Dennis Fahringer's blog http://fotofah.posterous.com Most recent posts at Dennis Fahringer's blog posterous.com Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:58:00 -0700 Massive falls that weren't fatal, from 220 to 33,300 ft. (10,150 m.) http://fotofah.posterous.com/massive-falls-that-werent-fatal-from-220-to-3 http://fotofah.posterous.com/massive-falls-that-werent-fatal-from-220-to-3

MASSIVE FALLS THAT WEREN’T FATAL, FROM 220 TO 33,300 FEET 

220 feet: Leap Off a Bridge

While on a class trip this past March, 17-year-old Luhe Vilagomez jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge—just for kicks. Unlike 98 percent of those who make that plunge, he lived (to brag about it). A surfer picked him up, and they paddled to shore together.

9,500 feet: Parachute Fail

In 1991, skydiver Jill Shields fell to earth when her parachute failed to deploy. She landed on wet ground, where rescuers found her conscious and able to talk. She left a foot-deep impression in the mud.

12,000 feet: Double Parachute Fail

Michael Holmes, a resident of Jersey, England, was skydiving in New Zealand in 2006 when both his main chute and backup failed to deploy. He crashed into a dense thicket of blackberry bushes, sustaining only a punctured lung and a broken ankle.

22,000 feet: Fighter Plane Ditch

In 1943, Alan Magee, a WWII Air Force gunner, jumped out of his plunging B-17 without a chute. Losing consciousness, he crashed through the skylight of France’s St. Nazaire train station. He had a broken leg and ankle, a nearly severed right arm, and 28 wounds from the glass.

33,330 feet: Commercial Jet Crash

Vesna Vulović, a Serbian flight attendant, holds the Guinness world record for the longest fall. She plummeted in a piece of fuselage when a 1972 flight she was on exploded in midair. Vulović suffered a fractured skull, two broken legs, three broken vertebrae, and a broken pelvis but eventually recovered fully.

 

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