It takes about 12 seconds for the human body to reach terminal velocity.  At that speed they will see the earth’s surface approach them at 177 feet or 54 meters every second.  These are the stories of a few survivors who have fallen from an aircraft, without opening a parachute… and survived!

 

The remarkable Juliane Koepcke

 

Nicholas Alkemade

 

RAF Lancasters

 

The Ju88 nightfighter

 

 

The Il-4

 

B17 Flying Fortress bombers on a mission over Europe

 

The B17 ball turret

 

Vesna Vulović and a JAT DC9

 

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, SDASM, IWM and clipperarctic.  Other images are in the Public Domain or considered Fair Use.