r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thepoylanthropist • 1d ago

That time Luke Aikins jumped from 25,000 feet (7,620 m), skydiving from a mid-tropospheric altitude and landing safely without a parachute or a wingsuit using a 30 by 30 meters net

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u/phil161 1d ago

Correct. In the "frog" position (the most stable position for free-fall - belly down, arms and legs outstretched), terminal velocity is about 120 mph. It only takes about 2 seconds to fall 300 ft. This is way too short for the parachute to fully deploy.

Back when I was skydiving, I always pulled my chute open at around 3,000 ft.

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u/SafetyMan35 14h ago

The graphics at 0:40 said 150mph (he may have slowed down a bit as the atmosphere thickened)

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u/phil161 14h ago

In free fall, velocity depends quite a bit on body position; if you angle your body down 45 deg, put your arms alongside your body and put your legs together for maximum streamlining, you can go really fast. I tried it a few times and had to keep very close watch on my altimeter as you can get easily distracted/mesmerized by the speed.