NYC man plunges 40 stories, lands on car, survives

[BridgeTheGap]

NEW YORK – A New York City man who plunged 40 stories from the rooftop of an apartment building has survived after crashing onto a parked car.

Witnesses and police say 22-year-old Thomas Magill jumped from the high-rise at West 63rd Street on Tuesday. He landed in the backseat area of a Dodge Charger after crashing through the windshield.

He suffered broken legs. Police say he's in critical condition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us40_story_plunge

[tigereye]

1. holy smoke!

:wow: Wonder what he was thinking on the way down. Was he trying to commit suicide?

[BridgeTheGap]

2. They're not sure why (or if) he jumped. I guess if it was a suicide attempt, no note

was left.

[tigereye]

9. we were talking about movie cliche's how people who fall from a building

always end up landing on cars... and I thought, well, that's not that realistic...

[BridgeTheGap]

34. I guess the effect is better than the splatter that happens on pavement. Not sure I've ever seen a

film that has attempted to recreate that one.

[Sweet Charming Dem]

35. The Departed recreates that pretty well.

[BridgeTheGap]

36. I'm going to have to watch it again now as I don't remember that scene. It was a damn good flick! n

[Sweet Charming Dem]

37. Yeah, it's a great movie

It's when Martin Sheen gets tossed out the window in front of Leonardo DiCaprio.

[Dappleganger]

3. Is he a cat?

[Fleshdancer]

4. wow. I don't think I would want to survive that.

Then again, if he jumped willingly, it sounds like he didn't want to survive it either. :(

[BridgeTheGap]

6. If he jumped from 40 stories, he wasn't looking to survive. n.t

[PBS Poll-435]

5. I was going to go with Plymouth Breeze, but...

Still a Chrysler.



:hide:

[struggle4progress]

7. Man Survives 40-Story Plunge From High-Rise Building

... The car's owner, Guy McCormack, of Old Bridge, N.J, told reporters he is convinced the rosary beads he kept inside the vehicle helped save Magill's life ... Police are currently investigating why Magill .. jumped ... Authorities are currently looking for clues on his Facebook page .... he listed "being mean" and "making fun of people" as interests ... http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-man-survives-40-foot-fall,0,3758704.story

[rurallib]

10. had to be the beads.

:crazy: :crazy:

[struggle4progress]

12. Yeah, that's a sorta strange belief. On the other hand, I also found it strange

that jumper-dude's interests were "making fun of people" and "being mean." If I were forced to choose between those two strange worldviews, I might go with rosary-guy

[csziggy]

16. Maybe he was just too mean to die?

"he listed "being mean" and "making fun of people" as interests"

:hide:

[Glassunion]

8. NYC man plunges 40 stories, lands on car, survives... Ta Dah!

[kwassa]

11. I saw the remains of a 9-story jump.

very not pretty.

He landed on top of a car, smashing the roof to the floor. He was still barely alive when taken away. I saw the bits that were left behind. Awful.

[Archae]

13. Don't they hit terminal velocity on the way down?

Say about 3 or 4 stories on the way down?

[pokerfan]

21. Takes around 10 seconds to reach terminal velocity

about 120 mph if spread-eagled. Freefall acceleration is about 22mph per second so in a vacuum you would reach 120 in about six seconds but since we're talking atmosphere, your acceleration begins to be offset by greater and greater drag so you wind approaching 120mph asymptotically which takes longer. So it winds up taking more than 3 or 4 stories.

I've skydived twice. (Didn't want to push my luck.)

[Xithras]

23. Technically it takes thousands of feet to reach terminal velocity.

In a way, it's like the speed of light. The closer you get, the more energy required to make you go faster, so the slower you accelerate. Because gravity is constant, accelerating through the last few percent can take a while. It takes about 2000 feet to reach 99.5% of terminal velocity.

Terminal V is 172 ft/sec (varies a bit based on body shape, atmospheric density, etc, but 172 is the widely accepted median).

Using d=1/2 *A*T^2 A=32 FT/SEC*SEC

V=A*T

At 400 feet you are at 76 percent of terminal velocity. At 766 feet you are at 90 percent of terminal velocity. At 1074 feet you are at 95 percent of terminal velocity. At 1807 feet you are at 99 percent of terminal velocity. (no, I didn't do this math myself, but borrowed it from a reference).

The average American multistory building has 11.5 feet per floor, which gives this 40 story plunge an approximate fall distance of 460 feet. That puts him at about 79% of terminal velocity, or 135.9fps (or 92.6MPH) at the point of impact.

Ouch.

[pokerfan]

30. That sounds about right

but also note that the kinematic formulas are for free fall in a vacuum (like my 22mph/s) where there is no terminal velocity.

G = 32.2 ft/s/s which is about 22mph/s. (It's just sometimes easier to work in mph.) I like to use 22mph/s for calculating air-time on a thrill ride. If you know how fast a ride goes, then you know how much air time (in theory) it is capable of. For example, Superman the Escape at Magic Mountain launches you at 100mph straight up and then lets gravity take over. A quick back of the envelope calculation gives 100/22 = 4.5 seconds of air time before reaching the apex and another 4.5 seconds falling backwards for close to 9 seconds of zero gee!
:bounce:
(It's actually more like 7 seconds because of friction and air resistance, but that's the general idea.)

(Yeah, I'm as much fun at parties as I am at amusement parks. ;))

[Xithras]

31. Grr, don't remind me.

I went to Magic Mountain earlier this summer and really wanted to ride that.

It's been closed for renovations ALL SUMMER :grr:

[pokerfan]

32. It's a good one

Very short. But fifteen seconds of pure fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIc2_dqoI0M

[HEyHEY]

14. This has been happening alot lately.

Happen in New Zealand too.

[txwhitedove]

15. Reminds me of a late 1970's fiction novel about a man who mysteriously

survived a multi-story fall. I can't remember the name of the book... Second Son or something....
Anyone else remember that?

EDIT: "The Second Son" by Charles Sailor, fiction, good read dealing with hypocrisy of organized religion.

[Lasher]

17. How did he go through the windshield and end up in the backseat area?

Was the Charger standing on its rear bumper?

[whistler162]

19. Probably came in at enough of a angle that hitting

the dashboard/windshield sent him sliding through the front seats to stop at the back seat.

[Lasher]

25. Makes sense.

Prolly dribbled around like a ping pong ball. Hope he is still alive.

[whistler162]

18. NYC cites car owner for being illegally parked....

;)

[cwydro]

20. And the owner of the car is royally pissed.

Apparently she has been quoted as saying "why did he have to pick my car?" and "I wonder if he feels like an idiot now that it didn't work" or something of that nature. Reported in the Daily News.

People are amazing.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

22. aren't they though. She was glad she hadn't gotten the brakes fixed.

:wtf:

[cwydro]

29. Lol.

I heard today she was ticketed for parking in an illegal space.

Karma. It's what's for breakfast!:rofl:

[blueamy66]

27. I heard this on The Today Show.

merciless b**ch

[cwydro]

28. I did too.

Been watching that show since Jane Pauley days and can't break the habit lol!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

24. It's like that Seinfeld episode, except the guy survived.

[flvegan]

26. In other good news: Dodge Charger dead after man lands on it.

[zanana1]

33. Talk about a bad day...

When you can't even kill yourself right.