are more traumatic to the body. So I hadn't 799 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,640 Speaker 1: really thought about this, but but it makes sense when 800 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,239 Speaker 1: you when you look at various um like especially like 801 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: supersonic aircraft. You may, of course you're gonna have a 802 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,760 Speaker 1: pilot position where they need to have a forward facing 803 00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: view out of the airplane, but you may have other 804 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,360 Speaker 1: roles in the plane that do not require that, or 805 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,840 Speaker 1: even you know, do not allow a direct forward facing 806 00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: view out of the plane. And in those cases you 807 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 1: still of the Uh, this particular individual will still be 808 00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 1: facing forward, Yeah, because apparently the body is more tolerant 809 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,160 Speaker 1: of g forces that way. Uh So, given this consideration, 810 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: it might seem like the best way for your body 811 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,600 Speaker 1: to absorb impact would be to land on your back 812 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,560 Speaker 1: face up. But there's a problem with that, which is 813 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:20,319 Speaker 1: that it seems like this would be more likely to 814 00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,240 Speaker 1: generate a harder impact on the head, which is exactly 815 00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,239 Speaker 1: what you don't want to do, to say nothing of 816 00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:27,280 Speaker 1: the spine. I mean, it's almost like we're not designed 817 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: for this kind of impact at all, exactly. You know, 818 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,480 Speaker 1: it's it's bad no matter how you do it. Uh. 819 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,040 Speaker 1: The one last source they look at here is the 820 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,560 Speaker 1: Chisholm Mentions, a study by the Highway Safety Research Institute 821 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:42,120 Speaker 1: from n which looked at over a hundred case studies 822 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,720 Speaker 1: of fall victims and note that these were short distance falls, 823 00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:49,080 Speaker 1: probably not terminal velocity falls, but the study found that 824 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 1: landing feet first gives you the best survival odds. So basically, 825 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: here we've heard almost every different kind of possible recommendation 826 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,959 Speaker 1: for how to orient the body for land accept land 827 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,759 Speaker 1: on your head. You don't want to land on your head. 828 00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: I would have to say that this seems like an 829 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,359 Speaker 1: area in which the science is not settled. So when 830 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,480 Speaker 1: we were, you know, looking into this, I have to 831 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:12,440 Speaker 1: say that the first thing that came into my mind 832 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,279 Speaker 1: was the Kids in the Hall sketch. Yeah. I used 833 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,239 Speaker 1: to be a big Kids in the Hall of fan 834 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:20,799 Speaker 1: just because it was you know, it was on TV 835 00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:22,799 Speaker 1: all the time, so I was always watching Kids in 836 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,920 Speaker 1: the Hall, Kids in the Hall. Oh yeah, it's some 837 00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:28,400 Speaker 1: some wonderful sketches in there. But there was a particular 838 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:32,200 Speaker 1: sketch from season one titled The Odds, during which a 839 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:35,040 Speaker 1: bunch of sky divers are encountering just a series of 840 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:41,239 Speaker 1: fatal parachute mishaps, one after the other, and and finally, Uh, 841 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,359 Speaker 1: Bruce McCulloch's character is the last one left on the 842 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,640 Speaker 1: plane that that hasn't jumped, and he's there having a 843 00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:52,000 Speaker 1: discussion with Mark McKinney's character, and Bruce's character begins discussing 844 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: the odds of this series of terrible jumps occurring the 845 00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:00,680 Speaker 1: way they occurred, and he finally reaches an illogical conclusion. So, uh, 846 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:05,120 Speaker 1: Bruce's character, you know, says, says says, Uh says, alright, alright, alright, 847 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:07,040 Speaker 1: you know it's like, okay, well, what are the odds 848 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,759 Speaker 1: of all this happening? Where the odds of four individuals 849 00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,600 Speaker 1: plumbing to their deaths with one of them being on 850 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,200 Speaker 1: the very first jump, two of them being twins, and 851 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:19,040 Speaker 1: then one winning the lottery, like all these these odds 852 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 1: would make it just just insurmountable. And then Mark's character 853 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:24,439 Speaker 1: tells him what would be roughly sixty three million to one, 854 00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: and Bruce's character says, quote, not good enough. If these parachutes, 855 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,080 Speaker 1: I've been watching them defy the odds all day. I'm 856 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:34,800 Speaker 1: jumping without one. And then he takes off his parachute 857 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:36,360 Speaker 1: and he says, he asked, what are the odds of 858 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,799 Speaker 1: a guy jumping from ten thousand feet and hitting the 859 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:42,680 Speaker 1: pavement running? And Mark tells him two to one, and 860 00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: then Bruce says, good, I'm off, and he said I'm 861 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,400 Speaker 1: feeling lucky, and he jumps and he's saying it's working, 862 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,200 Speaker 1: it's working, it's working, and then there's a splat sound. Right, 863 00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:52,759 Speaker 1: But so so I have to say I've never given 864 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,200 Speaker 1: the scenario a lot of scrutiny, but I do think 865 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:58,480 Speaker 1: of it every single time someone discusses hitting the ground 866 00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:02,400 Speaker 1: running on the topic. I imagine um, Bruce McCulloch, um, 867 00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,040 Speaker 1: you know, plummeting to his death with this optimism in mind. 868 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:07,480 Speaker 1: And I think that the kid is kind of a 869 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: fun send up of our basic inability to comprehend large 870 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,319 Speaker 1: numbers or or the odds of any given scenario. Well, 871 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,560 Speaker 1: it makes me think about that old thing where it's like, 872 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,479 Speaker 1: if you're in a in a plane that's going down 873 00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,040 Speaker 1: or an elevator that's falling, if you jump at the 874 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,200 Speaker 1: last second, then you'll be fine. Yeah, that's not how 875 00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:26,880 Speaker 1: it works, isn't. No, not not at all. And by 876 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:28,440 Speaker 1: the way I look to see, I was thinking, well, 877 00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,239 Speaker 1: Kids in the Hall has been out a while, and 878 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:32,719 Speaker 1: people are always doing you know, kind of interesting like 879 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:36,800 Speaker 1: physics based blog post or even full fledged papers exploring 880 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,640 Speaker 1: a particular topic. And I haven't seen anybody, you know, 881 00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 1: uh myth bust uh this particular sketch. Yet maybe I'm wrong. 882 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,560 Speaker 1: If I am wrong, someone please send me in some 883 00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:51,480 Speaker 1: myth busting on this. But I think the basic idea is, uh, 884 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,719 Speaker 1: hitting the ground running would not work, And this line 885 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:56,920 Speaker 1: of thinking does. Following like you said, with the idea 886 00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:58,759 Speaker 1: of well, could you jump out of a crashing plane 887 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:01,000 Speaker 1: right before it hits the ground. And so five. And 888 00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:04,000 Speaker 1: this question, these questions in general, tend to ignore the 889 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:07,000 Speaker 1: fact that you're not merely a board of falling plane. 890 00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:10,120 Speaker 1: You're falling with the plane, and if you jump off 891 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:13,000 Speaker 1: the plane, you're still falling at the same pace, with 892 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:16,799 Speaker 1: the same acceleration. Especially at high speeds. There's virtually no 893 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:20,440 Speaker 1: scenario in which the jump is going to make, you know, 894 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:23,600 Speaker 1: a huge difference. But when I was looking around about this, 895 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:27,520 Speaker 1: I did run across another account of survival from a 896 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: fall of a great height. Uh, similar scenario to some 897 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:32,880 Speaker 1: of the ones we've discussed already. Uh. It was the 898 00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:35,600 Speaker 1: it's the story of two thousand six survival story of 899 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:38,800 Speaker 1: a twenty five year old experienced, experienced jumper who encountered 900 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:42,200 Speaker 1: a series of shoot malfunctions from a fifteen thousand foot jump. 901 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,439 Speaker 1: And there there's an interview with this guy on Vice 902 00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: Uh and basically he tried everything. Um, you know, he 903 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: had a very logical fall. You know, it's where it's 904 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:56,160 Speaker 1: like he's deploying the first shoot doesn't work, Okay, deploying 905 00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 1: the second shoot does not work, and uh, and then 906 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:03,200 Speaker 1: he makes a rushed logical peace with death at that 907 00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:05,879 Speaker 1: point where he's like, Okay, I've done everything, I can do, 908 00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:09,080 Speaker 1: nothing else I can do. I'm I'm probably gonna die, 909 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:12,920 Speaker 1: And he essentially goes limp and falls and impacts in 910 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:15,600 Speaker 1: a small BlackBerry bush, like not a huge bush, but 911 00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:18,839 Speaker 1: you know, a fairly small one by his description, ends 912 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:23,799 Speaker 1: up shattering his left foot like really badly, but he survived. 913 00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:27,279 Speaker 1: He didn't hit the ground vertically but and so so 914 00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,200 Speaker 1: the impact was you know, deflected through his body. And 915 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 1: in the Vice interview he recommended his recommendations for falling, 916 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:37,480 Speaker 1: which he said ultimately he he didn't have any logical 917 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:40,640 Speaker 1: um strategy in mind. He just was like, Okay, I 918 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,160 Speaker 1: guess I'm hitting the ground. But he said in retrospect 919 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:47,120 Speaker 1: he would say don't tense up, you know, in the 920 00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:49,200 Speaker 1: same and then we see this in discussion of car 921 00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:52,040 Speaker 1: crashes as well, like like don't tense your body for 922 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: the impact if if you at all have any say 923 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:58,240 Speaker 1: so in this and then also land in a shrub 924 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:00,680 Speaker 1: or a tree if you can. We falls in line 925 00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,719 Speaker 1: with some of the advice and uh analysis we looked 926 00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:06,600 Speaker 1: at already. Yeah, well, I'd say top lane takeaway today, 927 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,560 Speaker 1: Don't jump out of an airplane without a parachute. Don't 928 00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,440 Speaker 1: fall out of an airplane without a parachute if you 929 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,520 Speaker 1: can help it. If you are in this scenario, see 930 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:17,560 Speaker 1: if you can land in like some snow and try 931 00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:20,279 Speaker 1: not to land on your head. Right. And as for 932 00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:21,759 Speaker 1: the kids in the Hall method, I guess that you 933 00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:24,120 Speaker 1: know the jury is still out, but that's probably not 934 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:26,880 Speaker 1: going to be your best strategy either. All right, So 935 00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:29,160 Speaker 1: there you have it. Uh. The fun thing about this 936 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:31,920 Speaker 1: episode is that I know we have some skydivers out there. 937 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:35,840 Speaker 1: We have to have some skydivers. We've heard from skydivers before. 938 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:38,040 Speaker 1: All right, Well now it's really they're time to shine 939 00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:40,680 Speaker 1: because I wanna you know, we want to hear anything 940 00:49:40,719 --> 00:49:43,600 Speaker 1: and just about your your your thoughts on this particular topic. Certainly, 941 00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 1: if you know anybody who has a survival story like 942 00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:47,839 Speaker 1: this or app one yourself to share, we would love 943 00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:49,879 Speaker 1: to hear that. But just in general, like your your 944 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:54,040 Speaker 1: thoughts on on the you know, the feeling, the sensation 945 00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:57,520 Speaker 1: of of of descending through the air at these these 946 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:00,759 Speaker 1: great speeds and with these great great distances. What is 947 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,040 Speaker 1: that like? We would love to hear from you. What 948 00:50:03,080 --> 00:50:06,640 Speaker 1: does it feel like to hit terminal velocity when you freefall? Yeah, 949 00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:08,839 Speaker 1: where do you fall? In on our various descriptions of 950 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:12,920 Speaker 1: you know, feeling weighted versus feeling witless. In the meantime, 951 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:14,560 Speaker 1: check out stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. That's 952 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:16,480 Speaker 1: some other ship the wets where you'll find all the 953 00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,000 Speaker 1: episodes of this show. If you want to chat about 954 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,120 Speaker 1: the show with other listeners, there is a Facebook group 955 00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:25,120 Speaker 1: called Stuff to Blow your Mind Discussion Module, And do 956 00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:27,319 Speaker 1: a search on that platform and you will find it. 957 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,360 Speaker 1: And uh, hey, if you want to support the show, 958 00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:33,040 Speaker 1: the best thing you can do is rate and review 959 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:35,759 Speaker 1: us wherever you have the power to do so, and 960 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:38,560 Speaker 1: make sure you have subscribed not only to Stuff to 961 00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:40,560 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind, but hey, the other podcast that Joe 962 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:43,520 Speaker 1: and I also hosts, which is called Invention. That's one 963 00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:47,400 Speaker 1: episode a week. Each episode is a different invention, or 964 00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: at least an episode on a particular invention or a 965 00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:52,520 Speaker 1: sort of a train of thought with inventions, looking at 966 00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:57,280 Speaker 1: basically human techno history, all this weird technology that humans 967 00:50:57,680 --> 00:50:59,759 Speaker 1: uh leave behind and what it says about us, what 968 00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:03,120 Speaker 1: it's says about human existence before the advent of these 969 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,960 Speaker 1: different inventions. Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio 970 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:10,680 Speaker 1: producers Seth Nicholas Johnson and Maya Cole. If you'd like 971 00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:12,560 Speaker 1: to get in touch with us with feedback on this 972 00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,200 Speaker 1: episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, 973 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:17,759 Speaker 1: or just to say hello, you can email us at 974 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:29,920 Speaker 1: contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff 975 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:31,880 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeart Radios 976 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,239 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, 977 00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:37,080 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 978 00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:40,839 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. God