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Jun. 13th, 2007 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyOn January 26th, 1972, Vesna Vulovic set a world record of the sort you expect she wishes she hadn't. She set a record for suviving the longest fall without a parachute.
When an explosion tore JAT Yugoslav Flight 364 to bits, everybody aboard the aircraft was killed except her. She fell 33,000 feet (6.31 miles), breaking almost every bone in her body and being temporarily paralysed from the waist down . However, she made a full recovery and became a Yugoslav national hero - presumably on the basis that if someone is that lucky then it's probably in your interest to make nice to them.
Perhaps more impressive is the story of Flight Sergeant Nick Alkemade, a tail gunner aboard a Lancaster bomber during the second world war. During an attack on Berlin his plane was repeatedly hit and started to go down. Nick's parachute was in the main plane and damage to the aircraft made it inaccessable and so rather than sit in a burning bomber as it plunged to earth, Nick decided he'd 'rather die quickly' and jumped out.
He fell 18,045 feet (about 3.5 miles) before landing on a snowy hillside covered in pine trees, the combination of which broke his fall and left him with no worse injury than a twisted ankle. Legend has it he sat and smoked whilst waiting for the Gestapo to show up and arrest him.
I find stories like this reassuring, because when it comes to heights I'm an absolute coward. Whenever I fly there's always the niggling thought in the back of my head that something might go awfully wrong and I could spend my last few minutes listening to the wind whistling past my ears and contemplating the rapidly approaching earth. The thought that there's a remote but finite chance of survival is oddly comforting. That said, it's quite likely that during the fall there'd be a sound like a kazoo as I crapped myself to death and I wouldn't live to impact, but that's a faint hope.
This is why I've never understood adrenaline junkies going bungee jumping, base jumping, skydiving or whatever. The fourth rung of a ladder makes my knees go a bit wobbly so the thought of hopping off a bridge or out of an aeroplane just makes me recoil in sphincter-clenching fear.
In terms of sheer pants wetting terror, though, it doens't get better than USAF Colonel Joe Kittinger. In 1959, he was part of Project Exelsior, a pre-Apollo Programme project to find out if astronauts stood any chance of surviving if something went wrong on launch and they had to bail out at high altitude. The only way to find out was for someone to do just that, and jump from high altitude.
On August 16th, 1960, Kittinger voluntarily jumped from a Helium balloon at 102,000 feet (about 20 miles). During his fall he was clocked by radar travelling at 714 mph (and in so doing became the only person ever to break the sound barrier unassisted). He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere which remain unbroken. There is no record of whether he screamed like a little girl all the way down, but I doubt he did. I know I would have.
The best bit of all of this is that he filmed his descent. So if you've ever wondered what it would be like to fall from outer space, I think it'd look something like this.
When an explosion tore JAT Yugoslav Flight 364 to bits, everybody aboard the aircraft was killed except her. She fell 33,000 feet (6.31 miles), breaking almost every bone in her body and being temporarily paralysed from the waist down . However, she made a full recovery and became a Yugoslav national hero - presumably on the basis that if someone is that lucky then it's probably in your interest to make nice to them.
Perhaps more impressive is the story of Flight Sergeant Nick Alkemade, a tail gunner aboard a Lancaster bomber during the second world war. During an attack on Berlin his plane was repeatedly hit and started to go down. Nick's parachute was in the main plane and damage to the aircraft made it inaccessable and so rather than sit in a burning bomber as it plunged to earth, Nick decided he'd 'rather die quickly' and jumped out.
He fell 18,045 feet (about 3.5 miles) before landing on a snowy hillside covered in pine trees, the combination of which broke his fall and left him with no worse injury than a twisted ankle. Legend has it he sat and smoked whilst waiting for the Gestapo to show up and arrest him.
I find stories like this reassuring, because when it comes to heights I'm an absolute coward. Whenever I fly there's always the niggling thought in the back of my head that something might go awfully wrong and I could spend my last few minutes listening to the wind whistling past my ears and contemplating the rapidly approaching earth. The thought that there's a remote but finite chance of survival is oddly comforting. That said, it's quite likely that during the fall there'd be a sound like a kazoo as I crapped myself to death and I wouldn't live to impact, but that's a faint hope.
This is why I've never understood adrenaline junkies going bungee jumping, base jumping, skydiving or whatever. The fourth rung of a ladder makes my knees go a bit wobbly so the thought of hopping off a bridge or out of an aeroplane just makes me recoil in sphincter-clenching fear.
In terms of sheer pants wetting terror, though, it doens't get better than USAF Colonel Joe Kittinger. In 1959, he was part of Project Exelsior, a pre-Apollo Programme project to find out if astronauts stood any chance of surviving if something went wrong on launch and they had to bail out at high altitude. The only way to find out was for someone to do just that, and jump from high altitude.
On August 16th, 1960, Kittinger voluntarily jumped from a Helium balloon at 102,000 feet (about 20 miles). During his fall he was clocked by radar travelling at 714 mph (and in so doing became the only person ever to break the sound barrier unassisted). He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere which remain unbroken. There is no record of whether he screamed like a little girl all the way down, but I doubt he did. I know I would have.
The best bit of all of this is that he filmed his descent. So if you've ever wondered what it would be like to fall from outer space, I think it'd look something like this.
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Date: 2007-06-13 09:47 am (UTC)The longest/highest wire slide in Europe is at the Eden Project. Robin and I did that last summer, and it was similarly great!
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Date: 2007-06-13 09:47 am (UTC)By the way, your really long one worded title is messing up my page layout. Curse you!
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Date: 2007-06-13 10:06 am (UTC)I think the reason I like stories like Kittinger's is because human aspiration and bravey make me go a bit bleary eyed and think 'Gee, maybe people aren't so bad after all!'
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Date: 2007-06-13 10:12 am (UTC)He is indeed an amazing man. Or he is missing the gene for fear. I get nervous up a step ladder!
How come...
Date: 2007-06-13 10:40 am (UTC)Re: How come...
Date: 2007-06-13 10:57 am (UTC)Re: How come...
Date: 2007-06-13 11:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 11:03 am (UTC)I'm a 'feet firmly on the ground' kinda gal. You won't get me jumping off/out of things for the f*ck of it.
I can't really walk to the window in a tall building without wanting to be sick, or fainting. Especially if it's one of those windows that spans floor to ceiling *shudder*puke*
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Date: 2007-06-13 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 01:55 pm (UTC)I have a fear of unstable heights, such as scaffolding, balloon rides and such. Those are not records I would like to break, thanks.
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Date: 2007-06-13 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 03:26 pm (UTC)---
You know, given all the air travel I've done in my life, I should statistically be overdue for an incident, but I've been altogether lucky so far (knocks on virtual wood).
Honestly, the only time I've been remotely concerned was during my flight to Nairobi...because as I looked out onto the open desert Nile River valley, I saw that there was a very good chance of surviving a crash-landing - at which point I'd be totally exposed to desert and wildlife, and unlikely to have a prompt emergency response. I took careful note of the bends in the Nile, tracking it by the flightmap and out my window, and carefully timed progress to estimate distances. I figured that - if I was lucky enough to be uninjured and mobile, and the pilot landed sufficiently close, I would be walking a minimum of 18 hours to the nearest water source...utterly necessary, even with the crocodile and hippo risks.
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Date: 2007-06-13 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 08:43 am (UTC)I'm guessing Kittinger didn't survive the fall? I wonder how he managed to breathe at such altitude.
I've always wanted to try base jumping.
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Date: 2007-06-14 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:57 am (UTC)o_0
Mind you, I suppose all falls at terminal velocity are ultimately the same. Or would you have more potential energy when you hit the ground? I can never remember.
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Date: 2007-06-14 09:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-06-14 10:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 02:49 pm (UTC)