You wake to the sight of serene blue skies,
but something’s not quite right… the sound of wind rushing past your ears and the unnerving
sensation of falling is your first clue. HOLD ON! You were in a plane when you went to sleep! GREAT SCOTT! You’re plummeting towards the earth! What are you going to do? I’m Stu, this is Debunked and we’re here
to sort the truth from the myths, and the facts from the misconceptions. There are a couple of different scenarios
you could find yourself in when hurtling towards the ground from heights of 35,000 feet (10,668m);
you will most likely either be attached to your seat, or an assortment of parts of the
plane’s fuselage, maybe a piece of the tail or a bit of the wing, or alternatively, you’ll
be free falling solo. I realise that being in free fall would technically
mean that you encountered no air resistance, but this is widely considered the term to
use for someone falling out of the sky. So do you have any hope at all of surviving
such a predicament, or should you relax and achieve a sense of inner peace as you say
goodbye to this world? Let's start with the scenario where you're
still strapped in to your seat or have some part of the wreckage attached to you. To better your situation, your first thought
might be to detach yourself as soon as you can, thinking the extra weight will only cause
you to hit the ground with even greater impact, but surprisingly you may be better off staying
put. One incredible survival story is that of Vesna
Vulovic, who fell with a chunk of the plane’s tail,
including her seat and a catering trolley, after the plane exploded at 33,300 feet (10,160
metres). After falling the distance, Vesna was lucky
enough to land in a bunch of trees situated on a snowy hillside. As she crashed down, the trees are believed
to have slowed her decent and the snow cushioned her final impact. However, trees usually come with their own
set of hazards, primarily; skewering. The tail section that Vesna was in, essentially
acted as a cocoon as she smashed through the branches. Although she still didn't exactly get off
scot-free. Vesna suffered a cracked skull, broken legs,
and three broken vertebrae, but she was alive and eventually made a near-full recovery. Surviving this way gives you the extra kudos
of the title ‘Wreckage Rider’. Unsurprisingly Vulovic holds the World Record
for the ‘Highest Fall Survived Without A Parachute’. Whether you find yourself in freefall or attached
to a part of falling fuselage, the thing you’ll want to establish is your terminal velocity,
which is the top speed you will be at when you hit Earth. The two forces acting on you are
Air Resistance, or Drag, And Gravity As you fall, atmospheric molecules will collide
with you in the opposite direction of your descent, this creates resistance to your freefall
called drag. The faster you fall the more drag you create
and this eventually slows your acceleration all the way down to zero. And at this point you have achieved your terminal
velocity, and will not fall any faster. The factors that will affect your terminal
velocity are Your Weight
Your Size And, Your Orientation When attached to wreckage, you'll need to
factor in its bulk as well. If you were in freefall without any debris,
the truth is it wouldn’t matter whether you were falling from 5,000 feet (1,524m)
or 35,000 feet (10,668m) because it’s estimated that the average
human body will reach 99% of its terminal velocity after falling 1,880ft (573m) which
should take you between 13 and 14 seconds. This will give you a whooping top speed of
around 124 miles per hour (200 KM/H), but this depends heavily on your body falling
flat. If you were in say a nose dive you could hit
speeds of between 260 and 270 miles per hour (418 - 434 KM/H)! Alternatively, what speed would you be falling
if you were still attached to part of the plane as you plummeted towards the earth? Well, this will obviously differ dramatically
depending on the amount of wreckage you’re attached to, its weight and its surface area. If we used the size of an average car as a
point of reference then according to Theoretical Physicist Matthew
Kleban (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY) you would hit a terminal velocity of between 200 and 300
miles per hour (322 - 483 KM/H). So it’s your call whether you want to take
advantage of the cocoon of the wreckage despite the fact that you may hit the ground at a
higher speed. There will be some viewers wondering whether
you should unclasp your seat belt and try jumping off of your wreckage in an attempt
to counter your speed. If you are wondering this, then I’m guessing
you haven’t seen this video (POINTS TO ELEVATOR FALL VIDEO), that will explain why you shouldn’t
bother spending your precious seconds attempting such a stunt. Anyway, statistically speaking thanks to the
likes of Vulovic, you are actually more likely to survive as a Wreckage Rider, this accounts
for nearly two thirds of the survival tally over those who survived an unaided ‘freefall’,
so it may be worth staying put. But that doesn’t mean if you find yourself
going solo that you’re resigned to certain death, since the dawn of aviation there have
been a surprising amount of freefall survivors, but we’ll get on to them shortly. Because before you’ve had a chance to make
any actual decisions you’ll pass out, the oxygen at 35,000 feet is so thin that hypoxia
sets in and you'll be unconscious for a mile or so as you tumble uncontrollably towards
the Earth. Another factor to consider at this altitude
is the outside temperature, during our investigation many people have questioned whether you’d
freeze to death outside the plane. Well at 35,000 ft the average ambient temperature
is around -65 degrees fahrenheit or -54 degrees Celsius, so it’s pretty darn chilly. Take into account your fall rate, and the
wind chill factor would take the temperature down towards -100 degrees C (APPROX -148 f). But you are accelerating towards 125 MPH so
you’d fall through this temperature into warmer conditions below fairly quickly. If you’re in freefall, with no wreckage
to protect you then you’re likely to suffer some frostbite, and in the worst case scenario
you could die from Thermal Shock, but in this scenario you’ve been lucky enough to survive
and now you’re awake... Now you’re awake, let’s set about reducing
your falling speed as much as you can. You essentially want to create as much drag
as possible, the more surface area you have the more atmospheric
molecules you will collide with and the slower you will descend. So spread your arms and legs out in a similar
formation to how you envision a skydiver to do so, this is known as the ‘Box’ or ‘Arch’
Position. And it will not only slow you down but give
you a greater dynamic stability, preventing you from tumbling uncontrollably any further. Once you’ve managed to stabilize your fall,
you can attempt the ‘Slow Fall’ technique by pushing down on the air with your arms
and legs, flattening out further. Many skydivers claim to reduce their fall
rate by around 10-15% after employing techniques like this. Well baggier, heavier clothes with long sleeves
and legs can help slow your descent, numerous skydiving jumpsuits are specifically DESIGNED
TO PROVIDE MORE DRAG. I
With these types of suits many Skydivers claim to be able to reduce their fall rate from
around 125 MPH (201 KPH) or above, down to between 100 and 110 MPH (160 - 177 KM/H),
depending on their size. However, most passengers aren’t likely to
be wearing one of these on your regular Scheduled Flight. If you were, well you may as well go the whole
9 yards and swap your hand luggage out for a parachute. For most of us, you’ll find the average
sweatshirt or pair of jeans aren’t designed with air resistance in mind, but you could
still reduce your speed by around 10%. With our speed decelerated as much as we possibly
can, it’s now time to decide what to land on. Past survivors have landed on a whole host
of different surfaces and lived to tell the tale. The longest unaided fall, i.e. in free-fall
with no wreckage or safety systems, was survived by Russian Airman Ivan Chisov who bailed from
his plane at of 22,000 feet (6,706m) as it was shot down in 1942. He lost consciousness and crash landed on
the edge of a ravine covered in 3 ft (0.9m) of snow and survived with a fractured pelvis
and temporary spinal injury. Being in the middle of WWII, a lot more people
were jumping from the sky than usual so he was shortly followed by US airman Alan Magee,
who fell from 20,000 feet (6,096m). He didn’t experience quite such a soft landing. After losing consciousness he crashed through
the glass roof of a train station before hitting the stone floor. Magee suffered a broken right leg and ankle,
a nearly severed right arm and multiple shrapnel wounds from the glass, but survived to fight
another day. Nicholas Alkemade followed in 1944 jumping
from 18,000 feet (5,486m), crashing through the branches of some pine trees before hitting
a snow covered forest floor. He hobbled away with nothing much more than
a twisted knee. In 1971 Juliane Koepcke survived falling 2
miles (3.2 KM) strapped, only, to her airliner seat. But more recently, survival stories have been
from skydives gone wrong. Michael Holmes, a seasoned skydiver who fell
2 miles (3.2 KM) after a parachute malfunction over Lake Taupo in New Zealand had only a
blackberry bush to break his fall. In his case the extra drag of the failed parachute
reduced his speed to 80 mph (129 KM/H) before impact, but the imprint of his body on the
ground was still visible for weeks after the incident and incredibly he could recount every
moment of his fall. “WHEN I WAS UP ABOVE LAKE TAUPO (TOW-PAW),
I HAD A LITTLE BIT OF HOPE THAT I'D LAND IN THE WATER. "BUT EVEN THEN, THE SENSIBLE PART OF ME KNEW
IT WOULDN'T BE ALL RIGHT - THAT I'D PROBABLY BE KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS AND AT BEST DROWN.” "TOWARDS THE END, I THOUGHT I WAS HEADED TOWARDS
THE AIRFIELD CAR PARK” “I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HIT THE CONCRETE
AND GRAVEL AND BE KILLED INSTANTLY." MICHAEL HOLMES | SKYDIVER So what would be the best surface to aim for? If like Holmes, you think aiming for water
is any better than hitting the car park, then I’m afraid you’d be wrong, water doesn’t
really compress, so colliding with it at 124mph (200 KM/H) would smash your body in the same
way as if you hit concrete. If water is the only option however, then
studies about bridge jump survivors indicate that a feet first entry offers the most survivable
outcome. Your legs are likely to be shattered, but
you may be able to ‘doggy paddle’ to safety. Oh and tense your butt cheeks closed, because
a colonic irrigation blast at that speed is likely to do you internal damage that you
won’t be paddling away from. But if you can, aim for something other than
water. Professor Ulf Björnstig from Umeå University
in Sweden, who has co-authored studies on the risks of skydiving, says that a person who has hit terminal velocity
will need at least a half meter of give or flexibility in the surface they hit to decelerate
their speed enough to avoid fatal injuries. Thick snow, haystacks, bushes and grassy marshlands
are your best bet, but even a ploughed field has proved a life saver in the past. If you are about to collide with some trees,
then the advice that skydivers follow when they come down in trees under normal conditions
will also come in useful. Position your elbows to cover your midriff
with your hands covering your face. This will protect your vital organs from being
sliced open as you crash down through the branches, and keep your legs springy and together
to absorb as much of the impact with the ground as possible. With your sights set on your desired surface,
just how on earth are you going to steer yourself towards that spot on earth? Luke Aikins demonstrated the plausibility
of such a task in 2016 when he set the World Record for a freefall from 25,000 feet (7,620m)
into a 100ft by 100ft (30m x 30m) net suspended 20 stories above the ground. Yeah, I know, that’s a pretty niche World
Record, but how did he do it? Well, as we have established, skydivers use
the ‘Box Position’ to give them the most stability in free fall, but this also allows
them to control their movements in the air. Banking your arms essentially means you use
them like the wings of a plane to steer yourself. Always start in the Box Position: To fly forward, pull your arms back slightly
at the shoulders and straighten your legs. To go back, extend your arms and bend your
knees. To steer right, twist your upper body slightly
to the right, dipping your right shoulder. And twist it slightly to the left dipping
your left shoulder to steer left. This is obviously a lot easier said than done,
but you needn't jump out of a plane to practice, there are vertical wind tunnels all over the
world that simulate the conditions of freefall where you can refine your skills should they
ever be called upon. Depending on the height you’re at, you can
easily cover a few miles horizontally while in freefall so don’t despair if you think
your desired landing spot is out of reach. The last stage of our epic journey is actually
landing… or more accurately hitting the ground. Having been in the Box Position for the majority
of your fall it’s now time to flip around and let your legs take the brunt of the impact. At 1,000 feet (305m) prior to your collision
with Earth, you’ll have roughly 6-10 seconds to get yourself in the legs down position. This is roughly what 1,000 feet (305m) looks
like. Remember, keep you legs bent and springy and
protect your midriff with you elbows and your face with hands. And finally, if you’ve successfully managed
all of that, then do your best roll to the side on impact, this is suggested to offer
protection to the Aorta, the body's largest artery. "MOST PEOPLE WHO FALL FROM A GREAT HEIGHT
DIE BECAUSE THEY FRACTURE THEIR SPINE NEAR THE TOP AND SO TRANSECT THE AORTA WHICH CARRIES
BLOOD OUT OF THE HEART," SEAN HUGHES, PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, IMPERIAL
COLLEGE, LONDON. As a side note, statistically you are most
likely to survive a fall from the cruising altitude of an airliner if you are a child. Why? Well a study by the Federal Aviation Agency
suggests that the disproportionately higher survival rate of children under the age of
4 may be due to the fact that their skeletons are more flexible, their subcutaneous fat levels are higher,
meaning that their internal organs are more protected, and of course they weigh less which inevitably
reduces their terminal velocity. But if you’re over the age of 4, which I
imagine most of you are, then don’t forget to take your newly acquired knowledge with
you on your next flight, because you just don’t know when you might need to call upon
it. If you would like to work out your terminal
velocity, and find out what the highest survivable fall into water is then visit our sponsors
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