How to Survive Falling Without a Parachute

There is no turning back at this point because you are more than three and a half kilometers above the ground. Then, when you pull the rope to open your parachute and your greatest fears materialize, you start to think that perhaps this isn't so bad as you drop out of the plane and take in the breathtaking view of the ground below you. You're falling towards the ground at a speed of roughly 200 kph without a parachute, and you only have a minute until you reach the ground. Can you do anything to save yourself?

Here's how you avoid using a parachute to survive a fall. There is a one in 1,000 risk that a parachute won't open when your life relies on it. However, specialists in skydiving say that a broken parachute isn't always fatal.

The key to survival lies entirely in how you respond when the parachute malfunctions. How should your body be positioned? Can you slow your fall in any way, and why may landing on a roof be preferable to one in a large body of water?

Step 1: Slow your descent. The best course of action in situations requiring survival is to slow things down. Slow your breathing to prevent hyperventilating, your thoughts to improve your concentration, and the speed of your fall to prevent splattering on the ground.

You must spread out your body into an X form to do it. Spread your arms and legs, incline your torso downward, and raise your head and back in an upward arch. This will increase air resistance, reduce acceleration, and give you more time to decide where to land.

Step 2: Steer clear of the water! Water doesn't compress, therefore landing in a lake would be like landing on a sidewalk, even though the enormous pool of liquid below you might seem like a more desirable landing location than the solid ground. You could position yourself to lessen the impact, but even then, you could still be knocked out cold, and being unconscious underwater does nothing to help you survive. Let's find a better place, shall we?

Step 3: Guide yourself to a more advantageous landing area. You'll need to do a skydiving maneuver known as tracking to travel sideways in the air away from the sea and toward a safer target. To direct your body as you fall, close your arms and legs up against it.

The three finest places to land are in a marsh, on snow, or in a forest. They all would contribute to your slowing down by extending the duration of your deceleration.

For instance, if you were to land on solid ground, your body would suddenly slow down from 200 km/hr while falling to 0 km/hr in a fraction of a second, killing you instantaneously with the g-force it would have experienced.

However, if you were to land somewhere with more padding, you could delay that deceleration for a few seconds, greatly reducing the g-force and improving your chances of survival.

The next best thing to do is to look for something large to break your fall if there isn't a marsh, snow, or in a forest anywhere nearby. Such as a bus or a rooftop. These structures aren't all that sturdy, so when you hit them, they'll dent, crack or crumble and deflect part of the force of your fall.

Step 4: Land on your feet. Moment of Truth! Now that you’ve selected your landing location and you’re going to hit it. The ideal technique to do this is to come down on the balls of your feet while pointing your toes toward the ground. You're probably thinking it sounds painful, and you're not wrong—it will be.

But if you land on your feet first, your lengthy bones will absorb a lot of the impact energy before they break, giving your body more time to slow down. In essence, you'll be sacrificing your legs to protect the rest of your body.

Step 5: Cover your head. To protect your head and neck from impact, place your hands behind your head, fingers locked, and point your elbows in front of your face just before landing. Severe head trauma is the primary cause of fatalities from falling off high structures and bridges. You won't survive even if you accomplish everything else correctly if you land by bouncing on your head. So, move quickly to take your place.

Here’s the hard part, gather your bearings figure out where you are and get assistance as soon as you can.