saw something like this on the news a few months ago.
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saw something like this on the news a few months ago.
Terminal velocity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While wikipedia may not be the best source it still shows all the fundamentals.
You said that in order to stop accelerating you the air resistance would need to apply a greater force than gravity. This is incorrect. The force of the air resistance only needs to be equal to the force of gravity for you to have zero acceleration.
This is true. However at terminal velocity the object does not stop moving. Its velocity is constant. It only stops accelerating.
The faster you go the greater air resistance. This means the faster you go the greater the force opposing you. As the force opposing you is increasing your acceleration is going to slow down. Not your velocity.
When the force for of the air resistance reaches that of gravity you are in equilibrium. Your acceleration is zero. This also means that the force of air resistance will not be greater than the force of gravity unless you apply an external force so you can never free fall upwards or come to a complete halt midair.
So no this isn't crazy. It makes perfect sense to me. While I am surprised that they survived I am not going to be more surprised by someone falling from a greater height and surviving as they both would have reached terminal velocity.