How high of a fall into water could a human survive?

[Fedorgasm]

If we're talking shallow water, then this would have to be pushing the limit:

[YT]43jgESJefv8[/YT]

Although this guy is old and fat, which kinda makes me wonder if a young, fit guy could do this from a much greater height. But then, maybe the belly fat actually helps his landing somehow. I don't know.


But what if the water isn't shallow? Then you've got people like this:

pause at 0:33 to appreciate just how insanely high up this guy is.
[YT]ZDqN8sEl6oE[/YT]

Now this guy at 172 feet completely blew the landing, and still got up uninjured. So my question is, what if he executed the dive perfectly? How high can a human survive if they execute the perfect technique?

I mean theoretically it should be possible to attempt a much higher jump, like out of a helicopter, provided that you landed perfectly. So what do you think would be the limit? 300 feet? 500 feet?

And would the right way be to go head first like an olympic diver? Or feet first like this guy did?

 

[Prime Yossarian]

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

From reading about Golden Gate Bridge jumpers I seem to recall you want to go in feet first, at a slight angle, with your butt clenched.

 

[Fedorgasm]

LOL that Bill Burr story is hilarious. I looked up the news story, apparently he landed 15 feet from the shore, so the water must have been very shallow. And although he lived, he was unconscious and probably near death. He died as soon as he got to the hospital.

So I guess we can conclude that a 500 foot fall with poor technique into shallow water is not doable.

 

[Pittie Petey]

There was a guy out here that was high on acid and he jumped off a bridge into shallow water
He survived the jump but he got stuck in mud up to his waste and drowned
Someone told me that when they pulled him out his leg bones had pushed through his feet but I dont know if that parts true though

 

[El Chimpo]

that burr story is great

 

[MusterX]

But what if the water isn't shallow? Then you've got people like this:

pause at 0:33 to appreciate just how insanely high up this guy is.
[YT]ZDqN8sEl6oE[/YT]

Now this guy at 172 feet completely blew the landing, and still got up uninjured. So my question is, what if he executed the dive perfectly? How high can a human survive if they execute the perfect technique?

I mean theoretically it should be possible to attempt a much higher jump, like out of a helicopter, provided that you landed perfectly. So what do you think would be the limit? 300 feet? 500 feet?

That vid is nuts. Do they even do that anymore? Seems like a great way to die. 172' is outrageous so I'm wondering if this is the sort of thing that doesn't occur anymore.

 

[Fedorgasm]

From reading about Golden Gate Bridge jumpers I seem to recall you want to go in feet first, at a slight angle, with your butt clenched.

hmmmm.... The golden gate bridge seems to be a good place to study, since like 40 people jump off per year, and less than 2% survive. Of course, these people are mostly suicidal, so they wouldn't be trying to go for optimal body positioning.

http://www.livescience.com/33221-teen-survives-fall-from-golden-gate-bridge.html

The position a person's body is in when they hit the water also plays a role in surviving a fall or a jump from such a height, although scientists disagree over the safest landing pose. [Jump survivor] told Euchner that he leapt off the bridge in a swan dive, but repositioned himself as he fell so that he landed as if he were about to sit in a chair. Doctors told Euchner that he would have smashed his spine or internal organs with even a slight change in his body position.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Would be too afraid of water going up my ass to jump from very high.

 

[INeedARemedy]

Lol there's a bridge in one of the cities I used to live in, that went over a river. A couple mornings when I'd go for a run over it, I'd see all sorts of emergency crews huddled around the area. Almost every single time I asked what was going on, I'd get some disgruntled city worker that bitched to me about how "those damn engineers should've made this fuckin thing taller!!!!11!1!!"

It was something like 25' high (not entirely sure about this number), and nearly every jumper survived

So, yeah, there's that

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html


http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a5045/4344036/

Water landings

 

[Fedorgasm]

That vid is nuts. Do they even do that anymore? Seems like a great way to die. 172' is outrageous so I'm wondering if this is the sort of thing that doesn't occur anymore.

Oliver Favre tried to break that record by jumping 177 feet, but he broke his back and had to be rescued, so most people don't recognize this as a valid record-breaking jump, as any idiot can jump off something and then get rescued.

Dana Kunze is tied for the record (with the guy in the vid above) because they both were able to swim out under their own power.

Some dude named Rudolf Bok jumped from 191 feet in 1997, but he also broke his back, in several places. So perhaps that's why nobody tries to break this record anymore.

I still wonder if you would be safer going head first though, and maybe these guys don't do it just because if they're off by an inch they would die.

But if you're perfectly lined up, going in head first, your hands would break the surface tension of the water and allow your body to enter the water smoothly. I bet it could be done, but nobody wants to try it due to the small margin of error and death risk.

 

[djacobox372]

Terminal velocity is reached at about 500 feet, so it's either lower than that or infinite.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Terminal velocity is reached at about 500 feet, so it's either lower than that or infinite.

Yeah, how awesome would it be if one diver was so great at his entry that he could surpass the 500 foot mark, essentially becoming the first man who could dive from any height.

Unlikely, I know, seeing as how pros are breaking their backs at 177 feet.

I did find some dudes that go in head first. The highest of the dives in this vid are 135 feet. Skip to the 3:00 mark.
[YT]ZtxFNsh68iI[/YT]

 

[boss429]

I remember hearing a story years ago about a stewardess that got sucked out of an airplane at around 30,000' landing in the water and she survived, she broke every bone in her body and most likely never really moved again but she survived.

 

[BigInJapan]

This is all very terrifying to think about. How the fuck did the first guy in the OP not die. He jumped into a kiddie pool.

 

[BJ@LW&WW]

i would guess you could achieve terminal velocity and survive when you consider that people in sky diving accidents land on solid ground at terminal velocity and live.

 

[Fedorgasm]

This is all very terrifying to think about. How the fuck did the first guy in the OP not die. He jumped into a kiddie pool.

I'm amazed by that guy. He does position his hands and body right before impact to spread the force over as wide of an area as possible, bit still, the balls to actually try it... crazy.

 

[Fedorgasm]

i would guess you could achieve terminal velocity and survive when you consider that people in sky diving accidents land on solid ground at terminal velocity and live.

Are there real cases of that? I've always thought it was urban myths.

They wouldn't be at terminal velocity though unless the were in a dive position. If they were in the traditional skydive position the air resistance slows them down a bit.

I'd still be amazed if someone actually survived that though.

 

[MusterX]

This is all very terrifying to think about. How the fuck did the first guy in the OP not die. He jumped into a kiddie pool.