Posted on 04/16/2022 1:25:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Jordan Hatmaker was skydiving in November when the worst thing that could happen happened: Her parachute didn’t open.
The plane was more than 13,000 feet above the ground when she jumped, and she hit the ground at about 80 miles per hour.
Hatmaker’s reserve parachute did actually deploy, but it made her main parachute pop out at the same time.
“They pulled away from each other in the air and then dragged me down in kind of a spiral motion,” she explained.
Once she realized she was going down, Hatmaker had one minute before she hit the ground.
Hatmaker believes that the way she fell saved her life, with her leg hitting the ground first.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
It is estimated that the human body reaches 99% of its low level terminal velocity after falling 573 m (1,880 ft) which takes 13 - 14 sec. This is 188-201 km/h (117 - 125 mph) at normal atmospheric pressure in a random posture, but up to 298 km/h (185 mph) in a head down position.
The article did mention that the parachutes (reserve and main) did deploy but got tangled, so she may not have reached terminal velocity.
Whatever the case, she was d@mn lucky.
IN this day and age, bring one on board and I will.........
Shortly after I got my pilot's license I took a co-worker who had been a paratrooper for a ride. Kept saying he wished he could jump out.
I see what may have broken her fall
LOL, that’s what I posted later in the thread. 😁
She is lucky to be alive.
For Sale: One used parachute. Never opened. One small stain.
Most of the high altitude freefalls were military. Iirc, the bulk of them occurred in WWII, though other wars have contributed to the total. Most were pilots or aircrew who decided to jump rather than burn. Terminal velocity is terminal velocity. Deep snow helps. Several came down in pine forests that broke the fall. My favorite story remains Alan Magee, the B-17 ball turret gunner with a damaged parachute who lost consciousness and was sucked out of the plane when AA fire ripped it open. He survived a 22,000 foot freefall by crashing through the glass skylight in the St Nazaire train station. He was of course badly injured but the German docs saved him.
This gal has a pretty good story to tell. She probably won’t have to buy her own drinks for a while.
The Lord just didn’t want him yet!
Her, I mean🙄
I don’t imagine she has ever had to buy her own drinks.
I have. He responds, "Now, Mom ..."
If I were her, I'd stick to making hats. That said, there's something about that brace she's wearing that I find titillating.
“ How much praying can you pack into one minute? ”
Just enough apparently.
Gotta parachute drunk.
Keep that body relaxed.
I remember reading that you are supposed to land on your side. And deciding never to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
I worked with a Russian girl who had over 2000 jumps by the year 2000.
I forget her name, but I hope she is still alive
saw your post after I had done mine
“I suspect the maths is all wrong but, jsut out of curiosity:”
Terms are wrong. lb ft is a unit of work not force.
Lb is a unit of force. (Typically not used for mass unless stated). In your use of being “pressed”, it is a force. Mass is not force, only a component of force. F=MxA
Didn’t check your math. But yes, a crushing blow to say the least. My guess is the ground was soft and her true vertical speed is unknown.
I thought it was funny we had the exact same thought.
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