Falling from cliffs

[Juliana]

If my character, in full combat body armor (SWAT team type stuff) and a helmet, was thrown off a smallish cliff, unconscious (so he is limp and would land relaxed, not tense), would it be plausible that he might be banged up but not break anything?

He's be landing on grassy stuff, or possibly I could give him bushes to break his fall. Cliff would be about one, or one and a half stories high; not crazy high but enough so that his enemy would logically assume he'll be hurt enough to die in an approaching wildfire.

I need him to be able to walk the next day, poor man...

 

[JonH]

I suggest he hits a muddy slope, so he keeps tumbling for a bit. Looks messier, but the maximum instantaneous deceleration will be smaller.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

People survive falls this high all the time. And people die tripping on a foot path all the time. It all depends on the landing. What hit's first, does something break their fall?

In my view the body armour will do little save protect the skin and stop any sharp objects like sharp branch ends from puncturing it. But it will do nothing about the decelerative forces as people stop dead. My guess is that a person doing a dead fall of this height will hit the ground at around seven or eight metres per second, or twenty five to twenty nine kilometres per hour. To protect against this sort of impact the armour you would really want is something like race car driver stuff. Neck braces so the neck isn't knocked about. Back braces for the same reason. A cushioned helmet. Not the sort of stuff SWAT guys will be wearing.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Juliana]

Okay, so if I make the cliff much lower (and make the oncoming fire the main problem instead of the fall) and give him a bit of a roll at the end of it, it might seem more viable, right?

Thanks, Jon and Greg!

 

[Alex The G and T]

Top of the thread says, " a story... story and a half." That's only about 15 feet.

The victim might land, splayed. and suffer little injury.

Or he might land awkardly on a limb, or his head and kink something; causing breaks, mayhem or death.

I watched a roofer fall off a "Story-and-a-half." (The high side of a single story roof, on a hillside) when I was building my house.

Granted, he was conscious, had some control over how he landed, and was a young brawny buck; but he bounced off the ground in a spectacular shower of nails and hammers, climbed back up and went back to work.

He didn't come to work the next day, however. I bet the poor bugger was suffering some serious aches and pains, after having a night to sleep on it.

 

[Foxbat]

When I was much, much younger, I fell headfirst down a small gorge and bounced all the way to the bottom. We were actually playing and I dived across a clump of ferns commando-style with my sten gun (wooden branch) unaware of what was on the other side.

Although there were jagged rocks, there was also thick moss on places. I was lucky enough to miss the rocks and only hit the moss and, when I came to a stop, I was lying in a small burn staring at the sky. although I was soaking wet, I did not even have a bruise to show for it. I remember going limp on my way down (it instinctivley felt like the right thing to do). I never told my parents about this because I shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bowler1]

He didn't come to work the next day, however. I bet the poor bugger was suffering some serious aches and pains, after having a night to sleep on it.

I hope you docked him a days wages.



Depends on the cliff I'd say. Your poor character could land on or hit a ledge that breaks the fall and could easily be something unseen from above. I think a broken bone or two for realism too, wouldn't hurt, sort of....

 

[Sapheron]

I'm not sure a story and a half is enough to assume someone is dead. I'd assume someone was going to be in a bad way if I pushed them off that, but for certain death I'd want twice as big (not that it would be absolutely certain, of course).

If I were you, I'd make the cliff bigger, way bigger, and just have the poor fellow land on something soft (snow, bushes, a particularly unfortunate sheep, whatever). After all, people have survived falls of thousands, even tens of thousands, of feet before. Try googling people surviving after their parachutes didn't open some time. Some of them weren't even very badly injured, and their fall could be measured in kilometers.

 

[Juliana]

Thanks everyone, great replies. And great stories, Alex and Foxbat. I am particularly taken with the image of a young Foxbat diving across the ferns and tumbling down a gorge!

 

[Foxbat]

Thanks everyone, great replies. And great stories, Alex and Foxbat. I am particularly taken with the image of a young Foxbat diving across the ferns and tumbling down a gorge!

I got one helluva fright when I saw how far away the ground was

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I got one helluva fright when I saw how far away the ground was

I'm mightily impressed that you could manage to go limp at that point!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Realistically I don't think you would push someone off a cliff to kill them ; you especially wouldn't do this with them wearing a protective helmet!

I would suggest it's better to write that he chose to jump from the cliff.

It could be that the cliff is so high that it's impossible to climb, but also the bush fire is trapping him between it and the cliff, so his attacker would assume that with no way out he would perish.

Or his attacker could shoot him in the chest (not realising he was wearing body armour), the shot pushes him over the cliff, so that he would assume he had killed his man, but couldn't check as his victim was now at the bottom of a cliff.

 

[Juliana]

You're all lovely and brilliant. The way I ended up writing the scene is that he's lying on top of smallish cliff, unconscious. His attacker, having other more pressing things to do, flips him over the edge with his foot into the flames.

Attacker then walks off (has a captive to watch over and a helicopter to get back to), assuming the fire will finish the job.

My character hits a small ledge, which spins him slightly away from the direct path into the flames, and he lands near my teen characters, who are lurking at the base of the cliff. They drag him to safety.

 

[Foxbat]

I'm mightily impressed that you could manage to go limp at that point!

You'd be amazed at what you can achieve in very stressful circumstances. As an example (sorry, I know I'm going off-topic)- a few years ago, myself and a friend had to divert traffic, comfort and protect a victim of a road traffic accident (woman injured and trapped in her car) until the emergency services arrived. We were absolutely terrified because it was in thick fog, nobody was slowing down and most were swerving towards us to get a good gawp. Frankly, I don't know how we managed it but we did.

 

[Juliana]

You'd be amazed at what you can achieve in very stressful circumstances.

So true! When I was younger, I was a girl scout leader. Once at camp, one of the patrols set their lunch on fire. The flames were scarily out of control. Myself and a couple of other leaders ran over and dragged the canvas tarp free, using it to smother the flames. Tarp was well tied, and we snapped it free with our hands, no time to even look for a knife. To this day I'm not sure how we did that. Lots of rope burn afterwards on my hands, though.

 

[Foxbat]

Tarp was well tied, and we snapped it free with our hands, no time to even look for a knife. To this day I'm not sure how we did that. Lots of rope burn afterwards on my hands, though.

Amazing where we find the strength from

 

[Vertigo]

Put a fairly steep scree slope at the bottom of the cliff. An acquaintance of mine fell in the Alps some years back and he fell free for a good 50m. He survived because at the bottom of the cliff it was a steep scree slope down which he rolled a good 100m before eventually stopping. Now he was pretty messed up but still just to survive such a long free fall is pretty impressive. If your cliff was only say 15m high and ended in such a slope then you might well get way without anything more serious than cuts and bruises so long as you landed with your body in a position that easily transformed into a roll, such as landing on your side.

There are also many other extreme examples; another friend of mine fell 800m (2600 feet) down a very steep snow covered mountain face and survived with no broken bones. On this occasion it was because the slope transitioned from very very steep to flat very smoothly.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

There is "Terminal velocity" (which is an unintentional double meaning). So in the right circumstances people have survived 2,000m or more falls from aircraft (all limbs broken), falling off cliffs of Dover (but a child, they have more rubbery bones and fall broken by a greenhouse).
Beyond a certain height all that matters is how and on what you land.

Similarly you can die driving into a wall at 25mph but survive falling off a motorbike at 175 mph (assuming nothing is in front of you).

As others have said, the trick is the terrain at the bottom. Brambles can be good. So is gorse if nothing is punctured, and depending on the disposition of it. Bog, water, not so good. Certain kinds of mud are as bad as concrete if a thixotropic suspension like cornflour and water. Sand is no use unless it's an unstable slope that collapses or causes the person to roll.

As others say, falling off a kerb can be fatal and a cliff might be fine, only some are like walls at a car park.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

P.S.
I had an "assistant" (=pest) at Andersonstown Leisure centre.
The Site Clerk asked
"Is the Idiot yours?"
"Yes, unfortunately," I admitted.
"I'll bill your company then."
"What's he done this time?"
"Fell through swimming pool roof," he said.
"But there is no water?"
"They say God looks after a certain kind of Idiot," he said, "he's fine."

Later:
"I warned you to only walk on beams when laying the cables."
"Well, one of the beams was just some wood on the tile. The tile broke."

I never understood why he was still alive, or didn't have at least a broken bone somewhere.

I forget what he got sacked for. He took it very personally and threatened physical violence if you pointed out a mistake.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Ouch. I know that pool quite well. Kids used to have swimming lessons there years ago.

True though, about God looking after a certain kind of idiot!