38 km drop

[Sadico 1]

Hey, i've just read this in the newspaper (sorry about my english, but i will have to translate from spanish):

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Miguel Ãngel García, a 47 year old economist, is ready to make the biggest parachute jump in history. In aproximately a year, he will jump from an altitude of 38000 meters. If he succeeds he will dwarf the former record, 32000 meterts by the U.S.A.F. colonel James Kittinger in 1960.<span id='postcolor'>

Can you imagine a 38 km drop??

[scout 0]

that reminds me of astory from WWII:

a rear gunner in a B-17 that was shot down free-fell 15000 ft. because he hadnt got any parachute.

he survived the jump, but had great difficulties to persuade the germans that he isnt a spy, in light of the absence of a parachute!

[Sadico 1]

Didn't he break all his bones? Were did he fall? He surely didn't fall in a road

[Major Fubar 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I.M. Chisov   Lt. I.M. Chisov was a Russian airman whose Ilyushin IL-4 bomber was attacked German fighters in January of 1942. Falling nearly 22,000 feet, he hit the edge of a snow-covered ravine and rolled to the bottom. He was badly hurt but survived.

Alan Magee   Alan Magee, a gunner on a B-17 with the 303rd Bomb Group of the U.S. 8th Air Force, was on a mission to St. Nazaire, France in January of 1943, when his bomber was set aflame by enemy fire. He was thrown from the plane before he had a chance to put on his parachute. He fell 20,000 feet and crashed through the skylight of the St. Nazaire train station. His arm was badly injured, but he recovered from that and other injuries.

 

Nicholas Alkemade   In March of 1944, Nicholas Alkemade was the tail gunner in a British Lancaster bomber on a night mission to Berlin when his plane was attacked by German fighters. When the captain ordered the crew to bail out, Alkemade looked back into the plane and discovered that his parachute was in flames. He chose to jump without a parachute rather than to stay in the burning plane. He fell 18,000 feet, landing in trees, underbrush, and drifted snow. He twisted his knee and had some cuts, but was otherwise alright.

Vesna Vulovic   Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess on a Yugoslav DC 9 jet airliner that blew up in January of 1972 (probably as the result of a terrorist bomb). She fell more than 33,000 feet in the tail section of the plane, which hit a snow-covered slope. The only survivor, she was badly injured and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

Larissa Sovitskaya   Larissa Sovitskaya was returning with her husband from their honeymoon trip in August of 1981 when the Antonov-24 turbo-prop plane they were traveling in collided with a Soviet Tupolev-16 bomber. Sovitskaya fell 18,000 feet in the mangled wreckage of the plane. Found in a remote part of eastern Russia after a three-day search, Soviskaya eventually recovered but still suffers from back pain and headaches.

Gerald Duval and John Wells   Duval and Wells were gunners on a B-24 bomber of the U.S. 459th Bomb Group. On a mission to Steyr, Austria in April of 1944, their B-24 was attacked by German fighters and badly damaged. With the pilot dead and several other crewmembers dead or injured, the plane went into a spin. Duval and Wells were pinned down by centrifugal force and were unable to reach their parachutes to escape. The plane fell 24,000 feet and crashed. Duval and Wells were rescued from the wreckage by a crewmember who had parachuted from the plane. Though badly injured, both survived.  

Edmund Shibble   Shibble was a ball turret gunner in a B-17 bomber of the 447th Bomb Group. On a mission to Koblenz, a bomber in the formation above was hit and it tumbled down, hitting Shibble's B-17 and splitting it in two. The ball turret with Shibble in it remained with the front part of the plane, which plummeted 23,000 feet. His back was broken, but he survived the crash.  

Joe Jones   Jones was a tail gunner in a 385th Bomb Group B-17 bomber on a March 1945 bombing raid to Belgium. When it collided with another plane, Jones' bomber broke apart. Trapped in the tail section, Jones awaited his fate, falling 13,500 feet. Pulled unconscious from the wreckage, he woke up a few days later in a British field hospital.  

William Stannard   William Stannard was a tail gunner in a British Ventura bomber on a mission to Holland in May of 1943. Struck by enemy gunfire, the plane broke into pieces. By some aerodynamic trick of fate, the severed tail section glided to earth and landed on the grounds of a large estate where Stannard was pulled alive from the wreckage.

 

Steve Fossett   Fossett fell 29,000 feet into the Coral Sea when his hot air balloon ruptured. He fell with the remains of the balloon at a speed that he estimated to be around 45 miles per hour. He was rescued uninjured.  

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[scout 0]

say no more!

[Sadico 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">

Vesna Vulovic Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess on a Yugoslav DC 9 jet airliner that blew up in January of 1972 (probably as the result of a terrorist bomb). She fell more than 33,000 feet in the tail section of the plane, which hit a snow-covered slope. The only survivor, she was badly injured and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

<span id='postcolor'>

I had heard about this one, but i didn't think that was true!

[Scorpio 0]

WOW, he must of been in heaven, in all that cloud and sky. Good job he had his parachute with him.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

BAWAAAAAHAAAAHAHHAH      

That reminds me of that stupid fuck Rudolf Heß, actually the third most important and powerful person in the REICH during WWII. Untill the day he thought he could turn the war against England himself. On the 10th of Mai 1940 he took a plane and totaly alone flew over to Scottland. Once he saw the palace he was looking for he jumped out with his parachute, landed on a field, went into the palace and actually demanded to see Churchill. Of course he wanted to tell churchill how important it is for the Brits to sign the peacetreaty!! Before they all get killed by german bombers!!! Churchill said: "what the fuck" and just ordered they should imprison this weird guy, he didnt want to see him, well definetly not when this Nazi dares to appear during Tea-Time. Hitler was so furious about his brain sick 'ministre' that he sent all Rudolf Heß's subordinates into concentration camp and ordered to shoot Heß already at the border once he would be sent back to Germany.  

Below you see mad-brain Rudolf Heß on the right, and on the left that is Charlie Chaplin (or am I wrong?)

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Albert Schweizer @ April 17 2002,19:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Below you see mad-brain Rudolf Heß on the right, and on the left that is Charlie Chaplin (or am I wrong?)

<span id='postcolor'>

BBBBBWWWWWWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH charlie chaplin

i loved the film "the dictator"

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Hey ran, I am realy serious with this one: buy the auto-biography (or biography) of Charlie Chaplin. It is realy realy a grea life-story to know about! (if you know a bit about bestsellers literature: it is like the book of Frank McCourt about his Irish childhood)

[Longinius 0]

I seem to remember a swedish flight attendant falling from a plane aswell. She landed in a muddy field and survived. I am gonna see if I can find anything on that.

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Albert Schweizer @ April 17 2002,20:34)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Hey ran, I am realy serious with this one: buy the auto-biography (or biography) of Charlie Chaplin. It is realy realy a grea life-story to know about! (if you know a bit about bestsellers literature: it is like the book of Frank McCourt about his Irish childhood)<span id='postcolor'>

LOL

[Wobble 0]

here is another one.. this one from 30 MILES up.. or 48 kilometers..

A SAN FRANCISCO MAN IS PREPARING TO MAKE A WORLD RECORD PARACHUTE JUMP AS A MEANS OF DEMONSTRATING THE FEASIBILITY OF PARACHUTES AS A SAFETY MECHANISM FOR DISTRESSED COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT.

ROY T. MALONEY, A FORMER PARATROOPER, PLANS TO MAKE THE JUMP FROM A HEIGHT OF 30 MILES. THE PROCEDURE WILL INVOLVE A BALLISTICALLY DEPLOYED MINI-SPACE CAPSULE THAT WILL CONTAIN A VELOCITY CONTROLLED, BAROMETRICALLY RELEASED PARACHUTE. AFTER IT IS RELEASED FROM A SPACE CAPSULE, MALONEY THEN HAS THE OPTION OF JUMPING FROM THE CAPSULE, OR LANDING WITH IT.

"I PLAN TO SHOW THAT PARACHUTES ARE A VIABLE SAFETY DEVICE UNDER EXTREME AVIATION CONDITIONS. BY SETTING WORLD RECORDS FOR THE HIGHEST PARACHUTE JUMP, THE LONGEST FREE FALL AND THE FASTEST HUMAN WITHOUT MECHANICAL MEANS, I INTEND TO PROVE THAT PARACHUTES CAN BE USED TO SAVE LIVES WHEN USED ON SOPHISTICATED AIRCRAFT WHEN APPLIED IN STRATEGIC MANNER."

MALONEY SAYS HE HAS NO PLANS OF SETTING A FOURTH RECORD, NAMELY LONGEST FREE FALL WITHOUT PARACHUTE.

A SIMILAR FEAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN 1960 WHEN COL. JOSEPH KITTINGER MADE A FREE FALL OF OVER 16 MILES FROM THE GONDOLA OF A HOT AIR BALLOON, POSITIONED NEARLY 20 MILES ABOVE THE EARTH. MALONEY BELIEVES HE CAN DEMONSTRATE A POSSIBLE EMERGENCY SAFETY PROCEDURE FROM A SPACE SHUTTLE FOR OPTIONAL USE BY ASTRONAUTS.

[Sadico 1]

Yeah, but the spanish guy is going to do it just with a presurized suit, no "mini-space capsule". He is gonna use a modified version of the suit that the pilots of the russian soyuz use. It is estimated that he will reach speeds in excess of 800 km/h!