Ok - need help to decide this one. (Human deceleration and impact from 200ish mph)

[mercutiouk]

Ok... so a lot of us on the back of Paul Walker's recent death have probably watched the last fast and furious (number 6).

Fast and Furious 6 spoilers below

The question is - Giselle at the end. I don't think that was definitely a death sentence, friend disagrees.


So for those that haven't seen it: (youtube linky to the scene)

Car is being pulled on a cable attached to a jet engined cargo plane. The front of the car is still touching the floor as it's being dragged along as the jet ramps up speed for take off (so, we'll say... 3 metres from the floor). The speed is hard to judge but it's probably not above 120mph (200kph). The girl falls from the back of the vehicle (so from 3 metres up) to (we are left to assume) the tarmac.

There's going to be an impact followed by rapid deceleration (and likely her body being thrown around as she lands so it will be a rolling "brake" with maybe a bounce or 2 until she comes to a stop). The film frames this as a definite death sentence.

Now the fall - not so bad (imo, my friend disagrees) the deceleration + the fall... ok, that's definitely more serious. It's going to be a lot of broken bones as the landing will be slightly "rag-doll" like but what do we think, definitely not survivable/50-50/probably survivable.

I'll drop a poll on this but feel free to pitch in "expert evidence/opinion"


Edit: Can a mod add a "probably dead" type option as my friend insists it's not a fair choice as it sits

[Nefarious Tea]

Don't even bother arguing. The lack of realism in the scene is astounding, having looked it up on youtube (the movies are dumb, ok?)

First: the car's weight would tear its bumper off, leaving a jet carrying a bumper attached to a cable and nothing else.

Second: I can't really see what the aircraft is from the youtube clips, but for a 737, the average speed on takeoff is 150-200km/h (google-fu, so take this with a grain of salt). At that speed, that creepy bald dude wouldn't even be able to stand up like that, let alone show off his rampant misogynism in trying to beat her up.

Third: The car is still partially on the ground when the Asian guy lets go, that's like a distance of 2-3 feet. This isn't the damn Matrix where time slows down. There would be literally almost no delay between letting go and her ass hitting the tarmac, and certainly not enough time for her to rotate vertically into falling backwards like that. She wouldn't even have time to THINK about reaching for the holstered gun, let alone aim and fire off like three shots into the bald dude.

[mercutiouk]

Suspend the realism ( ) we're just arguing the point on the fall + the speed

[Ron Burgundy]

its a guaranteed death

[Blueobelisk]

It probably wouldn't have killed anyone with today's modern medicine, but she was declared dead so that's that.

- - - Updated - - -

let alone show off his rampant misogynism in trying to beat her up..

How is beating her up misogynism.

[Zogarth]

Dead for sure. No way to survive that.

[Marthenil]

Don't even bother arguing. The lack of realism in the scene is astounding, having looked it up on youtube (the movies are dumb, ok?)

First: the car's weight would tear its bumper off, leaving a jet carrying a bumper attached to a cable and nothing else.

Now this is potentially wrong, depending on what the attachment point is. If it was on the recovery point then I'm pretty sure it can handle the weight of the car just fine. But I digress.

A 200 km/h fall like that, especially without a helmet and protective gear is most likely going to be lethal. Even if she survived the initial fall, I'm not really sure for how long :P
Bear in mind I haven't watched the movie, just based on that video.

Also, the way the other dude is just standing on that car is not in the least realistic :P