Do You Die From Falling? Understanding Terminal Velocity and Impact

Question
Hi. My question isn't under your speciality, so if you don't want to answer feel free not to.
I'd like to know why do people say that when you jump from a very high building you die before you hit the ground - something about the pressure in your lungs. And if so, why doesn't this happen to parachuters?

Thank you.  

Answer
I'm not sure at all that they do die before hitting the ground. A falling human being very rarely ever moves faster than around 200kms/hour (= 125 miles/hour)due to air resistance. That is hardly enough to rupture the lungs (think of people in hurricanes, cars or aircrafts). Furthermore, even if you jumped from the old World Trade Center it would only take a little more than 10 seconds to reach the ground. Not much time to die in really. So I think you can dismiss the whole theory. Well, if it does not apply to an ordinary jumper it can hardly do on parachuters - besides due to their parachutes they move MUCH MORE slowly, so it CAN NOT happen there either.