Thanks, everyone, for your responses.
I actually found an ask a scientist site and emailed DS's statement yesterday. They wrote back and said that a person on the wing would still be moving with the same force as the plane, so no luck, and would be even worse off b/c there would be nothing to absorb some of the impact like the crumple zone in a car. And the parachute would force the person back into the tail.
PhysicistDave, the Tompkins books look interesting. I think DS would love them, and I agree about the not reading the modernized one, having looked at the first chapter excerpt on Amazon (e.g., why change a reference to all those celebrity "Hollywood romances" to all that "sex and violence" in the movies?...). My one question is whether the originals are outdated by more recent science. I also saw an older book on infinity by Gamow that people loved and "grew up on." Do you think it's outdated (although how could infinity be outdated)? Looking at the excerpts on Amazon, I think DS would love them. Infinity is one of his favorite things to think about. Well, that and Bionicles...
