#i see so many posts where people say something like “that makeshift parachute wont stop x character from hitting terminal velocity”

[ferronickel]

I wish people knew what terminal velocity means.

It's not a speed that kills you

It's the velocity at which drag cancels out the acceleration due to gravity, so you stop accelerating downwards, but continue falling at a fixed velocity. (The acceleration terminates)

Different objects have different wind resistances, and therefore different terminal velocities. If you open a parachute, you and the parachute will still reach a terminal velocity, it's just a lot slower than the terminal velocity you'd have without one.