Q. If I find myself in a free-falling elevator, is there any position that might increase my chance of survival? (Climbing on top of other people is not an acceptable answer.)
A. The best option would be to lie on your back on the floor as flat as possible, said Eliot H. Frank, a research engineer at the Center for Biomedical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Yes, that makes sense, but how does one get to the floor and lie flat, while in free-fall?
Good point, if the falling is really free, that’s a problem. In general, it is not 100% free, because of friction. But when it is free, do one of these:
1. wear magnets and fix yourself with them to the floor
2. if you don’t have magnets, use chewing gum
3. try to walk with the hands on a wall and the feet on the opposite wall, as closed to the floor as possible
4. blow yourself toward the floor
5. try to black out
I agree with the conclusion of Eliot H. Frank, since when I was 10 I climbed and laid down on a 3 inch pipe at 2 meters, and I fell in horizontal position, and nothing happened to me. This agrees with the falling advices from Judo, to increase the surface and even hit the floor.
I don’t think an elevator can be truly in free fall for long. There is a column of air under the elevator which must force it’s way around the car. This should introduce enough friction for the car to fairly quickly reach terminal velocity and enable the passengers to lay down flat. This effect would depend on specific elevator design, specifically, how large is the gap between the car and the wall.