Ed asked Dede this weekend how she would prefer to die: falling out of a jet at 35,000 feet, burning, or drowning. Obviously, this was a multiple choice test and he didn't offer, "none of the above." Dede chose falling out of a jet, because at that distance a person would lose consciousness and reduce the amount of terror before splatting on that greatest of windshields: planet earth.
Ed googled to see if this were so. Indeed, above 5000 feet, you will lose consciousness, BUT you will regain consciousness below 5000 feet. YOU WILL REGAIN CONSCIOUSNESS WHILE SPEEDING TO YOUR DEATH.
The palms of my hands are sweating as I type.
There's more. People have lived falling from this distance. It helps if you fall on someone else. So you might use this as a strategy. If you are falling as a couple, you might toss a coin to see who gets to be on top. I suppose landing feet first would also be a good idea. Being fat might help as well.
Ed told me about this while he was filling his tank at a gas station in Pittsburgh. "I just bought $25.00 in lottery tickets," he said. "The lottery is worth close to 300 million dollars right now."
We muse how we would spend such money.
"Here's a statistic you'll like," he said. "You have a better chance of falling out of an airplane and living than you do winning the lottery."
I don't want this to be true.
"It's true," he said.
And yet, someone has to win that lottery.
Just correcting one fact. You will become conscious again at 22,000 feet, not 5,000 feet. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how you look at it. At 5,000 feet you only have about 10 to 15 seconds to impact (advantage is you get it over quickly). At 22,000 feet you still have about 2 minutes left to impact (advantage is you get an extra two minutes to enjoy the ride).
ReplyDeleteRoger just read this story JUST TODAY (I'm not going to read anything into that fact): http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-02/world/germany.aircrash.survivor_1_plane-air-crash-minor-injuries?_s=PM:WORLD
ReplyDeleteAs the plane broke into pieces in midair, Koepcke was thrust out into the open air. "Suddenly there was this amazing silence. The plane was gone. I must have been unconscious and then came to in midair. I was flying, spinning through the air and I could see the forest spinning beneath me."
Then Koepcke lost consciousness again. She fell more than three kilometers (two miles) into the jungle canopy but miraculously survived with only minor injuries."
Ed, you know me and numbers. I wouldn't like falling from 5000 feet either.
ReplyDeleteMargy, thank you for that story. If ever I fall from a plane I'll be sure it's over a jungle canopy.
What about this guy that survived falling out of a plane AND won the lottery?
ReplyDeleteFrano Selak: 'world's luckiest man'...
Oh yeah, and he survived a plane crash, two car fires, getting hit by a bus and even driving his car off of a cliff. Just a typical day in the life of Frano the Croatian. Just one or two of his escapes from death are crazy stories, but with their powers combined, I might go with, absurd.
this was a terrifyingly funny post. yikes.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes look out of the airplane windows and decide whether or not the earth below us looks soft enough to crash on. Trees always win, water too (but I know that is a myth), and rocks are right out!
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