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Free FallThe Free Fall Research Page |
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Free FallThe Free Fall Research Page |
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A few people have survived a fall of thousands of feet without a working parachute. This research page is dedicated to recording their stories. |
| Use the bar at the top or bottom of each page to find an area that interests you. In general, the stories fall into one of these categories Free Fallers, Wreckage Riders, Unlucky Skydivers, and Other Amazing Stories. Unsolved mysteries and the most recent incidents are catalogued on the Incident Log. You can also find a quick overview of the Free Fall Research page on our site map. Click here to visit the Green Harbor Publications store front where you can purchase the Long-Fall Survival report and other Green Harbor Publications books. Follow us on Twitter at FreeFallReport. |
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Free Fall News
39-Story NYC Skyscraper Fall September 2010: 22-year-old Thomas Magill survived an apparent suicide attempt after a 39-story fall when he crashed through the windshield of a parked 2008 Dodge Charger. The incident occurred on the west side of Manhattan on Tuesday August 31st. Magill was conscious after the fall and had surgery Tuesday night on his broken legs. For more details see these accounts in the New York Daily News: one is about the fall and the other is about his road to recovery. Free Fall News and Some Kind Comments August 2010: An unnamed 24-year-old survived a fall after colliding with another skydiver in Wilton, New South Wales, Australia. It's not clear how far he fell but his chute became tangled and his reserve failed to open. He was hospitalized with suspected spinal injuries. See the article in the Sydney Morning Herald for more details. If you have additional information, please let us know. The news about the Australian incident came to our attention via two Australian correspondents. Thanks to both of you for letting us know! One wrote: "I love the website - it's my all-time favourite, and I can't even be sure why! I just think it's great." We also have received new information on the Wally Benton incident that was added not long ago to the Incident Log. Our thanks go out to the Boise State University archive for their help! Another Skyscraper Fall Is in the News August 2010: Late in July a 15-year-old boy from New Zealand fell 16 stories off a balcony and survived. Falling through the roof of a parking garage (and missing the support beams) slowed his fall and aided his survival. See the Incident Log for more details. Free Fall Research Page Mentioned in Playboy Magazine May 2010: Someone informed me, I won't say who, that a reference to the Free Fall Research Page appeared in the letters section of Playboy magazine (the June issue, I think). Here is the question : My girlfriend, who is a bit of a daredevil in and out of the bedroom, wants to take me skydiving. She says not to worry, but if my chute fails, is it possible to survive the fall? H.M., Memphis Tennessee. Here's Playboy's answer: Do you love this woman? Because this won't be the last time she asks you to take a flying leap. As a novice skydiver you will be attached to an instructor who also doesn't want to die and will know how best to avoid it. That should take some worry out of the equation. Millions of people have dropped from the sky and survived, including at least 200 who didn't have chutes, according to Jim Hamilton, curator of the Free Fall Research Page (greenharbor.com) and author of Long-Fall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts. The exclusive club includes World War II gunners who lived after falling as far as four miles and airline passengers who rode down in the wreckage. If you ever find yourself in this unusual situation, look for trees, snow, mud or a hill you can roll down on impact. Aim feetfirst for water, but from anything higher than 10 stories it's going to be like hitting concrete. Have a good time. Allow me to nitpick for a moment: While there are more than 200 accounts described in the Long-Fall Survival report, about 50 of those are ranked as unconfirmed. Of the remainder, about half did have parachutes, but either they didn't open or they failed in one way or another. And as far as water goes, I don't think it cares how high you jumped from. It's equally hard from 10 or 10,000 feet, it depends more on how fast you are falling. In regard to the reader's question, I wish I could be more reassuring about skydiving for novices, but two recent stories about tandem jumps leave me determined to keep my feet firmly on the ground. (See below.) The Story of a Tandem Malfunction May 2010: Martin Swords, a tandem instructor from Mississippi described his experience on March 25, 2007: "I was taking a first time skydiver on a tandem jump. His name is Wayne. We left the Twin Otter at 14,000’. It was a normal exit and a great freefall. At 5500’ I pulled the main ripcord and it wouldn’t even come out so I pulled the student ripcord all the way out and nothing happened. I looked over at my video man and his eyes were bulging at this time. I thought to myself 'well this is interesting'. Then I pulled the reserve handle. The reserve opened beautifully but when it got opening shock it jarred the main loose and it started inflating. When I saw this I pulled the cutaway handle but the main didn’t fully release and flew right up into the reserve. I checked my altitude and we were at 3500’ at this point. The main slid up the reserve lines and collapsed the reserve and became a streamer itself over the reserve. I was pulling the toggles and doing everything I could think of to get it loose but to no avail. Wayne asked if we had a problem and I said we have a malfunction and he said what about the reserve. I said it’s tangled with the main. As I was dealing with it he asked probably the worst question I’ve ever been asked 'are we gonna die'. All I could think of was not if I can help it. That was our last conversation. I never got scared or panicked. I don’t think I had time to. I do remember praying and thanking God for my family. Then it was comfort. The last thing I remember before hitting the ground was saying 'Jesus help me' and I wrapped my arms and legs around Wayne to try to take the beating off him. I suffered 5 broken vertebrae and a shattered right femur. Wayne suffered 3 broken vertebrae. I now have all 5 vertebrae screwed together and my right leg is 1” shorter than my left. The last time I talked to Wayne he was doing okay. After 10 months of recovery I started jumping again and doing tandems. At the time of my accident I had around 3600 jumps and now have right at 4000. Was it scary? No, it wasn’t, you just try to make things right and never give up." So what Playboy said is true: Your tandem skydiving instructor does have strong motivation for everything to go well. It's clear also from this story that they are likely to go above and beyond the call of duty in an emergency. For another example, see this story about a tandem skydiving instructor named Dave Hartsock who was gravely injured trying to save his student. ABC News Article on Surviving Long Falls May 2010: Michael James of ABC News recently contacted the Free Fall Research Page about an article he was working on regarding long-fall survival stories. This article has recently been published and includes a reference to the Free Fall Research Page. The article is called They Fell From the Skies and Lived to Tell the Tale and can be found on the ABC News site. David Carkeet's New Novel From Away Is in Bookstores! April 2010: If you enjoyed David Carkeet's The Unplanned Freefall (and unless you lack a funny bone, you should have), then keep an eye out for his new novel From Away. From Away tells a story of mistaken identity, railroad modeling, and murder in a small Vermont town. Carkeet's protagonist, Dennis Braintree, works undercover to solve the murder that he's under suspicion of committing. We think you'll enjoy the quirky characters, the unpredictable plot, and the surprising conclusion. The book is published by the Overlook Press and is available for $25.95. See the David Carkeet web site for more information. The Amazingness Scale March 2010: Two long-fall survival stories were in the news recently, one from Chile (Alberto and Fernanda Rozas, see below) and one from South Africa (Lareese Butler). Both are amazing stories and both have been added to the Recent Incidents section of the Incident Log. Lareese Butler’s doctor (according to a quote in the Herald Sun via her stepfather) said "…it was nothing but divine intervention, nothing short of a miracle." You know where we stand on miracles so we won’t belabor that point, but we would like to describe what we call the “Amazingness Scale”, which is used to compare the various incidents described on this site. The highest possible Amazingness Scale score is 100, but no one has yet achieved that. A Free Faller falling without a parachute from higher than 30,000 feet would get a 100. The highest score recorded to date is a 96 for Vesna Vulovic. She lost five points for falling in wreckage but was given a bonus point for having a hotel named after her near the crash site. Nicholas Alkemade is another high scorer with a 91. He fell only 18,000 feet (compared to Vesna’s 33,000) but otherwise no other points were deducted. He got a bonus point for lighting up a cigarette as he contemplated his unbelievable luck. Lareese Butler scores a 55 on the Amazingness scale, losing points for her streaming parachute and relatively low altitude. Points are also taken off for recreational skydivers (as opposed to military cases), since their jumps are voluntary, though perhaps we should reconsider for her since one newspaper article reported that she was pushed. The 13-story fall of Alberto and Fernanda Rozas scores a 60 due to the low altitude and falling with wreckage. Anything north of a score of 80 is a very high score. Many wreckage riders and free fallers fit among that group. Two People Survive 13-Story Fall in Concepcion, Chile March 2010: An Associated Press story by Michael Warren describes how Alberto and Fernanda Rozas survived the collapse of their apartment building following the earthquake in Chile on February 27, 2010. They were in their 13th-floor apartment when the earthquake hit. After the building toppled over they were able to climb through a window to safety with only minor injuries. The article notes that seven people had died in the building and that by the following day 23 people were safe and another 60 were still trapped inside. Photos by AP Photographer Natacha Pisarenko provide some perspective on how the building fell over. (Search ap photo natacha pisarenko concepcion earthquake building for a number of images of the destroyed building). Rather than collapsing down on itself the building appears to have toppled over like a downed tree. This is an interesting long-fall case in that it represents a wreckage rider skyscraper fall. We have not been able to find any follow up stories about Alberto and Fernanda Rozas or any other survivors of the 15-story Rio Alta building they inhabited so if you have additional details on this, please let us know. The Beneficial Aerodynamic Qualities of a B-17 Tail February 2010: We’ve decided, after gathering many such stories, that if we ever fall in the tail of a wrecked aircraft, we want it to be a B-17 bomber. There are at least four incidents of B-17 tail gunners surviving long falls in a severed B-17 tail: James Jent, Joe Jones, Eugene Moran, and James Raley. See Wreckage Riders (though not all of these stories are up there, for example, the Raley account we have just discovered). Erwin Koszyczarek is another but there's a chance he might have been in a B-24 tail. Welcome New York Times Readers! February 2010: The New York Times blog picked up on Dan Koeppel's Popular Mechanics article. If you enjoyed Dan's article, you should have a look at David Carkeet's Unplanned Freefall. We highly recommend it. We also particularly enjoyed a poem submitted by Larry Eisenberg as a comment to the New York Times blog. Eisenberg builds on the contention that a Wreckage Rider has a better chance than a Free Faller: Free falling to me sounds appalling, But I'm happy to know I've a chance, Without some debris t'would be galling, And I'd look at the landing askance. So a piece of the Plane I must gather, E'er I plummet in free falling space, But I must admit that I would rather, Not be free falling in the first place! Long-Fall Illustrations January 2010: Green Harbor Publications has commissioned a series of twelve illustrations for a planned 2011 calendar. Each illustration will depict a celebrated case of long-fall survival. The first illustration has been completed (see below). Near Pucalipa, Peru: After a LANSA turboprop airliner broke up in a storm Juliane Koepcke fell thousands of feet into the rainforest (December 24, 1971)
Other incidents currently under consideration for inclusion in the calendar are:
January 2010: The February issue is out and includes Dan Koeppel's story: "Take a Fall - The 120-mph, 35,000-foot, 3-minutes-to-impact survival guide." For those of you who are here because of that article we hope you enjoy the Free Fall Research page. Please send comments/questions to Jim Hamilton. Check here to see the on-line version of Dan's article. Also of interest are the 5 Tales of Survival from Extreme Falls, which only appears in Popular Mechanics on-line. The comments to this article have provide a good lead that we've now included in the Incident Log (Tim Piggot/Pigott). An Apt Quote from a Short Story by Judy Budnitz January 2010: "The terror of falling is not the earth rushing up, smiling and effusive, to embrace you like an old friend you had hoped never to see again. Nor is it the fear of impact, the teeth-rattling jolt, like the violent thrust you close your eyes and brace yourself for in the night. It is the sense of betrayal, as you arch earthward like a shooting star and look down to see no one there waiting to catch you." From the short story "Flight" by Judy Budnitz (Flying Leap, Picador, New York, 1998) Kind of Fascinating December 2009: Warning – Rant ahead. What is it with "kind of" and "sort of"? The use of these phrases has expanded to ridiculous proportions. This week I heard someone say "I’m kind of very interested in…". Huh? How can you be "kind of very interested" in something? Either you are very interested or not. If they’d said "I’m kind of interested in it" that would make sense. That’s what the phrases are for. They downplay something and lessen its importance. I’ve heard PR people say that a new product or service is "sort of unique." It’s the same issue. It’s either unique or it’s not. It can’t be sort of unique any more than a woman can be sort of pregnant! The stories on the Free Fall Research Page are interesting, fascinating, compelling, and unique. There is no "sort of" or "kind of" about them. Free Fall Research Page in Upcoming Issue of Popular Mechanics November 2009: Dan Koeppel has written an article about falling survival stories for an upcoming issue of Popular Mechanics (probably the February 2010 issue). Koeppel is the author of "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World." You can learn more about Dan at www.dankoeppel.com and follow him on Twitter at soulbarn. Lost in the Spam Blizzard November 2009: Sorry for the guilt trip but here's what I have to put up with to assure that I can get e-mails addressed to the Free Fall web site. I post an e-mail address here (rather than using a form) and so it is picked up by every spam mailer in the world and used to send me Viagra, counterfeit watch, bogus degree, pirated software, Nigerian scam, and Canadian pharmaceutical offers. This past week I kept track of the number of total e-mails and the number of ones I actually cared about. Here are the results of this minor survey. Over those seven days I received 1,499 e-mails. That's more than 200 e-mails a day, with the busiest days in this week-long sample being Monday and Tuesday and the lightest Thursday and Saturday. Many of the spam messages purported to come from greenharbor.com addresses. (Though I love e-mail it baffles my mind that a system was created that makes it so easy to lie about where the e-mail was sent from.) Less than 1.3% of the e-mails received (a total of 20) were ones I cared anything about. A bunch of those were from places like Amazon.com, JetBlue, my bank, and my local NPR station. Only 7 of the good e-mails were actually from real people, and none of those were from someone I'd never heard from before. Despite all this spam I want to make clear that I make a point of replying to anyone who sends me a real e-mail, so if you ever write to me and don't hear back, try again. Your e-mail may have gotten lost in the spam blizzard. Want to be on Discovery TV? October 2009: We heard this week from Caroline Grist of Cineflix who is working on a new popular science series for the Discovery TV channel. They are preparing a film examining "what happens to the human body during free fall, and why some people survive ..." She would like to hear from any recent free fall survivors particularly those from the U.S. or Canada. They're looking into the factors that contribute to survival after a free fall including position at landing. So, if you survived a free fall and want to be on TV, then here's your big chance. Here's another bonus if you are still doubtful: the series will be hosted by none other than William Shatner. We're on Twitter October 2009: If you would like to get Free Fall Research Page updates on Twitter then follow us at: FreeFallReport. The other Green Harbor Publications web pages (the Writing 69th home page and the 44th Bomb Group Roll of Honor) also have Twitter accounts. The accounts are Writing69th and 44thbgROH. Marstons Mills Update to the Travel Destinations page October 2009: Jim Hamilton recently visited Mystic Lake in Marstons Mills, the site of Lois Frotten's fall (see Unlucky Skydivers). If you visit Massachusetts and go to Cape Cod, you'll find this spot near the airport in Marstons Mills. See the Travel Destinations page for more details. New Layout for the Home Page October 2009: After years of having a two-column approach (one for Recent Developments and one for News) on the Free Fall Research home page, we have moved to a single column layout. We have also integrated past entries from the short-lived Free Fall blog. The home page now serves as the blog and anyone who wants to comment can e-mail Jim Hamilton. MythBusters III September 2009: We had a chance to meet one of the MythBusters build teams at a recent graphic arts trade show. Xerox brought in Tory Belleci, Kari Byron, and Grant Imahara for a lively session that covered the TV show as well as some myths about digital printing that Xerox busted during the hour-long event at Print 09 in Chicago. See this link for some visuals on the event. MythBusters II September 2009: Episode 69 of the fourth season of MythBusters (which aired December 13, 2006) tested whether a bomb explosion inside the skylight of a train station helped a World War II airman survive a 22,000 foot fall. The MythBusters team concluded that it could not have helped. They didn’t mention Free Faller Alan Magee by name, but he, of course, was the test case. This is (at least) the second MythBusters show on a Free Fall topic (see note on a Vesna Vulovic-inspired MythBusters episode below). It would be great to continue the MythBusters investigation to see how Magee really did survive. It would take, however, a much less TV-friendly type of work. What we need is for someone to go to St. Nazaire and do some library research on existing historical documents in either German or French. These might unlock the clues to Magee’s survival. Given that the train station exists today, it seems fairly likely that there was no devastating bomb explosion inside the station, but what is not entirely clear is whether he (A) fell through the skylight (and then hit something next inside the station), (B) he hit a glancing blow to the angled skylight and remained on the roof, or (C) some combination of the two (i.e. broke through the skylight and was left hanging in mid-air by his harness). If you live in or are traveling to St. Nazaire, France maybe you can help us find out. Paul Lewis August 2009: Paul Lewis survived a failed main parachute and a spiraling fall with a uncooperative reserve on August 14th in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England. The story has a lot of similarity to that of Shayna Richardson. See more on the Paul Lewis story in the Incident Log. Thanks to Roger Lee and Andy Gordon for sending us the link to the story. Out of a C-46 and Back in Again July 2009: Although this is not quite a long-fall story, it could have been. In this video pilot Fred Seals describes an incident that happened when he was the pilot of a C-46 Commando flying a troop re-supply mission in South Korea in March of 1952. The crew was having trouble (due to turbulence) in pushing the pallettes out of the aircraft. Seals told the co-pilot to take the controls and went back to help the crew. The aircraft was bouncing and fishtailing in the wind as Seals went to the back. During one particularly violent drop, Seals went out the side of the C-46. Seals looked down and could see the ground below him. He wondered which way it was to North Korea. He thought to watch out for the horizontal stabilizer. A moment later he was back in the C-46 on his hands and knees. Somehow the aircraft had scooped him out of the air and he came back in the same place he exited. This NBC report says that he was the only pilot ever to fall out of and back into an airplane, but that isn't the case. There have been other incidents, though it was more likely in open cockpit aircraft. Thanks to David Olson for sending us the link to the video. Saved by Snow May 2009: Another falling story was caught on video. This time it's from Russia and involves a cameraman named James Boole who was filming another skydiver, lost track of time, and opened his parachute too late. Hitting a snowy slope was key to his survival. See it on video and read more on the Incident Log. Long Fall Categories March 2009: As this research has progressed, stories have poured in. There are now more than 260 incidents in our database, only a small percentage of these are described on the web site. In addition to the main Free Faller, Wreckage Rider, and Unlucky Skydiver categories, some other groups have become apparent. These groups are described in more detail in the Long Fall Survival report, and some are described on this web site (such as the Lucky/Unlucky Skydivers) but there are two others categories that should be noted here as well. These are: Saved by Other and Low Altitude Ejection. Saved by Other refers to the rescue of a seemingly doomed individual through the actions (sometimes intentional, sometimes fortuitous) of another individual and includes accounts of two airmen who survived a descent under a single parachute. As befits the title Low Altitude Ejection, these individuals ejected from their aircraft at very low altitudes and survived the ejection without the benefit of a fully open parachute. See Other Amazing Stories for examples of both of these types of stories. Ray Noury, World War II Survival Story February 22, 2009: A new and fascinating World War II survival story came to light in the Providence Journal today. Falling from 15,000 feet after his aircraft exploded, Ray Noury was saved by a combination of (A) a tattered and ineffective parachute (held on by a single strap), (B) a conveniently placed ski slope, and (C) searchers who found him before he froze. Ray Noury, now 86 and living in Rhode Island, has been added to the Unlucky Skydivers page. The Providence Journal article includes a video interview with Mr. Noury. Another interesting intervew of Mr. Noury is one by Friar Roderick. Medal of Honor Winners January 2009: The Free Fall Research Page knows of three Medal of Honor winners who survived long falls either before or after they won the Medal of Honor. For more information, see the new Medal of Honor page. Eight Lives Left After 34 Story Fall December 2008: Agence France Press reports that a seven-year-old cat named "Voodoo" recently survived a 34-story fall from his owner's high-rise apartment. The owner, Sheree Washington, said that Voodoo liked to stand on a small ledge outside the apartment. How he fell is not known, but it appears that a well-placed bush broke his fall. Voodoo suffered only minor scratches and a damaged paw. For more on falling cats, see our Questions page. Free Fall Travel Destinations November 2008: Some sites of free fall incidents have a memorial or a plaque. For more information, see the new Travel Destinations page. Tree Saves Balloonist After Long Fall On August 31, 2008, Chuck Walz was the pilot and only passenger in a hot air balloon during the Great Southeast Balloon Fest. He was flying in a navigational competition when the basket of the balloon began to rock, he said, due to wind shear. It is unclear what caused the balloon to deflate, but witnesses described its fall as "like a rock with a shoestring." Walz said he was at 13,600 feet at his highest. He later said that his global positioning system (GPS) put the speed of descent at 95 miles per hour. The balloon came down in a residential neighborhood, landing in a tree about 20 feet from a house. Walz was pitched out of the basket at a height of about 10 to 12 feet. He was conscious when rescuers arrived but his leg was badly injured, he broke his pelvis, and he suffered burns to his right hand and arm. His fall was recorded by photographers. A good view is this still photo by Ricky Hilton. See also the Fox Carolina news report on the story and the Channel 7 news report New York, New York: Another Long Fall Survivor in the Big Apple On July 31, 2008, a 12-year-old girl named Grace Bergere was on the roof of her West Village apartment building showing her cousin the view from the rooftop deck. She climbed a ladder beside a brick chimney to get even higher but somehow when she reached the top she fell. Her descent down the chimney covered 14 stories (an estimated 180 feet). Her rescuers did not expect to find her alive. Upon opening the door of the furnace, however, they could see Grace's hand reaching out of the soot. A two-foot pile of ash at the base of the chimney appears to have saved her. She was hospitalized at Bellevue for an injured hip and was listed in fair condition. Fire Lt. Simon Ressner speculated that she fell head first and landed on her back. Grace's father, Steve Berger, is a well-known jazz guitarist. (I have no idea why Grace's last name has an 'e' on it and her father's doesn't but that's the way it was in the Associated Press article...) A Short Film about Alan Magee's Fall In 2000, Rodney Ascher (www.rodneyascher.com) made a short film called "Triumph of Victory" about Alan Magee, the U.S. airman who survived a long fall from a disabled bomber in World War II. It's about three minutes long, the length of time of Magee's fall (according to the calculations of the filmmaker). The film starts with an exploding B-17 and continues with much falling and screaming by the actor playing Magee. His flailing, tumbling body is superimposed over battle scenes with World War II aircraft. The film is accompanied by patriotic music and is patterned after newsreels and government films of the 1940s. You can see Triumph of Victory on Youtube. Werner Herzog Documentary about Julianne Koepke Werner Herzog’s documentary "Wings of Hope" is available on DVD. It can be found through www.wernerherzog.com. It is on the first of a six DVD set (the DVDs are sold individually) that includes much of Herzog’s work. "Wings of Hope" is a must-see for fans of the Free Fall Research page. Coincidentally, Herzog had nearly ended up on the same flight as Julianne Koepcke (see Wreckage Riders), who survived a long fall after the aircraft she was in broke up during a storm in December of 1971. The film documents Julianne Koepke’s return to the site of the crash and traces the route of her 10-day trek through the Amazon rain forest to safety. Window Washer Survives Long Fall On December 7, 2007, a window washer named Alcides Moreno survived a long fall from the top of the 47-story Solow Tower on East 66th Street in Manhattan. His brother, Edgar, who was working with him, hit a fence and died immediately. Alcides’ survival may have been helped by the window washing platform, which it appears he rode to the ground. His fall may have been slowed or halted somewhere around the 10th floor by the cables connected to falling platform. Whether he fell 500 feet at once or stopped briefly before the last 100 or so feet, his survival is still amazing. His condition was grave for several weeks as he lay unconscious. On Christmas day he spoke for the first time since the accident. Doctors now say he will recover, although he will require extensive physical therapy. See articles by the Associated Press and the New York Times for more details. Noel Farrelly reenactment video In April of 1977, an Irishman named Noel Farrelly fell 7,000 feet after his main parachute failed and his reserve only partially opened. (It's described in one account as a "horseshoe malfunction."*) He was saved by a well-placed tree, which broke his fall. (He, in turn, broke a sizeable branch off the tree.) Farrelly, a member of the Irish parachuting team, was hospitalized with multiple injuries but survived. Filmmakers Mandy and Leo Dickinson included a reenactment of the incident in a 1992 video entitled "Dead Men's Tales." Thanks to Kieran Ryan and Allen Foster for pointing this incident out to us and providing additional information. The video is only available in PAL format, which is not of much help to viewers in the U.S., but may be of interest to those in Europe. *See Wikipedia for a definition of a horseshoe malfunction (commonly known as a "horseshoe mal.") Michael Holmes video It turns out that not only did Michael Holmes have a helmet cam, but so did his buddy Jonathan King. Holmes showed up on the Today show on Monday February 12, 2007. The video is not on the Today site but can be found on a Dutch site called Jaggle. Many thanks to Arjo Verweij for sending us the link. It's also on YouTube. Thanks to Dave Reynolds for pointing that out. Another take on this video is this Mail On Sunday Exclusive. Free Fall Research Page Speed Conversion Table February 2007: We have recently added the Free Fall Research Page Speed Conversion Table to the site. This is a device that allows you to see comparable values in miles per hour, kilometers per hour, feet per minute (or second), or meters per minute (or second). Enjoy! Man Survives 16-Story Skyscraper Fall Joshua Hanson, a Wisconsin man visiting the Twin Cities for a dart tournament, survived a 16-story fall on January 20, 2007. He and a group of friends had been out drinking and returned to the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency and were "horsing around" on the 17th floor. He went over a safety bar, crashed through a window, and fell about 160 feet. He landed feet first on a roof at the first-floor level. He was hospitalized in critical condition with a badly broken leg and collapsed lungs. Channel 5 Eyewitness News, the ABC affiliate in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul), did a series of excellent stories whose links are shown below. If you only look at one, check out the one on the science of falling: The first story He's in critical condition The 911 call How strong was the glass? Science of falling The Free Fall Research page is primarily focused on falls from aircraft, but we have covered a couple of skyscraper falls. If you know of any such falls that were higher than 10 stories, please let us know. Michael Holmes and Benno Jacobs December 2006: There have been two recent incidents (that we know of anyway...). The latest one happened in New Zealand on December 12th and involved a man named Michael Holmes (see the Incident Log for full details). The news did not reach the media until December 21st but shortly thereafter we received five e-mails from visitors to the Free Fall Research page. We would like to thank Roger (no last name given), Graham Stevens, Alan Scheckenbach, Peter Ceulemans, and Simon Roberts for letting us know. The other incident took place in South Africa in August and involved a man named Benno Jacobs. No one wrote in about that incident, perhaps because it was remarkably less spectacular than Holmes' fall (Jacob's parachute was described as being 75% open...). Dave Hodgman Photo by Ian Kelso November 2006: We recently heard from Dave Hodgman, who provided a fascinating photo documenting his fall. It was taken by Ian Kelso. Ian, if you ever find your way to this web page, please drop us a line! The Long-Fall Survival Report Is Complete! October 2006: We have completed the Long-Fall Survival report! For more information please click here. To purchase, click here. We have also published a press release. CBC Radio Interviews The CBC radio interviews with Jim Hamilton are available as MP3s to listen to. Please send us a note if you'd like to hear them. CBC Freestyle Interview II On Tuesday October 10th, 2006, Jim Hamilton was interviewed again for the CBC program Freestyle, this time because of the publication of the Long-Fall Survival report. He talked about some of the stories that the show's listeners reported to him after his last appearance, and which are included in the report. Scott Lutz, an Lucky/Unlucky Skydiver Scott Lutz is an excellent example of an Lucky/Unlucky skydiver. These are the folks who are lucky in the sense that their parachute works, but unlucky for some other reason. Lutz's bad luck was recorded on a video that you can find on YouTube by typing in 'Unlucky Skydiver'. The video shows Lutz exiting the aircraft with two instructors. His parachute opens and breaks away immediately, apparently because he pulled the wrong lever. He opens his reserve and heads directly for some high-tension wires, which he hits, surviving with some burns. It's pretty amazing to watch the whole thing unfold. If it weren't real you would think he were Wiley Coyote in a Roadrunner cartoon, which is exactly how Scott described his predicament. November 2008: Scott, recently I have gotten requests from two different TV producers trying to find you. My suspicion is that you don't want to be found, but if you do and want to be contacted, please let me know. January 2008: Another day, another request for Scott Lutz contact information... MythBusters On a MythBusters episode that first aired on August 10, 2005, the show concluded, after dropping a piece of an airplane fuselage about 2,000 feet, that it was plausible that someone could survive such an incident, even though their test dummy, Buster, was crushed in the fall. Had he been sitting in another part of the fuselage, they surmise, the outcome would have been different. The show was inspired by Vesna Vulovic's amazing survival story. It seems to me that Vesna already proved the point beyond a shadow of a doubt, but that's TV for you. TV Documentaries: Takes 6, 7, and beyond July 2006 (list updated October 2009): We have recently gotten two new requests from different researchers at an independent film company in the U.K. called Wall to Wall Television. The first request came from Sajjad Bhatti who wanted to know how to get in touch with Vesna Vulovic. The other came from Melisa Akdogan, who wanted contact information for some individuals who had survived a long fall. I have to admit I’m getting tired of these requests. I only have contact information for a few people and if they wanted to be on TV they have had multiple chances by now. Still, if you survived a free fall and are dying to get on TV, then send me an e-mail and I will send your name to the next film company that contacts me. Amazingly, Wall to Wall is based in the United Kingdom, which is now the acknowledged world leader in free fall documentary proposals (I’m begging you Brits, have you ever seen one of these shows on TV?). For your reference, here is the scorecard. There are even more than I previously thought:
May 2006: A correspondent from Germany wrote to say that a reference to the Free Fall Research Page was included in an article in the April 2006 edition of PM magazine. The article, by Sabine Schwabenthan, is called Wunderbare Rettung (Miraculous Rescues). Fortuitously, our travels bring us to Germany this coming week, which will give us the chance to see the full article. In the meantime, we wish a hearty welcome to German visitors to the site. We would greatly appreciate the addition of any German-language stories that we have missed. Danke! Why Am I alive? We recently received the question of all questions from someone who fell a long distance: Why am I alive? Lt. John T. Kryway's Low-Level Ejection April 2005: Many thanks to Gary Schreffler for his help in providing photographs and additional details about Lt. John T. Kryway's low-level ejection from the aircraft carrier Roosevelt. Stephen Rules' Double Malfunction Thanks to Clay Carlson for putting us in touch with Stephen Rules. Stephen survived a double malfunction in June of 2001 in Salt Lake. He describes this incident on his web site. The Shayna Richardson Story March 2006: We've given Shayna Richardson's story its own page. Shayna Richardson, 21, of Joplin, Missouri, survived a fall under an uncooperative reserve chute that sent her spiraling into a parking lot at an estimated 50 miles per hour. Her fall was recorded on video. We've included links to the video, as well as comments from her aunt and one of her instructors. Note: Shayna Richardson had a healthy baby boy in June. His name is Tanner. Click here for the CBS News story and video. CBC Freestyle Interview On Friday, January 13th, 2006, Green Harbor Publications' own Jim Hamilton was interviewed on the CBC program Freestyle where he was described as a "guy who's obsessed with people who've fallen from great heights." We know that many Canadian listeners heard the interview because of the e-mails we received right after the show broadcast. These e-mails contain some great new stories that we'll be reporting on in the coming weeks including a Spitfire pilot who survived a fall after the tail of his aircraft was cut off, a World War II bomber crewman who survived a fall in wreckage, and a free faller who slid down a snowy mountainside in Germany. TV Documentary, Take 5 December 2005: I believe this is the fifth time that I have received an inquiry from a film company about a possible Free Fall related project. This is the third request from the UK where falling appears to be a national pastime. Earlier requests came from a Japanese company and a Danish company. I'm not really sure if anything ever came of the previous projects. If you happened to be a Brit who has survived such an incident, then you may wish to contact Kate Griffiths of Pioneer Productions. The Sad Case of Stephen Hilder September 2005: Stephen Hilder died in a skydiving accident in July of 2003 when his parachute did not open. Later it was discovered that the chords on his main and reserve parachutes had been deliberately severed. Now it appears that the chords were cut by a pair of orange scissors that were found in the trunk of Hilder's car. His DNA was the only DNA found on the scissors. Although it is possible that someone wearing gloves could have cut the chords while the parachute was in the trunk, there is now suspicion that Hilder's death may have been a suicide. Whether it was a murder or a suicide may never be known. Before the suicide theory came to be, a detective in the case told BBC radio, "Whoever did this must have had a knowledge of parachuting. They must have known that when he jumped out of that plane he had no chance of surviving." The "no chance" statement caught my eye, because, as readers of this blog should know, the detective really should have said that Hilder had "only a very small chance of surviving." The case has something in common with the case of a man named Cary Hopwood who survived a fall with a failed parachute in Illinois in 1996. The Stephen Hilder case brought renewed attention to Cary Hopwood's fall, because his parachute was also sabotaged. No one was ever charged in Hopwood's case. Hopwood was filming with a helmet camera for MTV when his accident occurred. The Naked Flying Wing August 2005: Geoff Granum wrote with some suggestions about surviving a long fall by forming yourself aerodynamically into the shape of a wing. He's not saying it would actually work, but it's better than doing nothing. Here are some excerpts from what he wrote: "Strip naked. If you want lift, you need smooth airflow. Those baggy sweats won't give you the laminar airflow you are going to need for optimal lift. "You need get yourself moving feet first. Your great big fluffy head just isn't going to be a good leading edge for this wing we are trying to make. "Arch that back! Get that butt in the air! "Toes pointed, like you just jumped off of a high dive. "Get your arms up by your head. Line 'em up with your back. Remember that you are trying to look like a wing. "Draw a line from your toes to your extended finger tips: If that line is more than a few degrees from the direction of your motion, you aren't generating lift. Don't move your arms too far though; if you bend too far you aren't a wing any more. "While you should aim for the same general motion (gentle swaying, alighting with grace upon a soft green earth etc), recognize that your minimum speed will need to be over 100 miles per hour to keep you from 'stalling'. Remember, you are turning your vertical velocity into horizontal velocity. "If you can, aim for a major highway and try to land on the back of a semi tractor trailer. Don't miss, because nobody would ever believe it if you fell from 30,000 feet, bounced off of a highway and lived, only to get hit by the semi you were trying to land on. The reason for the highway is because nobody you land near is going to be looking for you. If you did things right you are miles from where that plane went down. "If you can make the semi landing, great; that will soak up around 75 mph of horizontal velocity. And the thin tin roof might break open. Just hope it's a Charmin truck, not a Bud truck. "If you should live, this will be the defining moment in your life. You could save the pandas, feed all the starving children in Africa or discover aliens. It won't matter. There will be 10 times the number of articles describing how you lived through a major plane wreck, mostly focusing on the naked part." Go out and buy David Carkeet's new book August 2005: Did you like David Carkeet's The Unplanned Freefall? If so you will want to read his new book: "Campus Sexpot." It's a memoir of his boyhood days growing up in a small town in California. The central theme of the book is the impact on the community of a soft-porn novel that takes the town as its setting and uses thinly veiled take-offs of residents as its characters. Carkeet has written a great story about growing up, impending manhood, and the craft of writing. The book is published by the University of Georgia Press and is available for $22.95. See the David Carkeet web site. What you would see if you fell from 30,000 feet... If you want to know what you would see if you fell from 30,000 feet then have a look at the film 'G' by filmmaker Rolf Gibbs. He intentionally dropped a camera from an airplane. It was weighted to fall lens down and protected so that the video would survive the inevitable collision with the earth. It is a peculiar and amazing film. You can watch G on-line. There is also information on-line on how G was made. Thanks to Hutch Hubbard for sending this tip our way. It turns out that you might not see much at all unless you remembered to strap a set of goggles around your neck prior to your fall. See the Questions page for some additional details courtesy of Travis Brown. Hugh de Haven and Richard Snyder July 2005: IP Online, an international peer review journal for health professionals and others in injury prevention, has in its web-accessible database a 1942 study by Hugh de Haven called "Mechanical analysis of survival in falls from heights of fifty to one hundred and fifty feet." These folks didn't fall out of airplanes, in fact, it appears as if most jumped from apartment buildings. The writing is clinical and the subject is pretty gruesome, but de Haven's work takes the details from these sad tales of survival with the intent of using the knowledge gained to improve the survival chances of people in aircraft and automobile accidents. De Haven's work was continued by Richard Snyder (see the Recommended Reading page for some additional details) whose research entitled "Human Survivability of Extreme Impacts in Free-Fall" and "Fatal Injuries Resulting from Extreme Water Impact" are part of the body of research that helped in the development of seatbelts and airbags. Snyder's work first came to my attention in Mary Roach's book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers." Roach describes Snyder's work because of its value in determining the cause of an airline disaster over deep water, where the only evidence that may be available are the recovered bodies of passengers. Their injuries may provide clues about the cause of the accident. I was reading the de Haven study the other day and was overwhelmed by it. When you are done reading you want to go outside and take a breath of air. It's not the kind of life's work that a typical person could face day-in/day-out. IP Online calls "Mechanical analysis..." an "Injury Classic." If you are interested in having a look, IP Online's URL is http://ip.bmjjournals.com (search on "de Haven" to find de Haven's study). Who's Next? July 2005: For some reason this turns out to be the time of year when you almost begin to expect the next incident to occur. The most recent one that we know of was Charles Williams in October of 2004. His fall was preceded by Christine McKenzie in August of 2004. Both of these incidents, oddly enough, were in Africa. Who will be next? October 2005: It turned out to be Shayna Richardson. What About Japan? As this is an English language web site, my correspondence is generally limited to folks who can read and write English. This is an inherent bias, and not one that I can do much about. Still, it bothers me that there are not more stories from other parts of the world. One thing stands out in particular. Given the number of cases of Allied airmen surviving a long fall during World War II, I suspect that there must be similar numbers for Axis airmen. And so I have a special request for anyone with a knowledge of Japanese World War II aviation: do you know of any free fall stories? Why Does The Free Fall Research Page Site Exist? The Free Fall Research page got started after I had finished a book on a group of World War II journalists called the Writing 69th. They had trained to accompany a U.S. bombing mission on Germany. In the process of researching that book, I came across a number of stories that caught my imagination. One was Joe Jones' amazing tale of surviving a long fall in the severed tail of a B-17 bomber. The other was the unbelievable story of Alan Magee's parachute-less fall through a skylight at the train station in St. Nazaire. The beginning of a project like this starts for me with a question that I'd like to have answered. For 'The Writing 69th' the question was: What makes a journalist risk his life for a story? For the Free Fall Research page (which ultimately will be a book) the question is: How many of these stories are there, and are they true? I have been collecting supporting evidence such as newspaper articles and personal accounts. As I have the time to sort them out and organize them, I will start the process of writing the book. Putting a book together with these stories could be a little difficult. In general, writers like to begin slow, build to some climactic moment, and then conclude. Each of these stories has the same pace, and very similar emotions: a few brief screaming moments of terror followed by intense pain and a period of recovery. Try stringing a few of them together and it comes out like this: Aaaaaaaah! Thud, ouch... Aaaaaaaah! Thud, ouch... Aaaaaaaah! Thud, ouch... Aaaaaaaah! Thud, ouch... Aaaaaaaah! Thud, ouch... (you get the point) You say Al-cuh-may-dee, we say Al-ka-my-dee* March 2005: Another film company, this time one from Japan, has been in touch about a free fall incident. The Japanese, it seems, are very interested in Nicholas Alkemade. We provided some source information and in speaking about Mr. Alkemade on the phone we realized that we are not really sure how to pronounce his name. We have been saying "Al-ka-my-dee" but only because it sounded good. Does anyone know how to pronounce his name? If there are any Alkemade relatives out there, please contact us. You might get a speaking role in a Japanese documentary. *As it turns out, the right pronunciation is Al-key-maid. Our thanks to Jarrod Alkemade for setting the record straight! Jarrod, who is from Australia, does not think he is related to Nicholas... Jolanda Dubbeldam-Alkemade writes: “I grinned about your pronunciation experiments with the name ‘Alkemade.’ As a life-long world traveller born to the name I can tell you a story or two about the interesting variations out there! However, Alkemade is a good, traditional Dutch name. People settled in other countries are free to pronounce it as they wish, but in Holland we all (no discussion possible) say: ALL-kuh-mah-duh.” We then had an extended correspondence on the ‘verbal color’ of ‘uh.’ You see, Jolanda was not only born to the Alkemade name but is also a linguist and she stressed that the Dutch pronunciation of ‘uh’ is different from the English ‘uh’ basically a shorter sound, formed with the mouth more rounded, and closer to the front of the mouth. So, we have the final word on how the name is pronounced in Australia and Holland. But what about England? Charles Williams Story October 2004: Thanks to Charles Williams' brother, who contacted us before the story even hit the press! See the Incident Log for more details. Another Documentary September 2004: We received an e-mail from Granada TV in the United Kingdom. They are working on a documentary called "I Survived Freefall," which should air later this year. Keep an eye out for it. Also, did anyone ever see the Easy Film documentary described below? If so, let us know. Christine McKenzie's Fall August 2004: Thanks to Peter Ceulemans for letting us know about Christine McKenzie's fall in August of 2004 (see the Unlucky Skydiver section). Here is the story in the South African newspaper The Star. Sgt. Ogwyn Francis George Is the Sunderland Tail Gunner The Sunderland tail gunner has been identified! See the Incident Log for more details. Our Rosetta Stone The Free Fall Research page equivalent of the Rosetta Stone has been found. See Recommended Reading. As a result, four entries have been added to the Other Amazing Stories page First Person Account Robert Leeds wrote a first person account of his terrifying fall and last-minute recovery. Help Tyco Walk In December of 2001, Tyco Zeletineanu fell 4,000 feet under a partially open parachute and suffered grave injuries. However, she is recovering and tells her story in excruciating but inspiring detail on a web site called www.helptycowalk.com. (The site no longer appears to be active...) Don't Try This At Home... February 2004: Professional goofball, David Blaine, has announced that he will jump "hundreds of feet from a helicopter into a river." He is planning this for his birthday, April 4, 2004. (4/4/04, isn't that nice?) He is coming off of a 44-day stay in a plastic box in London. (Does he have a thing about fours?) This might be a good time to remind readers of this web site that almost everyone who falls that far dies, assuming they don't have a working parachute. A teeny percent will survive, it is true, but many of those who do are gravely injured. If you are thinking about jumping any significant distance without a parachute, take our advice: Don't do it. Note to Mr. Blaine: Life is precious. Start thinking about getting a real job to earn money. It's not that bad. Really. Note to the note: April 4th has come and gone, with no indication that Blayne's helicopter jump occurred. Has anyone heard anything new on this? If so, please send a note to Jim Hamilton. Flight Journal Magazine Article, February 2004 February 2004: Keep an eye out for the February 2004 issue of Flight Journal magazine. It has an article called “Bailout!” by Barrett Tillman that includes references to several stories that appear on the Free Fall Research page. The story also provides new detail on Greg Elcock and an ejection seat incident that is covered in the Other Amazing Stories part of this web site. The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment February 2004: While doing a web search we came across an excellent site on the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment ("the famed Red Devils of the All-American Division in World War II"). The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment web site is a perfect model of what military unit historical sites should strive to be. Note: We have been in touch with the site's webmaster but he does not know of any free fall incidents that happened to members of the 508th. Richard G. Snyder: The Father of Free Fall Research Ever heard of the work of Richard G. Snyder? If there were a Free Fall Research Hall of Fame, he would be in it. He didn't survive a lengthy fall, but he did extensive research on the injuries of people who fell (and died). See the Recommended Reading page for more details. Free Faller Alan Magee Died in December 2003 December 2003: Alan Eugene Magee (see Free Fallers) died on December 20, 2003 in San Angelo, Texas. He was 84. His obituary appeared in the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle. We Beg to Differ, Detective Many of you will have read about Stephen Hilder, who died in a skydiving accident in July of 2003 when his parachute did not open. Later it was discovered that the chords on his main and reserve parachutes had been deliberately severed. Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews of the Humberside Police told BBC radio, "Whoever did this must have had a knowledge of parachuting. They must have known that when he jumped out of that plane he had no chance of surviving." Perhaps we should forgive Detective Andrews for his "no chance" statement, but we would hope that many skydivers, as well as readers of this web page, would have said instead that he had "only a very small chance of surviving." (Note: See the Incident Log under Cary Hopwood for additional information on this case.) Danish Documentary January 2003: A Danish media company named Easy Film is working on a documentary about people who have survived long falls. If you have survived such an incident and are interested in being interviewed for this documentary please contact Jon Micke of Easy Film. Vesna Vulovic Can Walk! Many thanks to all of the people who pointed out the Aviation Security magazine article about Vesna Vulovic and informing the Free Fall Research page that she recovered from her paralysis and can now walk. This site is now updated to reflect that. (See Wreckage Riders.) Fictional Falls Visit the Fictional Falls section to see how these incidents have been depicted in movies and books. The Writing 69th Home Page The Writing 69th home page is now at Green Harbor Publications. Help Us with the Incident Log! We need your help with the Incident Log. We are lacking important details or need additional confirmation on a few stories and we need your help tracking down that information. Please have a look at the Incident Log and e-mail any supporting information to Jim Hamilton. This page also includes the most recently-reported incidents. Lots of Good Stuff on the Recommended Reading Page! Please visit the Recommended Reading page. Don't miss David Carkeet's survival tips or the Poetry Corner. Survivors Talking to Survivors Recently, an Unlucky Skydiver contacted the Free Fall Research page. She is interested in speaking with others who have had the same experience. If you have survived such an incident and would be interested in speaking or corresponding with other survivors, please contact Jim Hamilton. August 2004: We are pleased to report that we have been able to put two "Unlucky Skydivers" in contact with each other as a result of this notice on the Free Fall Research Page. Got Stories? Got any stories? If you know of a free fall survival story that doesn't appear on this site, please send an e-mail to Jim Hamilton. |
| The Free Fall Research Page is sponsored by Green Harbor Publications. |
