Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin is one of only two people who fell through a thunderstorm cloud and survived to tell the tale of this rare incident.
The story of Rankin is an extraordinary but equally terrifying account of what happens when one becomes trapped inside a storm cloud, according to IFL Science. On July 26, 1959, Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin and support pilot Herbert Nolan were flying an F-8 Crusader jet towards South Carolina. They noticed some large thunderstorm clouds above, so they carefully maneuvered the aircraft to fly over them at an altitude of 14,300 meters.
The cloud Rankin fell through was a cumulonimbus cloud. (Photo: White Eagle Aerospace)
However, while above the storm, Rankin’s aircraft experienced an unexpected engine failure and shut down. Lacking a pressure suit, Rankin was not keen on ejecting into the -50 degrees Celsius temperature and the oxygen-thin air that made breathing impossible. But by 6 PM that day, he realized he had no choice. Rankin pulled the ejection handle at an altitude of 14,300 meters, losing a glove in the process, and faced the horrific conditions outside.
Immediately, blood streamed from Rankin’s eyes and ears due to the sudden drop in pressure, while his abdomen began to swell. With one glove lost, his hand suffered frostbite in the freezing temperatures, contributing to life-threatening issues. Rankin fell into a cumulonimbus cloud with only an emergency oxygen supply and a parachute not designed for flying through a storm. Characterized by its towering, vertically developed dense layers, the cumulonimbus cloud is the only type of cloud that produces thunder and hail. While most clouds do not exist at altitudes above 2,000 meters, cumulonimbus clouds can reach heights of up to 20,000 meters, forming massive columns.
Instead of pulling the parachute cord, Rankin set an altimeter to automatically deploy the parachute at around 3,048 meters. He hoped to escape the storm cloud before succumbing to suffocation or freezing to death. Inside the cloud, Rankin was tossed around by vertical whirlwinds that formed in such weather. Scientists know very little about the mechanisms inside severe thunderstorm clouds, but the rising warm air was powerful enough to throw Rankin around while hail and lightning threatened his life.
Not long after, his parachute deployed, leading Rankin to believe he was at an altitude of 3,048 meters, but he was not. The pressure inside the storm cloud had triggered the altimeter. Rankin was thrust upwards as his parachute was caught in a whirlwind. It repeatedly pushed him up and down while he tried to dodge ice shards, holding his breath as the air was so saturated with water that it could drown him.
Eventually, Rankin escaped the storm and descended until he collided with a tree. He checked his watch and saw that it was 6:40 PM. Rankin had been in the cloud for 40 minutes. He sought help nearby and was taken to a hospital for treatment of frostbite, barotrauma, and several other minor injuries, but he was fortunate to survive. Nearly 50 years later, Rankin passed away in 2009 at the age of 88.
