If it is so cold at the top of mountains, I’d assume it only gets colder, the closer you get to space? I started this post with the question ‘how do planes not freeze when they fly.’ Did a search and found that planes use heating elements. Did another search and found that skydiving can happen at the same general altitude as any other flight. So how do people not freeze when they jump out of planes?
In: 4
I did a high altitude jump from 25,000 ft back in the early 90s. It was the only time I can remember getting out of the aircraft and thinking “damn, it’s cold”. The air warmed up quickly during descent however. I could feel it getting warmer and warmer as I got closer to the surface. As others have stated, most skydives happen below 14,000 ft so the temperature is rarely an issue. I did do a jump in below freezing weather one time. The biggest issue was actually not in freefall but rather after I deployed the canopy. I did not wear gloves and my hands got frostbitten. Also, interestingly, my nose began running and it froze on my face. When I landed I had snotcicles and my hands were so numb that I could not get my helmet off.
Latest Answers