Kiss Me, Kill Me Tuesday – Parachute Jumps and Chuck

First let me preface this with: I love CHUCK. It’s a great spy romantic comedy suspense.

Last night’s episode kind of annoyed me. I think in many different kinds of stories we’re asked to suspend disbelief for certain things. In the case of CHUCK there are many of them, but the primary one is that a person’s mind can somehow be programmed to be a supercomputer. It’s like believing that people can be genetically engineered to be something other than human (LOL!).

But when it comes to real life things, it’s up to a writer to make sure those real life things are portrayed accurately.

Case in point: The escape from the villain’s jet using parachutes. Chuck and his seemingly more nerdy older spy guy put on parachutes. They don’t secure them in any fashion, just slip them over their shoulders. They open the door to a moving jet and it goes flying off. They have time for banter and then jump out. The remaining people in the jet, who are unsecured in any way, are able to stay on the jet.

So wrong from a real life perspective.

1. You need to secure the parachute pack or it might get pulled off your body when you engage the chute. That’s just common sense.

2. Most parachute jumps occur from about 13,000 feet. HALO (High Altitude Low Oxygen) jumps occur from about 25,000 to 35,000 feet. HALO jumps require bailout oxygen because of the lack of oxygen at those high altitudes.

3. Most passenger jets fly at altitudes of between 30,000 and 37,000 feet. Smaller business jets may fly at even higher altitudes. Some twin engine aircraft and prop planes may fly as low as 8,000 feet. At higher altitudes, jumping from any kind of jet operating at standard norms would require bailout oxygen.

4. Flying planes at those heights also requires something else: Cabin pressurization to prevent passengers and crew members to maintain a safe and comfortable environment. Think of the inside of the cabin as the inside of a bottle of champagne. What happens when you pop off the top? With explosive decompression, things may get sucked out of the plane if the hole in large enough (as in an open door) and if the difference in pressure from inside the cabin to out is high enough.

5. The normal air speed for the aircraft when parachuting is about 90 mph. Most common jet airliners travel between 450 and 600 miles per hour. Smaller jets usually fly about 100 miles slower, but Honda is introduced a new jet in 2006 that flies at 480 miles per hour.

So in other words, the jet plane parachute escape was totally implausible on various real life points. Again, while some liberties are allowed with certain fictionalized elements that form the basis of your story, you cannot skimp on facts. If a viewer or reader immediately says, “That’s so not realistic”, it draws them out of the story. It’s your job as a writer not to let that happen.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Kiss Me, Kill Me Tuesday.

On another note, don’t forget the various contests that are running to celebrate the release of STRONGER THAN SIN!

Today is the last day for the Bitten by Books release party and a chance to win a $50 gift card.

The ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH contest and Fresh Fiction contest will be running until the end of November.

Five Delicious Tips For Self-Love

I’ve got an extra-special helping this Tuesday with special guest blogger Barbora Knobova who is giving us some tips for self-love! With the holidays upon us and some people feeling pressured or depressed, this is a timely post.

So without further ado, here is Barbara.

*****

TALES FOR DELICIOUS GIRLSMy book Tales for Delicious Girls encourages women to love themselves truly, appreciate and respect themselves, put themselves first. I believe in the power of self-love because we cannot be loved unless we love ourselves. Therefore, I would like to share with you the following five tips that might help you fall in love with yourself.

1. Treat yourself like the most precious person in your life.
Think about all the people you love. I bet there are so many wonderful people in your life. How do you treat them? With love and respect? Treat yourself the same way. You are the most important person in your life so treat yourself as such! You deserve it.

2. Be perfect in your own eyes.
We women tend to be overly critical to ourselves and very often we focus on what we don’t like about ourselves. Guess what? No one is perfect so let go off those negative feelings and statements. Stop making lists of your imperfections once and for all. Start making lists of your virtues instead!

3. Look into the mirror of your self-love.
Your relationships with other people reflect the relationship you have with yourself. They are the mirror of your self-love. If you don’t like the way your friends, family or colleagues treat you, look at the way you treat yourself. Change your attitude to yourself, show yourself lots of love and respect, and your relationships with other people will change too.

4. Cherish your inner and outer beauty.
You’ve heard it a thousand times: Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Your real beauty comes from within – and this is not a cliché! Attitude is everything. Be proud of yourself and decide to feel beautiful now. Because if you feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, that’s what you will be.

5. Decide to love yourself truly.
It’s all in your head. You can decide now to start loving yourself just a little bit more and it will turn your life around. Be your own best friend and treat yourself as such. Put yourself first and for once in your life focus on what you want and on what makes you happy. Your happiness is in your hands and the key to it is your self-love.

*****

Barbara KnobovaBarbora Knobova is a writer, love coach and expert in Delicious Life. A world traveler, she is one of those rare world citizens who live everywhere and nowhere. Barbora is a firm believer in female friendship, loyalty and bonding. She writes hilarious, sharp-witted, caustically apt, ironic, moving, true books for strong, independent, smart, fearless women. Barbora has also written several self-improvement books and teaches women about the importance of self-love in relationships and life in general. Barbora speaks eight languages and has found her home away from home in New York, London and Milan. She is always on the move, accompanied by her beagle Brinkley, the nasty dog from her new book Tales for Delicious Girls.
For more information on Barbara, please visit http://www.barboraknobova.com.