4 ms·

Judging by his injuries (smashed ankles and broken hip), I guess that is exactly how he fell.

• nathancahill 9y ago
  From cliff jumping 13 meters and nearing ripping my hip out of it's socket by having my feet ever so _slighty_ apart, I can't imagine the amount of injury from 15,000 feet.
  • fgonzag 9y ago
    Fun fact, there is no difference between 2000 feet (about 600 meters) and 15,000 feet, because of terminal velocity. It also means that in a free fall spreading your body out horizontally to increase the drag forces, then re positioning just before landing would be the optimal choice. Not that you think of that in a free fall, but the physics are there.
    • clamprecht 9y ago
      I wonder if there's some way you can actually do the opposite: First, gain all the speed you can (speed is energy). Then before you hit the ground, do a kind of "flare", where you make your body into a wing, and decrease your downward energy. Do this right to the point of stall (as close as you can get) to reduce kinetic energy when you hit. I know it'd be basically impossible for a human to actually do this perfectly. But I wonder, in theory, how much one could reduce the impact energy. Maybe you could hit at 50mph instead of 120mph.
      • cat199 9y ago
        not an aviation/physics buff, but I think having a point of 'stall' implies there is some 'lift' to begin with..