Could you survive a fall into water....
Discussion
Fume troll said:
A couple of points of order:
People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
Statements along the lines of "hitting water at speed is like hitting concrete" are to simplistic. It's like hitting water at speed.
Cheers,
FT.
OK - to correct the ills.People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
Statements along the lines of "hitting water at speed is like hitting concrete" are to simplistic. It's like hitting water at speed.
Cheers,
FT.
Your chances of survival are so infinitesimally small that you could do pretty much whatever you wanted and increase your chances by a factor of nil^1000.
Hitting water at speed isn't really like hitting concrete, it's like hitting concrete with a very little bit of give to it. the amount of give will depend on the angle you hit it. Of the ~180 deg choice of angles available to you, 179.99 of those will result in an impact akin to hitting concrete.
Davi said:
Fume troll said:
A couple of points of order:
People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
Statements along the lines of "hitting water at speed is like hitting concrete" are to simplistic. It's like hitting water at speed.
Cheers,
FT.
OK - to correct the ills.People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
Statements along the lines of "hitting water at speed is like hitting concrete" are to simplistic. It's like hitting water at speed.
Cheers,
FT.
Your chances of survival are so infinitesimally small that you could do pretty much whatever you wanted and increase your chances by a factor of nil^1000.
Hitting water at speed isn't really like hitting concrete, it's like hitting concrete with a very little bit of give to it. the amount of give will depend on the angle you hit it. Of the ~180 deg choice of angles available to you, 179.99 of those will result in an impact akin to hitting concrete.
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
scorp said:
Fume troll said:
A couple of points of order:
People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
Do you have any counter points ? as all the examples you listed either didnt specify the height or didnt specify water.People posting "certain death" are clearly wrong.
I'd bet there were WW2 airmen who survived the fall into the water, and drowned later or died of their injuries.
Cheers,
FT.
dunno if this has already been said, too lazy to read whole thread.
If you land feet first, you will almost certainly suffer a crown fracture to the base of your skull. This is where the spine smashes through the bottom of the skull and makes a horrible mess of the brain stem and other squishy bits. This usually seen in people who jump off buildings and land on their feet. (Although one woman was driving in a car once, sitting too close to the steering wheel, she crashed and the airbag fired her back and up, hitting the headrest and giving her a crown fracture and death)
you are actually better off landing flat, as the shock is spread out over the whole of your body - but then you are likely to suffer a torn aorta (like Princess Diana).
If you must jump from the plane, your best bet is to aim for some trees, not water.
[tongueincheek]Alternatively, wait till the plane is just about to hit the ground and jump upwards, thus countering the downwards acceleration, you will make a soft landing![/tongueincheek]
If you land feet first, you will almost certainly suffer a crown fracture to the base of your skull. This is where the spine smashes through the bottom of the skull and makes a horrible mess of the brain stem and other squishy bits. This usually seen in people who jump off buildings and land on their feet. (Although one woman was driving in a car once, sitting too close to the steering wheel, she crashed and the airbag fired her back and up, hitting the headrest and giving her a crown fracture and death)
you are actually better off landing flat, as the shock is spread out over the whole of your body - but then you are likely to suffer a torn aorta (like Princess Diana).
If you must jump from the plane, your best bet is to aim for some trees, not water.
[tongueincheek]Alternatively, wait till the plane is just about to hit the ground and jump upwards, thus countering the downwards acceleration, you will make a soft landing![/tongueincheek]
Vesuvius 996 said:
I was once going out with a stewardess from VLM airlines.
She told me something interesting.
You know the "brace" position, like this.... which they tell you to adopt in a crash at 650 mph into the ground....
Well guess what.
The only reason they do it it not to improve your survival chances, which are nil anyway, but so that there is a cage of flesh and bones around your teeth, so that if they find you cureled up in a ball of melted flesh they can liekly find your teeth unburned in the middle of what amounts to an undercooked meatball and thus identify you and give your family something to bury.
What a girl.
This one was done to death on Mythbusters. Turns out it is actually the safest way to be in a crash. Stops your neck breaking too. Unfortunately most of the economy flights these days dont actually have the leg room needed to adopt this postion. Cynics would say that budget airlines started the rumour quoted above to make people feel less bad about things.She told me something interesting.
You know the "brace" position, like this.... which they tell you to adopt in a crash at 650 mph into the ground....
Well guess what.
The only reason they do it it not to improve your survival chances, which are nil anyway, but so that there is a cage of flesh and bones around your teeth, so that if they find you cureled up in a ball of melted flesh they can liekly find your teeth unburned in the middle of what amounts to an undercooked meatball and thus identify you and give your family something to bury.
What a girl.
Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Wednesday 23 July 13:04
Fume troll said:
Well it seems (to me, at least) that if people have survived significant falls into trees, snow and swamps, then water should be survivable too.
Er, the point being that the trees, snow & swamps decelerated their bodies in a (slightly) more controlled fashion than concrete / water.esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
pdV6 said:
Fume troll said:
Well it seems (to me, at least) that if people have survived significant falls into trees, snow and swamps, then water should be survivable too.
Er, the point being that the trees, snow & swamps decelerated their bodies in a (slightly) more controlled fashion than concrete / water.Cheers,
FT.
Jonny671 said:
esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
Edited by filski666 on Wednesday 23 July 13:28
garyhun said:
roboxm3 said:
I've often wondered about this; surely a feet first entry, toes pointed, legs tensed ect to make your body as streamline as possible would be alright.....wouldn't it!?
I think you'd snap in half. Surely being relaxed is the way 
filski666 said:
Jonny671 said:
esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
Edited by filski666 on Wednesday 23 July 13:28
Cheers,
FT.
filski666 said:
Jonny671 said:
esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
Edited by filski666 on Wednesday 23 July 13:28
I don't think they take compressors to put bubbles in the water..
renrut said:
Vesuvius 996 said:
You know the "brace" position ...
...and give your family something to bury.
This one was done to death on Mythbusters. Turns out it is actually the safest way to be in a crash. Stops your neck breaking too. Unfortunately most of the economy flights these days dont actually have the leg room needed to adopt this postion. Cynics would say that budget airlines started the rumour quoted above to make people feel less bad about things....and give your family something to bury.
Personally i just thought that it was found to be a more acceptable way of indicating the true situation. Ie bend over, put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye.
Fume troll said:
filski666 said:
Jonny671 said:
esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
Edited by filski666 on Wednesday 23 July 13:28
Cheers,
FT.
Mythbusters said:
Can Jamie and Adam cheat death? We'll find out. First, they test the theory that a person could survive a leap from a bridge by throwing a hammer in the water first. According to urban legend, the hammer should break the plane of the water's surface, thereby softening the landing.
It was interesting, but each time they tried it.. Buster "died" Fume troll said:
filski666 said:
Jonny671 said:
esselte said:
Jonny671 said:
Did anyone see what they did on Mythbusters?
They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
I don't think that's quite right...people dive from 20 metres regularly with no ill effects...They dropped "Buster" from about 60ft and he just basically broke into pieces. They even dropped a hammer first to break the surface of the water, it did no better.
Their outcome was certain death even from that little height.
Edited by filski666 on Wednesday 23 July 13:28
Cheers,
FT.
SLacKer said:
garyhun said:
roboxm3 said:
I've often wondered about this; surely a feet first entry, toes pointed, legs tensed ect to make your body as streamline as possible would be alright.....wouldn't it!?
I think you'd snap in half. Surely being relaxed is the way Fume troll said:
I LOVE Pistonheads!!
Great work!
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