[WalterBright]

> no drag from a partially deployed chute

As I recall, free fall is about 120 mph, while a tangled chute can cut it to 60 mph. I know this from a newspaper article about a man who survived a tangled chute fall onto pavement.

[RealityVoid]

These are not hard numbers. The velocity can vary quite a bit in free fall and depending on parachute state when tangled I'm sure that can greatly vary as well.

But yes, a partial deploy will slow you down somewhat.

And mildly related there's this website about free fall survival that I find fascinating:

https://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html

[davidwritesbugs]

Yup. If you get a partial "mal" and have a "bag of washing" over your head, as we call it in UK, your terminal velocity can drop to the point where you can survive, but you'll be all busted up at best. It happens.