MANY of us have toyed with the idea of going skydiving. Parachuting is the closest you can get to actually flying (or at least feel like you're flying) but it does come with its fair amount of risks.
Hurtling downwards at 200km/h might be a dream come true for some but a nightmare for others, especially when you consider any mistake would leave you closer to mother earth than you'd rather be.
As scary as it may sound, a parachute failure is apparently survivable and in fact many have lived to tell the tale.
Is this true?
Verdict:
TRUE
Skydiving is an adrenaline sport with a great amount of risk, you could even say that there is no such thing as a safe parachute jump.
Saying that, with modern gear and training the chances of death by parachute is one in 100,000 jumps. Which means technically you are more likely to be killed in a road accident (22.48 per 100,000 people) or from a stroke (75.81 per 100,000 people).
However, the more you jump, the more likely it will be that you'll eventually face a malfunction that would cause your chute to deploy.
This could be caused by anything, from an improperly packed chute, old unmaintained gear or sheer bad luck.
But not to worry, there have been cases where people have survived such a predicament, even here in Malaysia.
Back in 2001, a Malaysian woman on her first skydiving attempt survived with only bruises after plummeting 1.5km to hit the ground after her parachute failed to open.
According to Tang Lee Ping, she blacked out after realising that both her main parachute and spare did not open.
"I don't believe it. I'm actually alive," she told The Star back then, adding that she owed her survival to the fact that she landed in a soft wet patch of ground rather than on a nearby highway.
Ms Tang is correct in saying that where she landed increased her chances of survival. Not only that, the fact that she blacked out might have actually improved her chances as well.
When you pass out, your body becomes very relaxed and pliable so when it hits the ground it kind of "goes with the flow" which if you're lucky, decreases the chances of injury.
It's the same reason why drunk drivers have a tendency to escape terrifying accidents with only bruises.
Blacking out, however, is not a very useful strategy to ensure that you survive a parachute malfunction as it leaves too much to chance.
So say if you were in that situation, that you are free falling from 1.5km and both your main and back-up chute failed, what should you do?
Firstly, you have to realise that you don't have much time, it takes 17 seconds for the average person to hit the ground from a height of 1.5km, so whatever you do, you would have to do it quickly.
Next, don't panic, that just wastes precious seconds.
Experts say, you need to use what little time you have to scan the ground for three things: swamps, trees and snow.
Being in Malaysia, you can just ignore snow, but we do have a lot of swampy ground which was what saved Tang.
It's a pity we don't have snow as it is an excellent landing material to save falling humans.
Flight attendant Vesna Vulovic survived falling over 10,000m after the plane she was the sole survivor of an airplane bombing in Serbia. She landed on a snow covered mountainside.
Swampy ground does not mean lakes and rivers though, at terminal velocity, water becomes as hard as concrete when you hit it for the average human being thanks to its surface tension.
Next you need to aim your body at your preferred landing zone but taking care not to go into a spin.
When the moment is right, pull yourself up into a standing position, keeping your knees slightly bent. You'll want to land on the balls of your feet first.
You're most likely going to break both your legs, but that's OK as you're going to use them to absorb most of the impact of your fall. Having said that, it is going to be tremendously painful.
Before you hit the ground, cover the back of your head to protect your skull and neck then roll to the side when you hit the ground.
If all things goes your way - you've chosen the right landing zone, used the right technique to break your fall and you don't land on anything hard - you can pat yourself on the back for having experienced (and survived) something most people will never get the chance to.
Next thing to do if you are still conscious, is to stay conscious. Your chances of surviving will be tremendously increased if you do not allow yourself to succumb to shock.
Again don't panic as help will definitely be on the way and once they get you to a hospital and stabilise you, you'll be (mostly) home-free and you'll have an interesting story to tell your grandkids later.
References:
1. https://www.news24.com/news24/skydiver-survives-15km-fall-20010213
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41883027
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9859333/
4. https://www.fai.org/page/isc-speed-skydiving
5. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22934269
