Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/05/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi group, I remember the Leica was a SLMOT. At 11:08 PM 07/05/96 -0400, you wrote: > >> >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 > >