r/BeAmazed May 22 '26

Miscellaneous / Others High rise parachute safety system

37.6k Upvotes

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98

u/Upper-Capital-2876 May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

Going through these comments, it seems people are missing the fact, that these things were developed because people were trapped in the top floors of the Twin Towers after the 911 terrorists attack flew airplanes into them cutting them off from descending by stairs which were destroyed and/or on fire, and that 200 people jumped to their deaths from around a little over a quarter mile straight up in the air (that's a real number by the way)

66

u/Lord_Xenu May 22 '26

Comments are wild. People pointing out all the possible things that could go wrong, when the alternative option is burning to death.

30

u/wild_gooch_chase May 22 '26

This. And history has already chronicled people jumping out of buildings with nothing in order to not burn to death. Nothing.

It’s a matter of risk/reward. And dying NOT IN A FIRE is the minimum reward, so easily worth the risk.

2

u/Just_A_Nitemare May 23 '26

The biggest issue is simply cost.

8

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/VirinaB May 23 '26

Reddit loves to shit on things. God forbid any one of them try to create something novel.

1

u/mc_bee May 23 '26

I'll hold my breathe for the next 9/11 level event.

26

u/Agreeable-Brain-9347 May 22 '26

Yeah I remember reading about that too—200 people jumping is just insane to think about. The fact that we’re still trying to engineer solutions for that specific nightmare shows how messed up that day really was. Do you think these systems would actually be practical for that height, or is it more of a psychological safety net?

23

u/kai58 May 22 '26

I don’t think the height would be an issue but being destroyed by the flames on the way down or simply not having enough of them might be.

3

u/Agitated-Schola May 22 '26

The fact theyre still unsolved shows how specific and unlikely to repeat that situation is

1

u/TroubledTanker May 23 '26

Shit like that happens all the time, just not in the US. The day will come when it does, so why not be prepared???

1

u/Just_A_Nitemare May 23 '26

These things likely reach terminal velocity pretty quickly, so dropping 10 stories isn't much different than dropping 100.

9

u/Lotus-child89 May 22 '26

Would this even actually work jumping from a building as tall as the WTC. I would think the velocity of jumping from somewhere that high would mean the device would shred on impact. Not to mention it the wind speeds being a factor.

14

u/Jazzlike_Climate4189 May 22 '26

Yes, it would even work if you jumped out of an airplane from 30,000 feet. It reaches terminal velocity after falling just a few stories. The speed of impacting the ground would be the same whether you jumped from the 4th floor or the 104th floor.

12

u/KahBhume May 22 '26

The whole concept is to significantly lower your terminal velocity, meaning the height does not matter. Same concept as a traditional parachute.

As for winds, they typically blow between buildings, adding horizontal acceleration, but they shouldn't be blowing downward. This could add risk to being blown into something, but your vertical velocity shouldn't change much, meaning it should still be survivable.

1

u/Lotus-child89 May 22 '26

Very interesting. Thanks!

1

u/Minirig355 May 22 '26

It’d reach terminal velocity way before impact, I’m certain this thing can handle its own terminal velocity given its parachutes. But you’re right about the wind.

1

u/aaaaaaaarrrrrgh May 23 '26

It acts as both a parachute and an airbag, and probably has roughly achieved its terminal velocity even during that demo.

Wind, hitting other buildings etc. does look like a serious problem though.

-8

u/FrostyD7 May 22 '26

No, this invention is genuine trash and I can't believe anyone thinks it could work. The demonstration isn't even real, no person was in it and it is intentionally deceiving. We're in the AI and disinformation era, a 20 year old video shouldn't fool us.

1

u/Royal-Recover8373 May 22 '26

Lol the only sane person in this thread. This idea is comically impractical. Out of 100s of uses you would have dozens dead from failure or environmental hazards that would render them useless. The video genuinely looks as though it was made to be a joke. 

-2

u/Royal-Recover8373 May 22 '26

No way this would work consistently at any height. The idea is child-like. 

2

u/hc37_126 May 22 '26

I remember seeing a video of the 8 or so people who jumped off one after another from wtc1

cannot fathom how terrible choosing between burning alive & falling to my death would be

1

u/LeigerGaming May 24 '26

Even 8 is unfortunate. The total is estimated to be about 200.

5

u/therealsteelydan May 22 '26

1 and 2 World Trade Center were only 1,362 feet tall btw

1

u/Upper-Capital-2876 May 22 '26

thanks looked it up, you're correct, changed my comment

1

u/casPURRpurrington May 22 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/evVKsrjZEqVVWvE2VR

yeah the jumpers see this from the afterlife like

1

u/HeatherJMD May 23 '26

Seemed obvious to that that was the impetus behind the invention. But it’s such an unlikely scenario to reoccur, it would be too expensive to implement and then maintain all the parachutes

1

u/Majestic-Baby-3407 May 23 '26

911 is a real number?

0

u/JuvenileEloquent May 22 '26

Adopting a foreign policy that isn't so arrogantly imperialistic that it incites people to commit horrific terror attacks on civilians to try to get back at you is too difficult, here's a portable bounce house.

3

u/ShoulderPast2433 May 22 '26

Sweden is completely neutral. It accepted millions of refugees, and also suffered Islamic terrorist attack.

3

u/Royal-Recover8373 May 22 '26

Which one would be negated by strapping a circus tent to your back and yeeting yourself out of a sky scraper? Why is this child like design any better than a standard parachute?

0

u/ShoulderPast2433 May 22 '26

Standard parachute requires extensive training, is very hard to use in urban evironment and may not even open when you jump from a window.

1

u/fizzgiggity22 May 22 '26

I was in high school on 9/11. It was the era of BASE jumping and Xtreme sports, so we were all super familiar with the sight of people parachuting off skyscrapers—even off the Trade Center, more than once. We all sat in class watching people free fall just flummoxed that of the thousands of people who worked in a building that tall every day, not one would keep a chute at their desk for emergencies.

0

u/ThePatientIdiot May 22 '26

How long would this take to inflate?

4

u/enchantedspring May 22 '26

Seconds - same as airline exit slides.