Re: Leica hits the sand

[Wolfgang Sachse <sachse@msc.cornell.edu>]

> >Anyway, the top plane with the photographer lost power and the rudder cut
> >into the body of the plane below. They bailed out, but the pilot of the
> >other plane was killed. The camera, at an altitude of 5 miles was ripped out
> >of his hands as he bailed out and fell to the desert below.

	Hi Group -

	This story is intriguing. Here are my questions:

	1. Was the camera (whatever Leica it was) still operative
		after the drop from 25,000 feet?

	If the answer to the above is NO, then forget this whole
	episode. Anyone can drop a camera out of an airplane!

	If the camera was operative post-drop:

	1. What kind of strap was on this camera? How long?
		How wide?

	2. What was the nature of the sand it fell onto?
		What are dynamic flow properties of such sand?

	I'd like to calculate the terminal velocity of that camera
	and try to understand how a body at that mass could survive
	an impact into the sand at that terminal velocity. I mean
	if you throw a feather out of an airplane at 25,000 feet
	it will land perfectly alright too. Possibly the strap
	acted as a good enough "parachute" to effect a "safe"
	landing in soft sand.

	I like the Leica. But c'mon fellow users, this whole story
	might be just that - a good story. You've heard of the
	parachutist, whose chute didn't open and he survived to
	tell about it? Or the survivor who happened to be in the
	toilet of a jet that crashed. So it can happen.

	* DISCLAIMER: Please do not drop your Leica (SLR or M) out
	* of any airplane windows and expect it to work afterwards.
	* A drop like that could damage the health of your camera
	* as well as the people in the drop zone!

	Hang on to your Leica, leica-or-not!

	-- Wolfgang