Apparently a deceleration force of perhaps a hundred gravities had left the leatherwing unscathed.
Just kinetic energy and the subsequent deceleration forces ripping through anything in front of it.
The belted passenger in forward-facing seats swings with the direction of the resultant deceleration forces.
Slight variations in the vehicle flight path and reentry angle during a return from the Moon can easily result in fatal levels of deceleration force.
Although hailed worldwide as remarkable achievements, both of these Zond missions flew off-nominal reentry trajectories resulting in deceleration forces that would have been fatal to human crewmembers had they been aboard.
However the pressure absorbers failed to resist the enormous deceleration forces.
A constant rotor rpm is achieved by adjusting the collective pitch so blade acceleration forces from the driving region are balanced with the deceleration forces from the driven and stall regions.
The abrupt turn had disastrous consequences on its avian glide, with the hull's blunt underside smashing head on into the hydrogen, the starship was suddenly subjected to a huge deceleration force.
And what would a reentry be like, without cushioning against deceleration forces?
If the angle of attack is too steep, the deceleration forces may be too high or the heat of reentry may exceed the tolerances of the heat shield.