this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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Aftermath of a B-25 Bomber flying into the Empire State Building, 1945 (i.redd.it)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
75 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Betty had a shit fucking day.

Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was thrown from her elevator car on the 80th floor and suffered severe burns. First aid workers placed her on another elevator car to transport her to the ground floor, but the cables supporting that elevator had been damaged in the incident, and it fell 75 stories, ending up in the basement.[13] Oliver survived the fall due to the softening cushion of air created by the falling elevator car within this elevator shaft; however, she had suffered a broken pelvis, back and neck when rescuers found her amongst the rubble.[14] This remains the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Especially bad when you consider the elevator shouldn't have fallen in the first place.

Elisha Otis invented his automatic elevator brakes in 1853 -- designed to instantly stop cars from falling if the cables snap ... and the Empire State Building used Otis safety elevators.

Given how dead simple and reliable the safety mechanism is something must have gone horrible wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

A bit more on Betty and the incident:

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/10/how-an-elevator-attendant-survived-a-1-000-ft-fall-down-the-empire-state-building-759670

Tldr; she lived till 74 and had a family and children, so it looks like it all worked out after nearly dying two or three times from the crash/burn/elevator crash.

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