Sunday, December 25, 2016
Guinness record for realism
Vesna Vulovic has died quietly at age 66, long after surviving an early "terrorist" plane crash. The crash didn't make world news at the time because we hadn't yet weaponized "terrorism" as a device to justify exterminating Deplorables.
Vesna, a Belgrade native, entered the Guinness World Records book after surviving the highest ever fall without a parachute. She was the sole survivor of the explosion of JAT Flight 367 near Srbska Kamenice, Czechoslovakia on January, 26, 1972. She was found alive amid the wreckage after plummeting some 10,160 meters. “It is estimated that the human body reaches 99 percent of its low level terminal velocity after falling 573 m (1,880 ft) which takes 13 - 14 sec. This is 188-201 km/h (117 - 125 mph) at normal atmospheric pressure in a random posture, but up to 298 km/h (185 mph) in a head down position,” Guinness said of her record, that was nothing short of a miracle.The Guinness discussion of freefall** was wrong since Vesna didn't freefall. She stayed in the back part of the plane as it fell. Still EXTREMELY unusual to survive such a fall. But she really deserves the Guinness for something vastly more important:
“I’m not lucky. Everybody thinks I am lucky, but they are mistaken. If I were lucky I would never have had this accident and my mother and father would be alive. The accident ruined their lives too,” Vulovic said thirty years after the crash.Guinness for REALISM AND LOGIC AND EMPATHY. Unquestionable winner in all three categories. So RIP to Vesna, the sanest person in the world. = = = = = ** Techy quibble: There's no point in looking for the highest freefall. If you're trying to resist the wind, you'll reach max speed of 120 mph after about 1500 feet, skyscraper or radio tower height. Beyond 1500 feet you won't gain more speed. It's really a question of HOW you land and WHAT you land on. ¶ 3:45 AM
