There have been several incidents of sky-divers jumping from hundreds of feet and their chute fails to open yet they manage to survive the fall with just broken bones. There was also one story quite a few years ago in fact, that I cannot find a link to, about a guy who fell several hundred feet, his chute failed and he managed to hit the ground in such a way that he walked away from it.
So this raised the question: if you are in a plane that is going to crash would you curl up in the fetal position like they tell you or jump out and take your chances hitting the ground on your own?