On Feb 10, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Sean Schouten wrote:

> Parachute mode? That sounds severe!
> Does that mean that I can throw one out of an airplane
> and it will still manage to survive the fall?
>
I don't know.  I recommend not letting people find out if you
try it.  IIRC, the idea was that for short falls, the cat merely
gets it's legs pointed downward.  For longer falls, they manage
to sort of spread themselves out in a max-drag sort of arrangement,
rather like skydivers, and extend their legs in a sort of
shock-absorber mode.  (it should be pointed out that though
cats survive long falls from high-rise accidents, they DO wind
up with 'moderate' injuries.  Broken legs/jaws, etc.  The fall
is just a lot less instantly fatal than you might think.)

(I've always wondered whether if you're in a crashing plane, you'd
have a better chance of survival if you jumped out.  I mean, cliff
divers and parachutists in free fall reach similar terminal velocities,
and most of the cliff divers survive...  It ALMOST seems like with
suitable training you ought to be able to leap from a plane and
AIM for something soft...)

BillW
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