Jumper survives 6,000ft free fall

[Sum Yung Guy]

http://1.2.3.12/bmi/newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45793000/jpg/_45793166_parachute_180509_2jpgonline.jpg
Mr Boole said he could not make sense of his survival

A skydiver from Staffordshire has survived a 6,000ft free fall in Russia without his parachute.

James Boole, from Tamworth, said he was supposed to have been given a signal by another skydiver to open the parachute, but it came two seconds too late.

Mr Boole, who was filming the other skydiver for a television documentary, landed on snow-covered rocks and suffered a broken back and rib.

"What went through my mind was my wife and my daughter," he said.

"I really thought that I was going to die - incredible feeling of sadness and just how unfair that was."

Mr Boole, who has made 2,500 jumps, is now back at home in a body brace.

He said: "(The other flyer) took us so close to the ground where I thought I was dead.

"When I finally looked at the ground and realised how low I was, I knew there was no time for me to get a full parachute above my head.

"For the first 48 hours after the accident I thought maybe I am dead and this is some kind of after-life limbo, or some other reality, because I couldn't make sense of it - how I was still here to come through this?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/ZEaq9AErAIs
Video shot from the plane captures the moment the skydivers hit the ground

His wife, Kristina, who is also a skydiver, said: "For the moment I'm thinking just of him to recover, so not about jumping or anything like that.

"But yeah (I) would like him to stop doing that."

From: BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/8056599.stm)

[D3V]

That's a ridiculous story, I guess the snow must've taken the blunt of the hit. I think human falling velocity is like 80-something MPH, so to survive a fall from that distance is just crazy.

[Chruser]

That's a ridiculous story, I guess the snow must've taken the blunt of the hit. I think human falling velocity is like 80-something MPH, so to survive a fall from that distance is just crazy.


The lowest terminal velocity of a skydiver is approximately 56 m/s (125 mph)[1 (http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:5hg2na-2V4gJ:hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml&cd=1&hl=sv&ct=clnk&gl=se)][2 (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml)]. Speeds of over 89 m/s (200 mph) can be achieved close to Earth if the cross section of the skydiver is minimized.

Since more than 99% of terminal velocity is reached after a free-fall of approximately 15 seconds (after falling 395 meters or approximately 1/4 mile)[3 (http://www.justanswer.com/questions/nag7-long-sky-diver-reach)], falling any distance farther than that will have no difference in impact.

Furthermore, Vesna Vulović (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87) holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute, at 33,330 feet (10,160 meters). However, she was either trapped in the fuselage as it fell, or was positioned in a flight chair. One of them absorbed most of the damage from the fall.

I've never read about anyone surviving a completely unaided free fall of over 25 meters at a perpendicular angle into reasonably solid ground. James Boole was most likely saved by her half-opened parachute.

[Sum Yung Guy]

James Boole was most likely saved by her half-opened parachute.

His half-opened parachute.

[HandOfHeaven]

I wonder how deep the snow was. That's quite amazing though.

[Sum Yung Guy]

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ytpd3b.jpg

[Willkillforfood]

He fell on a slope, so some of the energy went to sliding him ..and the snow increased the amount of time it took for him to slow down to a stop. This lowers the amount of energy he got at any instant.

[WetWired]

Somehow, none of that diminishes the fact that a man jumped out of a plane at altitude and survived an uncontrolled landing.

[Willkillforfood]

He's a lucky man. If he had actually hit solid, flat ground, then it'd have been even more remarkable (imo). I know some people have before.

[JRwakebord]

Whoa. That's pretty fucking intense.

[Asamin]

@WW: Agreed. I think they are Just trying to understand it

[!King_Amazon!]

I'm glad he made it, would be a shame to lose such a great guy.

http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Jumper/jumper_uk_movie_poster_onesheet.jpg

[D3V]

I lol'ed

[Mantralord]

i can probably break the fall with my dick

[S2 AM]

Ya well in the James Bond movie Moonraker I think it was(one of the few with the character Jaws), Jaws survives jumping from a plane higher than 6000 ft and lands on flat ground(not a snow covered slope). And we all know the James Bond movies are documentaries shot in real-time, not hollywood movies.

[HandOfHeaven]

Jaws was a fucking beast, even though the fall would've killed him.

[JRwakebord]

The man bit through a steel cable, and you're discussing the realism of his on screen actions?

[S2 AM]

The man bit through a steel cable, and you're discussing the realism of his on screen actions?

Apparently you missed this part:

And we all know the James Bond movies are documentaries shot in real-time, not hollywood movies.

[WetWired]

I think James Bond's camera-man would be a more dangerous job than being James Bond himself :p

[Chruser]

Ya well in the James Bond movie Moonraker I think it was(one of the few with the character Jaws), Jaws survives jumping from a plane higher than 6000 ft and lands on flat ground(not a snow covered slope).


Lies! Jaws landed on a circus tent, which probably had a safety net installed.

[WetWired]

Hmm. I have to admit that it's possible...