Falling safely

Well, when I was a kid we had a big jungle gym at a nearby park--a really big one, much bigger than you find these days--surrounded by fairly deep sand. We used to routinely jump from the top, probably a good 10 feet, until one kid broke his leg and they fixed it so we couldn't climb up to the top. So that's a good starting place: 10 feet is pretty safe unless you get unlucky.

Of course keep in mind I'm remembering this over many decades and the jump may not have been quite so high.

We did an elaborate fire drill at my 2-story college dorm one year. The fire department staged several fake injuries, inclding one girl with a mocked-up shattered femur from jumping from the 2nd story window. They had the jagged edge of her broken femur (a fake of course) sticking out of her leg and through her clothing and blood everywhere.

Second story jump.

I guess you just need to make the landing spot REALLY shock absorbent--lots of spring to it.

And why does your character have to land his feet? Can he land on his back? I believe Holywood stuntmen fall into their giant airbags on their backs and they land in such away as to radiate the impact force outward through their extended arms and legs.

Can he maybe land on his back on a really loose bed of sand? And can he leave a crater from his impact about a foot deep--indicating it was very loose and not terribly compacted?

Or is it plot-critical that he land on his feet? (Like maybe he's shooting a gun as he lands.)

I think it would also depend on the person that is falling; someone elderly can't safely fall as far as someone in their teens, also, someone in so-so condition (a desk jockey) wouldn't be able to fall as far as an athlete in top physical condition.

If you made the landing zone into a mound of sand, like a little dune, and he fell onto its side, then I think you could make the pit quite deep.

I remember dune diving in Martha's Vineyard when I was a kid and it seemed almost impossible to get hurt.

If you roll a little when you land it helps absorb the impact, and consequently you can fall a bigger distance without serious injury (assuming you roll right)... he could roll to his feet, if you absolutely wanted him to land on his feet.