"[...] observers who are freely falling—whether into a black hole or toward the ground—don’t feel the force of gravity, [...]" They will if there's enough of a

"[...] observers who are freely falling—whether into a black hole or toward the ground—don’t feel the force of gravity, [...]" They will if there's enough of a gradient and the observers are not ideal points. Many years ago, Larry Niven wrote a story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_Star_%28short_story%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_Star_%28short_story%29 ) where tidal forces killed observers trying to orbit a neutron star.