Originally Posted by
PompeyPaul
If you are in a lift or aircraft that is falling to the ground and you jumped just before hitting the bottom then it would make no difference to your impact speed (and thus nasty jerk and deceleration you will become subject to)
The only thing you will succeed in is accelerating the wreckage \ lift beneath you so it hits the earth slightly harder.
The interesting question is whether it is better to stick with the wreckage or not. I think it is immaterial. Whilst the wreckage IMHO WOULD provide some protection by absorbing the energy of impact it would also be a hinderance as it would add to the impact energies too.
I would rather be away from the aircraft simply for the fact that you stand a change of a soft landing and escape (i.e. into water) instead of being trapped inside some buckled wreckage that later ignites.
Note I'm not a very experienced aviator or analysts, just a simple physicists and so this might all be total rubbish.
The bit where you say your velocity wouldn't change is incorrect.
It all about momentum
.
Momentum = Velocity X Mass, at terminal velocity, relative velocitys are 0, so mass is what we're interested in.
If you pushed off the plane body you would move upward with a ratio relative to the momentum of the plane and the momentum of you. If the plane is 20 times heavier than you, 5% of your push will go into moving the plane, and the other 95% will push you up.
If we work on this idea, if you push up at 3mph, you will slow by at 2.85mph, and the plane will speed up by 0.15mph.
If this weren't the case, wouldn't the earth move noticeably every time we jumped? (yes thechnicly the earth moves when we jump on it, but not like this)
If you did this at height, you'd probably be wasting your time, as the plane would slow down to it's terminal velocity, and you would speed up to yours (which I think is higher than the planes). You would need to do it right near ther ground, in which case you would be buggered anyway as you would be landing on the avaiation equivalent of a very hot cheese grater.
Best thing to do if a wing falls off? Impossible to know, so don't start with your algebra. Your either lucky or you ain't.