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"To slow your descent, emulate a sky diver. Spread your arms and legs, present your chest to the ground, and arch your back and head upward." You will fall sli

"To slow your descent, emulate a sky diver. Spread your arms and legs, present your chest to the ground, and arch your back and head upward." You will fall slightly (5MPH-ish) slower if you instead arch your back and arms in the opposite way, as if attempting to hug a large beachball. This position is slightly less stable though, so you risk flailing around and increasing your speed. What the article did not discuss was any attempt at horizontal movement as a way of plummeting into something safer than a parking lot.

wensing 17y ago
something safer than a parking lot One of those pools of colored balls at a McDonald's Kids Playland?
- ShabbyDoo 17y ago
  That's the thing...unless you're a very experienced skydiver, you could not land under with a parachute inside something that small much less by flying your body at 120MPH. So, I think you'd be best off aiming for something big and kinda good -- like a bunch of scrub brush or a marsh.
  - electromagnetic 17y ago
    Agreed, even aiming for trees is a better prospect than concrete. You may run the risk of impalement, however you run a greater chance of catching a ton of weak branches and landing in a bed of mulch a foot thick. Again a corn field would be better than concrete, especially if you had horizontal momentum. Water is a bad idea, as stated in the article. If you're lucky, hitting a waterfall could possibly allow you to survive unharmed, although your targeting would have to be world-class. Landing mid-stream of a waterfall (that's not over rocks) would allow you to land in aerated water, which is essentially a giant cushion. Similarly, if you're over sea you'd either want to follow down a piece of your plane, or pray a major ocean liner just went down, because you'd want to hit the aerated water they'll leave behind. Also note: If you're over Venezuela, don't target any tall waterfalls. Hitting Angel falls is pointless, the water that hits the ground (not much does, most turns into vapor) is falling at its own terminal velocity . . . so you'll just hit wet stone at 120MPH. Concrete + Water, both things you're told to avoid.
mattmaroon 17y ago
I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Over most of America this gives you ample opportunity to find a tree. I've also read that you should come down in a sitting position on top of a tree. Haystacks seem like they would be too hard to spot until it's too late. A grain silo might be recognizable and have a thin enough roof to be helpful. I suppose you could aim for the suburbs and hope someone has one of those obnoxiously large trampolines.
- vanschelven 17y ago
  12 miles in any direction from 22,000 feet (the moment you reach breathable air) seems unlikely to me. That would imply 2.9 feet horizontal movement for every vertical foot. Edit: typo in the calculation fixed. (29 => 2.9)
  - ryanwaggoner 17y ago
    I think your math is wrong...12 miles is 63,360 feet, or 2.88 horizontal feet for every vertical foot. So yeah, it still seems impossible.
    - mattmaroon 17y ago
      Yeah it does. But I read it on the internet so it must be true.
- rlpb 17y ago
  > I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Skydiver here. You could manage a mile or two; no more. But both this and changing your body position is quite a bit harder than you might think. You have to push against the air in quite a counter-intuitive manner. A beginner will just flail about and probably start spinning; especially without any tuition.
  - ShabbyDoo 17y ago
    Yeah. Somebody who's really good at "tracking" (flying horizontally) can fall at about a 45 degree angle. So, from a couple miles up, ... Another thing not mentioned is that terminal velocity decreases as the air gets more dense. So, if you fall four miles, you can't track four miles -- the 45 degree thing is based on dense air.
Raphael 17y ago
FTFA: Glass hurts, but it gives. So does grass. Haystacks and bushes have cushioned surprised-to-be-alive free-fallers. Trees aren’t bad, though they tend to skewer. Snow? Absolutely. Swamps? With their mucky, plant-covered surface, even more awesome. Hamilton documents one case of a sky diver who, upon total parachute failure, was saved by bouncing off high-tension wires. Contrary to popular belief, water is an awful choice. Like concrete, liquid doesn’t compress. Hitting the ocean is essentially the same as colliding with a sidewalk, Hamilton explains, except that pavement (perhaps unfortunately) won’t “open up and swallow your shattered body.”
- ShabbyDoo 17y ago
  My point was that, given the choice between a swamp and a nearby and deep ball pit in the middle of a parking lot, the swamp would be a much better option given the low probability that one could actually hit the ball pit -- an argument not made in the article.

wensing 17y ago

something safer than a parking lot One of those pools of colored balls at a McDonald's Kids Playland?

ShabbyDoo 17y ago
That's the thing...unless you're a very experienced skydiver, you could not land under with a parachute inside something that small much less by flying your body at 120MPH. So, I think you'd be best off aiming for something big and kinda good -- like a bunch of scrub brush or a marsh.
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  Agreed, even aiming for trees is a better prospect than concrete. You may run the risk of impalement, however you run a greater chance of catching a ton of weak branches and landing in a bed of mulch a foot thick. Again a corn field would be better than concrete, especially if you had horizontal momentum. Water is a bad idea, as stated in the article. If you're lucky, hitting a waterfall could possibly allow you to survive unharmed, although your targeting would have to be world-class. Landing mid-stream of a waterfall (that's not over rocks) would allow you to land in aerated water, which is essentially a giant cushion. Similarly, if you're over sea you'd either want to follow down a piece of your plane, or pray a major ocean liner just went down, because you'd want to hit the aerated water they'll leave behind. Also note: If you're over Venezuela, don't target any tall waterfalls. Hitting Angel falls is pointless, the water that hits the ground (not much does, most turns into vapor) is falling at its own terminal velocity . . . so you'll just hit wet stone at 120MPH. Concrete + Water, both things you're told to avoid.

mattmaroon 17y ago

I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Over most of America this gives you ample opportunity to find a tree. I've also read that you should come down in a sitting position on top of a tree. Haystacks seem like they would be too hard to spot until it's too late. A grain silo might be recognizable and have a thin enough roof to be helpful. I suppose you could aim for the suburbs and hope someone has one of those obnoxiously large trampolines.

vanschelven 17y ago
12 miles in any direction from 22,000 feet (the moment you reach breathable air) seems unlikely to me. That would imply 2.9 feet horizontal movement for every vertical foot. Edit: typo in the calculation fixed. (29 => 2.9)
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  I think your math is wrong...12 miles is 63,360 feet, or 2.88 horizontal feet for every vertical foot. So yeah, it still seems impossible.
  - mattmaroon 17y ago
    Yeah it does. But I read it on the internet so it must be true.
rlpb 17y ago
> I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it. Skydiver here. You could manage a mile or two; no more. But both this and changing your body position is quite a bit harder than you might think. You have to push against the air in quite a counter-intuitive manner. A beginner will just flail about and probably start spinning; especially without any tuition.
- ShabbyDoo 17y ago
  Yeah. Somebody who's really good at "tracking" (flying horizontally) can fall at about a 45 degree angle. So, from a couple miles up, ... Another thing not mentioned is that terminal velocity decreases as the air gets more dense. So, if you fall four miles, you can't track four miles -- the 45 degree thing is based on dense air.

Raphael 17y ago

FTFA: Glass hurts, but it gives. So does grass. Haystacks and bushes have cushioned surprised-to-be-alive free-fallers. Trees aren’t bad, though they tend to skewer. Snow? Absolutely. Swamps? With their mucky, plant-covered surface, even more awesome. Hamilton documents one case of a sky diver who, upon total parachute failure, was saved by bouncing off high-tension wires. Contrary to popular belief, water is an awful choice. Like concrete, liquid doesn’t compress. Hitting the ocean is essentially the same as colliding with a sidewalk, Hamilton explains, except that pavement (perhaps unfortunately) won’t “open up and swallow your shattered body.”

ShabbyDoo 17y ago
My point was that, given the choice between a swamp and a nearby and deep ball pit in the middle of a parking lot, the swamp would be a much better option given the low probability that one could actually hit the ball pit -- an argument not made in the article.