If you jumped out a plane at cruising altitude with a life jacket on over the atlantic would you survive?

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IceTrojan

No, because at that velocity, the water will be as hard as concrete, and you would suffer massive deceleration injuries when you hit (i.e., all your internal organs would explode when they impact your body, when your body impacts the water. It's all about inertia).

Mr Glenn

Very, very, very unlikely to survive.
You'd hit the water so hard, it would be like landing on concrete.

Canadian Ken

No....the speed you built up before hitting the water would make hitting the water feel like cement. You would be killed.

spotonmybum01

hi im going on holiday on monday do you want me to jump out and try it i can let you know when i come back....

Avalon

i,m guessing ...not

Twelve Monkeys

Absolutely not!

blondie

At cruising altitude you would be long dead before you hit the water unless you have some oxygen to keep you alive on the way down. Under 8000 ft you might possibly survive with broken bones if you hit the water in a straight, vertical line, but could you hold your breath long enough to come up to the surface again?

Stephen L

No. Even assuming that you were still with us when you hit the water, you would do so at about 125 mph (the approx. terminal velocity of an average adult human) and water really does not like to be compressed - it would be just like hitting concrete!

Using a parachute - yes. Again assuming you hadn't passed out at high altitude, a parachute would drop your final velocity to well below a survivable level. HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumpers and skydivers reach terminal velocity before opening and "para-scuba" jumpers - obviously - parachute into water.

skyhigh

Cruising altitude is approx. 35,000 feet. First, the door or window wouldn't even open. Second, if by some amazing feat of physics it opened, you would be dead in seconds. Breathing isn't even remotely possible until at least 10,000 feet.

alex

probably not
you would be falling so fast, it would feel like your falling on concrete.

lovelax

If the water was frothy, you might. If the water was still, no. If you dropped something big enough into the water before hand, maybe.

I saw this thing on TV once where all bridge workers have to have a hammer with them at all times in case they fall off. Then they throw it into the river right before they hit so it breaks up the molecules.

Gaffe Master

No. If the altitude were more than about 100 feet above the water, you'd be killed.

Father of five

no you would probably be dead from shock before you hit the water a parachute would be better ha ha ha same as above your brain would shut down

Devmeister

Ever hear of the Titanic? that was at sea level....

Neil M

I think yes you would probably survive, but only if you had an automatic parachute that deployed at 4000 feet.
When you fell out of the plane, the air moving at 500 mph and the very low air pressure would cause you to black out in a matter of seconds. Then it would take two minutes or so to fall to 4000 feet. Any longer and you would die of lack of oxygen.

L.R.O.

Try it and let us know.

barbarastar111

Pray first, I dont think that youll survive.

dave a

If you had Oxygen/ breathing equpment and obviously a parachute then there is a chance that you would survive

zâ˜ºâ˜ºmjetâ–ºâ–ºâ–º

I hate copying and pasting stuff from wiki but I just had to do it. Just had to, damn it.

People surviving free fall

At least three airmen survived free falls of around 20,000 ft (6,000 m) without a parachute in the Second World War; Lt. I.M. Chisov was a Russian bomber pilot, Sgt. Alan Magee was an American gunner on a B-17, and Sgt. Nicholas Alkemade was a British gunner on a Lancaster bomber. It is estimated that a person free falling in the "box" position reaches a terminal velocity of around 120 mph (200 km/h) after a fall of just 1,000 ft (300 m), so the additional 19,000 ft (5,700 m) doesn't make these falls that much more dangerous, apart from the lack of oxygen at high altitude. All three men lost consciousness during their falls, and two of them landed on terrain covered in deep snow, which was probably a significant factor in the survivability of the falls.

Vesna VuloviÄ‡, a flight attendant from Yugoslavia, survived a fall from 10,160 m (33,330 ft) when the DC-9 airplane she was traveling in blew up over SrbskÃ¡ Kamenice, Czechoslovakia, on January 26, 1972. She remained strapped into her flight attendant's seat in the tail section of the plane, which remained attached to the washrooms. The assembly struck the snow-covered flank of a mountain. A terrorist bomb was thought to be the cause. VuloviÄ‡ broke both legs and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. No other passengers survived. [1]

Stories about Russians deploying paratroopers without parachutes (unsuccessfully) during World War II are most likely fabricated. [2]

It was reported that two of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing survived for a brief period after hitting the ground.[1]

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