Long-Fall Survival

244 Pages·2006·4.842 MB·English

by  Jim Hamilton

L O N G - F A L L SURVIVAL
Analysis of the Collected Accounts
Jim Hamilton
www.greenharbor.corn Green Harbor Publications October 2006
L.ong-1'all Survival: Analysis oj the C.ollecfed Accounts
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Long-fall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts
Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................5
Methodology.......................................................................................................................5
Collection..........................................................................................................................5
Categories..........................................................................................................................5
Verification.......................................................................................................................7
Bias.....................................................................................................................................8
Ongoing Research..........................................................................................................8
Analysis of the Collected Accounts................................................................................9
Gender and Region......................................................................................................10
Altitude............................................................................................................................10
Breakdown by Category and Date.............................................................................11
Freefallcrs........................................................................................................................12
Wreckage Riders............................................................................................................13
Unlucky Sky divers (Civilian).......................................................................................14
Unlucky Sky divers (Military).......................................................................................16
Low-Altitude Ejections................................................................................................16
Saved by Other..............................................................................................................17
I .ucky/ Unlucky..............................................................................................................17
Skyscraper Falls..............................................................................................................18
Special Stories....................................................................................................................18
The Unconfirmed Incidents..........................................................................................21
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................23
The Collected Accounts, iVlphabetically by Last Name..........................................24
References........................................................................................................................236
Books on the Caterpillar Club.................................................................................236
Books on Parachuting................................................................................................236
Books on Survival Stories.........................................................................................236
Books Written by the People Involved..................................................................236
Books with Personal Accounts...............................................................................237
Magazine articles.........................................................................................................237
Scientific reports.........................................................................................................237
Index of Names.............................................................................................................239
About Green Harbor Publications............................................................................242
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hong-Fall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts
Introduction
This report is the culmination of five years of work collecting and documenting
the stories of people who have survived long falls without a working parachute.
This work was inspired by some incredible stories from World War II;
specifically Joe Jone’s descent in the severed tail of a B-17 bomber and Alan
Magee’s fall through the skylight of the St. Nazaire train station. The open
question for anyone looking at these incidents is whether they could possibly
be true. Taken individually, these stories appear outlandish and miraculous.
Seen as a group, patterns begin to emerge. These patterns are the basis for the
categories described below.
The purpose of this report is to provide a collection of the many stories, while
presenting the documentary evidence and analyzing the data to determine any
underlying patterns. While some of the data collection can be done from
published sources, one of the benefits of the Internet is that it can be used to
solicit responses from far-flung individuals who may have information of value
to the research. This is the purpose of the Free Fall Research Page
(www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html), which was begun in 2001
and is where confirmed and unconfirmed incidents are posted for the web
site’s visitors to peruse. The resulting e-mails from all over the world have
proved to be a rich source for many of the accounts included here.
Methodology
Collection
These stories were collected over a five year period. Each story was catalogued
with relevant information including name, date, location, height, type of
incident, circumstances aiding survival, injuries, references, and a general
description of the incident. Each story was assigned a category and then given a
confirmation status. These are described below.
Categories
Early on in this research it became apparent that the incidents could be
grouped fairly easily into a few categories. As more incidents came to light,
additional patterns appeared that helped to clarify these categories.
The following categories are used in this report:
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■ Freefallers: These individuals fell long distances without the
benefit of a parachute. They fell with nothing to slow them. Some
of these individuals may have been wearing a parachute, but for
whatever reason it was not deployed.
■ Wreckage Riders: These individuals fell within the wreckage of a
destroyed aircraft. Perhaps the remnant slowed their fall in some
fashion or cushioned them from the inevitable collision with the
earth. The wreckage of the aircraft ranges from large components,
such as the tail, to smaller pieces such as the seat that the
individual sat in.
■ Unlucky Sky divers (Civilian): This group contains recreational
skydivers whose parachutes failed entirely or malfunctioned to
some degree. They were unlucky in the sense that their parachutes
failed, but very lucky overall to have survived.
■ Unlucky Skydivers (Military): These individuals, generally
airmen or paratroopers, jumped as part of their military service
either in planned jumps or in emergency exits from aircraft. Their
parachutes failed or malfunctioned but they survived.
Note: In some incidents the parachute begins to deploy at the last second. It may not be clear
to the participant whether the parachute really opened or not. These stories are categorized
under the Unlucky Skydivers (Civilian or Military) category. Under “Circumstances aiding
survival” it is noted that a late-opening parachute may have been a factor. These incidents are
referred to as low-allitude openings.
■ Low Altitude Ejections: These individuals ejected from their
aircraft at very low altitudes and survived the ejection without the
benefit of a fully open parachute.
■ Saved by Other: In this category, the rescue of a seemingly
doomed individual happens through the actions (sometimes
intentional, sometimes fortuitous) of another individual. This
category includes accounts of two airmen who survived a descent
under a single parachute.
■ Lucky/Unlucky: This category includes individuals whose
parachutes worked, but something else went terribly wrong. This
category includes jumpers who were drawn upwards in a storm
and those who collided with an aircraft on the way down.
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\j)ng-Yall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts
■ Skyscraper Falls: Although the accounts in this report are
primarily falls from aircraft, there are some other long falls that do
warrant attention. This category includes multi-story falls from
buildings, and currendy only includes two falls, each of which is
more than 10 stories. (See Nicholas du Plooy and Brent R.)
■ Fabrications: A few accounts appear to be jokes or arc otherwise
not believed to be true. This category serves to identify any such
fabrications.
Some incidents, however, may not fit clearly into one category or the other. In
addition, some incidents are hard to catcgorize since the details may be sparse
or contradictory. It is always possible that a story that today is put in one
category may tomorrow be moved upon the discovery of new information.
1Verification
Each incident has been evaluated based on the supporting evidence and given
one of the descriptors defined below:
■ Confirmed: Reliable supporting evidence exists. This evidence,
frequendy a published account, includes the name of the person
and other relevant details.
■ Plausible: Supporting evidence exists but some open questions
remain. Where a first-person account is the only source, the
incidents are considered plausible until a third-party source is
found.
■ Unconfirmed: These incidents have been reported but additional
supporting evidence is required to confirm them. All incidents
where the name is not known are considered unconfirmed.
■ Suspect: These incidents have little supporting evidence and are
implausible based on the evidence that exists.
■ Non-qualifying: Upon examination of the evidence these cases
do not warrant inclusion among the confirmed accounts. The
reason for including them in this report is to identify the
fabricated or borderline accounts in order to separate them from
accounts that may one day be confirmed.
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Long-i'a/l Survival: .Analysis oj the Collected Accounts
To be countcd as confirmed, each of the incidents described in this report
requires some believable supporting evidence. In most cases this evidence
comes from newspaper stories, reliable Internet sources (such as news
services), or books. These references are listed with the account of each
incident. The supporting material for a few incidents comes directly from the
person involved. If this is the only evidence, it does call into question the
veracity of the account, but for the purpose of this report these incidents are
considered plausible unless there is some other reason to question such a first-
person account.
The unconfirmed incidents are typically those without a name associated with
the individual, or a report with a name but lacking fundamental details that
make the story unbelievable without further confirmation. As more stories
have been gathered, one of the key tasks has been to assess the details of
unconfirmed incidents to see if they might align with an already confirmed
incident.
Many of the incidents described in the report are indisputable based on the
supporting evidence. It is entirely possible, however, that some of the incidents
described in this report are frauds perpetuated for reasons unknown. While
some of the incidents may turn out to be fraudulent upon further investigation,
the supporting evidence for the majority of the confirmed incidents leads one
to the conclusion that in general fraud is not widespread.
Bias
The stories contained in this report are the ones that have been discovered
through the efforts of an author/researcher operating out of the United States
using an English-language web site. This has led to a bias toward English-
language stories and incidents that occurred in English-speaking areas. There
are undoubtedly additional stories that will surface from other non-English
speaking geographies. The end result is that the stories included in this report
are heavily weighted toward incidents that occurrcd cither in North Amcrica or
Europe, or which involved American or English-speaking participants.
Ongoing Research
This document presents a view of the collected accounts as of October 2006. It
is our intention to continue this work with the addition of new incidents and
the confirmation of unconfirmed incidents. Individuals with information on
incidents contained in this report, or anyone with information on new or
unrepoited incidents are encouraged to contact Green Harbor Publications via
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J^ang-Vall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts
c-mail at publislier@ei~c.cnharbor.com. Additional information on the status of
unconfirmed incidents will be reported on the Free Fall Research Page at
www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffrcsearch.html.
Analysis of the Collected Accounts
A total of 211 incidents are included in this report. There is strong supporting
evidence for 91 of these incidents, which arc considered confirmed. Some
supporting evidence exists for another 66 incidents, which are considered
plausible. Supporting evidence has not yet been found for 48 of the incidents.
These incidents are considered unconfirmed. Three incidents are currently
«/
considered suspect due to the nature of the source and story. Three additional
incidents have been tabulated but based on the information gathered do not
meet the requirements of a confirmed incident and therefore are considered
non-qualified. Two of these are fabrications (Will Hay and Jane Williams) and
one is a freefaller (R.C. Sharma) who was injured in a fall from an aircraft, but
whose story is unremarkable since the plane was on the ground at the time.
Table 1: Verification of the collected accounts
g
n
d
i
e y
d m if
rme ble nfir ct qual
nfi usi co pe n- al
Co Pla Un Sus No Tot
Freefallers 7 6 9 0 1 23
Wreckage Riders 21 10 3 1 0 35
Unlucky Skydivers (Civilian) 32 16 10 1 0 59
Unlucky Skydivers (Military) 17 19 19 1 0 56
Low-Altitude Kjections 5 3 1 0 0 9
Saved bv Other 2 5 D 0 0 10
Lucky/ Unlucky 6 6 3 0 0 15
Skyscraper Falls 1 1 0 0 0 2
Fabrications 0 0 0 0 2 2
Total 91 66 48 3 3 211
Note: There are six examples of low altitude openings among the Unlucky Sky diver
(Civilian) and Unlucky Skydiver (Adilita/y) categories. All are either confirmed or plausible.
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L ong-Vall Survival: Analysis of the Collected Accounts
Each incident (whether confirmed, plausible, unconfirmed, suspect, or non­
qualifying) is described in greater detail in the section entitled “The Collected
Accounts, Alphabetically by Last Name.” Where the name is not known a
descriptive title has been given to the account. These incidents are included at
the end of the section.
Gender and Region
Of the 157 confirmed and plausible incidents, most occurred m Europe (67)
followed by North America (60). No other region accounts for more than 6%
of the confirmed incidents. As mentioned previously, this reflects the inherent
Anglocentnc bias of the information-gathering process particularly since many
of the European incidents involved British or .American airmen from World
War 11.
Men represent about 87% of the confirmed incidents. The confirmed incidents
are heavily weighted towards men because of the predominance of incidents
involving the military. There is not a single confirmed incident involving a
female member of the military.
Table 2: Con firmed and plausible incidents by region and gender
Asia North
Africa Pacific Europe America Other Total
Female 1 2 5 11 2 21
Male 7 6 62 49 12 136
Total 8 8 67 60 14 157
Altitude
The altitude of the fall is not known in 28 of the 157 confirmed and plausible
incidents. Of the incidents where the altitude is known, 69% happened at an
altitude lower than 15,000 feet. About fifty percent were below 5,000 feet.
Table 3: Confirmed and plausible incidents by altitude (in feet)
Less than 1,000 1,000 to 4,999 5,000 to 9,999 10,000 to 14,999 15,000 to 19,999 20,000 to 24,999 25,000 to 29,999 30,000 or more Unknown Total
40 40 7 22 8 6 4 2 28 157
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