Question

A thin parachutist jumped out from a hovering aircraft at high altitude during a public display at the east coast beach where the weather was clear with a strong sea breeze. He was followed closely by a fat parachutist who jumped two to three seconds after him. Due to a technical fault, the thin parachutist had difficulty opening his parachute. He frantically signaled to the fat parachutist for help. What is the best possible solution to save the life of the thin parachutist?

a) Ignore the signal and continue with the jump.
b) Use a backup parachute immediately.
c) Attempt to fix the technical fault in mid-air.
d) Signal back to the thin parachutist to sort out the problem on his own.

Answer 1

The fat parachutist should deploy their backup parachute immediately to save the thin parachutist, as trying to fix the issue in mid-air or ignoring the signal could be fatal due to high terminal velocities.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best possible solution to save the life of the thin parachutist is for the fat parachutist to use a backup parachute immediately. When a main parachute fails, skydivers are trained to deploy their reserve parachute. This is essential to reducing terminal velocity and providing a safe landing speed. Waiting or trying to fix the issue in mid-air could be fatal due to the high speeds involved, which reach up to about 200 km/h in a spread-eagle position and 350 km/h in a headfirst position. Using a backup parachute will rapidly decelerate the parachutist, creating drag that counters the gravitational force, thereby significantly increasing the odds of survival.