Tom Petty don't know nothing about "free falling."

In 1944, Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade, an RAF tailgunner, fell about 19,000 feet from his burning Lancaster bomber . . . his fall broken by a pine tree and snow bank . . . and his worst injury was a sprained ankle. The Germans who captured him were impressed.

In 1972, Vesna Vulovic fell 34,777 feet when a terrorist bomb destroyed the DC-10 Yugoslavian Airlines jet. She suffered two broken legs and spinal injuries but was saved by the fact that her seat and the toilet booth it was attached to took the impact.