Man stuck in cloud for 40 minutes

American Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin is one of two people who fell through a storm cloud and survived to tell the story of this rare accident.

The cloud Rankin fell through was a cumulonimbus cloud. Photo: White Eagle Aerospace — The cloud Rankin fell through was a cumulonimbus cloud. Photo: *White Eagle Aerospace*

Rankin’s story is an extraordinary but equally terrifying experience of what happens when you’re trapped inside a cloud, according to IFL Science . On July 26, 1959, Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin and his wingman Herbert Nolan were flying an F-8 Crusader jet over South Carolina. They noticed some large storm clouds overhead and carefully maneuvered the plane above them, reaching an altitude of 45,000 feet.

But while above the storm, Rankin’s engine suddenly malfunctioned and stopped working. Without a pressurized suit, Rankin was not thrilled about going out into -50C temperatures and air so low in oxygen that he could barely breathe. But by 6pm that night, he realized he had no choice. Rankin pulled the ejection stick at 46,000ft, losing his gloves in the process, and faced the terrible conditions outside.

Immediately, blood poured from Rankin’s eyes and ears due to the sudden drop in pressure, and his stomach began to swell. His hands were frostbitten by the freezing temperatures, having lost his gloves, adding to his life-threatening problems. Rankin had fallen into a cumulonimbus cloud with only an emergency oxygen tank and a parachute that was not designed to fly in the middle of a thunderstorm. Characterized by dense, vertically rising clouds, cumulonimbus clouds are the only type of cloud that produces lightning and hail. While most clouds do not exist above 2,000 meters, cumulonimbus clouds can climb as high as 20,000 meters, forming giant cylinders.

Instead of pulling on his parachute’s cord, Rankin set his parachute to automatically deploy at about 10,000 feet. He hoped to escape the storm cloud before he suffocated or froze to death. Inside the cloud, Rankin was buffeted by the vertical columns of wind that form in such weather. Scientists know little about the inner workings of a violent storm cloud, but the rising hot air was powerful enough to knock Rankin off his feet, while hail and lightning threatened his life.

Soon after, the parachute opened, making it appear that Rankin was at 10,000 feet, but he wasn’t. The pressure inside the storm cloud had triggered a barometer. Rankin was propelled straight up as his parachute was caught in a vortex of wind. It pushed him up and down repeatedly as he tried to avoid ice shards, holding his breath as the air became so watery that he could drown.

Rankin eventually escaped the storm and flew lower until he hit a tree. He checked his watch and saw that it was 6:40 p.m. Rankin had been in the cloud for 40 minutes. He sought help nearby and was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for frostbite, decompression sickness, and other minor injuries, but survived. Nearly 50 years later, Rankin died in 2009 at the age of 88.

An Khang (According to IFL Science )

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