As @xymostech mentioned, any time you're in the atmosphere, there's obviously air resistance (i.e., drag) as a factor. So according to most physicists, true freefall would only exist in a vacuum.
If you don't consider air resistance to be a "force besides gravity," then it becomes a somewhat semantical question of where you draw the line of "apparatus intended to slow the fall." In your statement above, what does "you" mean?
Even without a drogue, your vertical speed can be influenced by such subtleties as what you're wearing. If I wear a zero-porosity nylon jumpsuit and fly on my belly, I'll fall at roughly 120mph. If I fly in baggier clothes, or throw on a sweatshirt over that jumpsuit, I can slow to 115mph. If I'm wearing a heavier rig with a bigger parachute in it, my rate of speed will increase. You get the idea.
So again, semantically, if we ignore the fact that air resistance is a force besides gravity, would the only way to achieve freefall be to jump from an aircraft naked, wearing no parachute?
Ultimately, no matter what you're wearing, terminal velocity is different for every person or object falling through the atmosphere. It's the sum total of gravity and drag, semantics or not. :)
Yes, free fall can be fuzzy due to clothes and whatnot. But someone who didn't use a drogue chute should be able to have a shorter free fall time yet still be eligible to claim the record for longest free fall time, all else being equal.
If you don't consider air resistance to be a "force besides gravity," then it becomes a somewhat semantical question of where you draw the line of "apparatus intended to slow the fall." In your statement above, what does "you" mean?
Even without a drogue, your vertical speed can be influenced by such subtleties as what you're wearing. If I wear a zero-porosity nylon jumpsuit and fly on my belly, I'll fall at roughly 120mph. If I fly in baggier clothes, or throw on a sweatshirt over that jumpsuit, I can slow to 115mph. If I'm wearing a heavier rig with a bigger parachute in it, my rate of speed will increase. You get the idea.
So again, semantically, if we ignore the fact that air resistance is a force besides gravity, would the only way to achieve freefall be to jump from an aircraft naked, wearing no parachute?
Ultimately, no matter what you're wearing, terminal velocity is different for every person or object falling through the atmosphere. It's the sum total of gravity and drag, semantics or not. :)