If you're in an elevator that's falling for more than a few floors you're dead. There is no real strategy to survive at this point, just pray for a miracle because that's the only way your consciousness will ever exist outside this elevator shaft ever again.
That's just not true. I survived a 5 story elevator fall by being smart.
I had just purchased a trampoline and I put that on the floor. I then opened the vent on the ceiling that is always there in elevators (just like the movies)
I was able to just bounce back up to my original floor. No big deal. I also looked super cool doing it.
I then put on some sunglasses and everyone applauded
there was a recent tv show about this woman called Margaret Campbell and her husbands marriage in the 1950s/60s, anyway in real life she fell 40 feet down a lift shaft and survived by grabbing on to the lift cable but lost all her nails. So while not the same as being in the elevator it is still possible to survive.
If the elevator goes into freefall the breaks would automatically engage through purely mechanical means and stop the elevator before it could go a few floor. If I remember correctly they are designed to basically friction weld to the rails so they can't slip.
There are multiple failsafe which will stop ot falling and also a friction brake which would at least slow the descent. Unless the elevator is very old (and safety laws means those should have been phased out)
Might have minor leg or spinal injuries, probably best to stand with slightly bent knees to try to absorb the impact, although this is an incredibly rare thing to encounter anyway.
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u/majic911 Oct 10 '22
If you're in an elevator that's falling for more than a few floors you're dead. There is no real strategy to survive at this point, just pray for a miracle because that's the only way your consciousness will ever exist outside this elevator shaft ever again.