Skydiver falls from 12,000 feet and lives

[Narrock]

Hmmmm this gives me an idea.....

We should put it to a test.....



Mindia, or Kinghooter come here!

[Xaiveir]

[10sun]

His speed at impact = 70-80mph, according to the expert witnesses present at the event.

I want you to stand in the middle of the desert.
Have another person drive a car straight towards you.
Guess what speed they are travelling at at a distance of a mile.

The "expert eyewitness" had no frame of reference for his guestimate as to the speed the man was traveling at.

[Tossica]

Well, if the 5000ft reference at the beginning of the video can be trusted, you can figure out how fast he was travelling fairly easily.

[Tikker]

Well, if the 5000ft reference at the beginning of the video can be trusted, you can figure out how fast he was travelling fairly easily.

if you had the whole video, sure

when you watch the video from his buddies perspective, you don't really see the guy pulling away that much(ie it didn't look like he was going even twice as fast)

[Arlos]

One of the "expert eyewitnesses" was the diver himself, who presumably over the course of 7000+ jumps is at least marginally able to determine the speed at which he was falling. (plus as you can see from the video, he wears an altimiter on his wrist, and such things would, I strongly suspect, include a descent speed indicator as well, as that's important information to someone trying to determine when to deploy a chute)

-Arlos

[Harrison]

I wouldn't be looking at my altimeter when I am about to slam into the ground.

I know he wasn't either.

[Tossica]

I'd guess he was probably travelling closer to 25MPH.

[Lueyen]

I wouldn't be looking at my altimeter when I am about to slam into the ground.

I know he wasn't either.

He didn't have to be, the film footage shows his altitude when he waves after deploying his reserve chute. I'm sure he was watching his altimeter to know when to pull his reserve because at that point it was his best chance at survival.

At 700ft - just seven seconds before impact - Mikey had no choice but to pull the reserve cable

No significant changes to the situation after 700 feet both chutes deployed as in no additional significant drag from the chutes. He would have been falling at 100 feet per second.

The film shows he was at 550ft - five-and-a-half seconds from the ground - when he waved.

So he was at 550ft and 5.5 seconds later he hit the ground.

550 feet/5.5 seconds = 100 feet per second (hmm looks like the reserve chute didn't slow him down).

1.467 feet per second = 1 mph

100 fps = 68.17 mph.

That is assuming a constant rate of fall, which wouldn't be reality but we know he didn't have any additional magic drag... if anything he would have been falling faster when he hit. The 70-80 is pretty much spot on.

No he wasn't free falling, but he didn't "land" at what would normally be considered by any stretch a survivable speed.