Is is possible to fall from a plane of altitude to that of a cruising jumbo jet and survive the fall?

Question

Assume that the falling person is naked so they only have their own body to combat their acceleration, and they can land anywhere in the world....?

Answer 1

Yes. This has happened

JAT (Jugoslavian Airlines) stewardess Vesna Vulović survived a fall of 33,000 feet on January 26, 1972 when she was thrown from JAT Flight 364 by a terrorist bomb. She broke several bones and was in a coma for 27 days.

Answer 2

Very, very unlikely.

The altitude of a cruising Jumbo Jet is around 35,000 feet. At that altitude the air is extremely thin and breathing would be virtually impossible.

It is also extremely cold, add in the wind chill factor as the naked body falls through the icy air at over 100 miles an hour and then there's the effect of the impact when he lands, even if it's on something soft......

Answer 3

Assuming the flight was over the open ocean,or across barren land such as the desert or Arctic regions,a Jumbo jet could cruise at 100 feet,in theory. How the 'plane would avoid obstructions,or recover from weather effects such as wind shear before it crashed is another question. At this height the fuel consumption would be excessive,fuel shortage alone would prevent a flight of many hours.

Answer 4

Possible, of course, but how likely? As some of the answerers have pointed out, there are many reasons why it is very very unlikely to survive such a fall.

But like someone also said, anything is possible. (Maybe I wouldn't use the word "anything.")

Like the pet (dog, I think) that got hit by a car, then shot to end its misery, then frozen (for a few hours) but survived. Most pets, I think, would have stopped at being shot.

Or like the guy in one CSI episode, who got an allergic reaction causing his throat to swell, then was injected with snake venom, smacked on the head with a golf club, shot through the throat with an arrow, and only managed to die when he fell into a swimming pool and drowned.

Most people, I think, are not tough enough or lucky enough to survive being thrown off an airplane at 10,000 metres. First, if your neck is not broken by the sudden assault of air hitting you at about 550 miles per hour. Then that same blast of very cold air ripping at your skin and lungs... remember wind chill factor. Then, if you're still conscious maybe you'd be able to control your descent... that is if you are able to see where is what, or could still sense where is up or down,.... And then land in such a way as to not tear your body apart. Yeah, I guess it IS possible. But very highly unlikely.

Answer 5

Kimon, totally wrong. You'd last long enough to get to breathable air (especially if you were unconscious) and the heat loss effect would also take time.

Vivian, also wrong - for different reasons. A cruising airliner flies at much greater altitudes.

Otter, spot on. I remember reading about the air hostess, I even remembered her name - but I think the Guinness Book of Records had her listed as falling from 33,300 rather than 33,000. I may be wrong, or maybe the data was re-assessed.

In any case, the ultimate answer is yes - and we have living proof.

Answer 6

You'd have pretty severe frostbite falling naked from 40,000 feet. Your best bet for survival would be to curl into a tight ball, which would simultaneously minimize your heat loss, and maximize your terminal velocity, reducing the trip time and thus the degree of frostbite. When you got nearer to the ground, you would want to fall with your arms and legs outstretched, minimizing your terminal velocity to around 120 mph. Then you'd have to land on something very soft, like a large mound of snow.

Answer 7

During WWII Flt Sgt Alkemede jumped from a burning Lancaster from a height of some 18000 ft. without a parachute - a choice between burning to death and sudden impact. He survived. Assuming that he had probably reached terminal velocity, doubling the height to some 36,000 ft wouldn't have made much difference

Answer 8

Jet stream is very cold, cold enough to super chill water to freeze on contact with any surface, the lack of oxygen is also likely to be a problem for you.

If you overcome potential death from freezing and asphyxia, you then have the hurdle of the initial impact and subsequent impacts from you bouncing.

Answer 9

The human body will only reach a certain speed regardless of height so as skydivers have landed in swamps etc after parachutes failed, I would say yes it would be possible.

Answer 10

If you really wanted to survive you could bite a part of your body off, eg.finger. You then throw it downwards to break the surface of a body of water so it won't be like hitting a concrete