Skydiver Hits Airplane...

[Hawklore]

It's one thing to get hit by the plane you dove from, but getting hit from a landing plane that possibly has no clue that skydivers are in the area..

Sad event indeed, but WTF do you jump from a plane in the first place?

[Golfer]

Originally posted by Hawklore
It's one thing to get hit by the plane you dove from, but getting hit from a landing plane that possibly has no clue that skydivers are in the area..

Sad event indeed, but WTF do you jump from a plane in the first place?

If this is the case (and it's almost as bad as if the jump plane had hit the jumper) then the airplane would have known the jumpers are in the area.  The otter would make a number of radio calls including "jumpers away in 1 minute" and "jumpers out the door" on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) which is the radio channel that the airport uses so all the aircraft can sort out their location and keep from trading paint.

I haven't seen any new reports that say it wasn't the jump plane...but that other pilot should/would/probably did know or at least it was broadcast that jumpers were out the door.

Certain things have right-of-way when it comes to flying and it goes down the line in terms of maneuverability.

Blimps and airplanes have to get out of the way of hot air balloons.  Airplanes have to steer clear of blimps (airships).  Since parachutists have no motor and are only going one way, which is down, then logic would dictate airplanes must give way to these less than perfectly sane folks.  

If in fact it was not the jump plane, then most likely the following happened:

The jump plane made a radio call saying jumpers away in 60 seconds.  Shame on the offending airplane for missing that call.

The jump plane made a second call stating jumpers out the door.  Shame again on the offending airplane for missing that call.

Jump plane makes a radio call or two talking about entering the pattern (okay if you hear a guy call "Skydive 12345" and he's landing...the use of logic would say that there are jumpers coming down) Shame on the offending plane yet again for missing this radio call.

So the offending airplane has missed at least 3 radio calls, disregarded 3 radio calls or isn't looking for parachutes after hearing the 3 radio calls.

He then does not see the opened parachute(s) which are not difficult to see as often times they are quite gaily colored as well as the jumpers wearing quite easy to see jumpsuits.  Shame on him for not being vigilant with "see and avoid" which is the responsiblity of all pilots to avoid conflicts and collisions when in visual flying conditions.  Shame on him again.

There's an accident chain...if one link wasn't broken this would be a non-event.  There is more to this story...but it's sad it happened.

[Maverick]

Golfer,

Nice story.

I have had 2 near mid airs with jump planes at my old home airfield. The problem was so bad the jump operator was told by the field manager that the plans for the airport did not require a jump operator. Then it settled down for a while. When I left it was almost back to the same crappy situation. With the jump planes doing a "death spiral" back to the field at the normal base to final turning point for the active runway from 11,000' down to just below pattern altitude while the pattern was populaterd with landing aircraft. It's nbot fun to be starting to turn to base and see a kingair pass you by from above and just to the side by less than 100' distance right next to you while it completes a diving turn to land. I have seen the inside of the flaps of that bird more than once while in the air. I didn't see him as he came from above and behid to overtake me well over my speed until he was alongside of me.

The jumpers are NOT just going in one direction. Granted darn few can go back up without a healthy updraft but they are flitting latteraly all over the damn field. The jump field was colocated on the airfield and had a landing point just to the NW of the intersection of the 2 runways. The jumpers opened chutes from 10,000' down to 2,000'. Not all were carefull about not flying over the pattern area, cross arrival point or over the center of the airfield. Remember arriving aircraft on a non towered airfield often cross the field and mid point of the main runway from a 90 degree course to enter the downwind pattern. They do so at or just above pattern altitude of about 800 to 1,000' AGL. Guess who else was in that same area? Yep, parachutists wanting to get a nice view of the field and final turning towards the landing zone. They weren't supposed to do it, they had no radio to hear you calls and didn't make any calls on thier own either. Some misjudged their altitude and actually landed on the freaking runway.

Most "chutists" didn't do this and they stayed to the NW of the field but there were always a few that did what they damn well pleased.

[slimm50]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
Me getting ready to jump:

When the laundry came out instead of the chute, I laughed til I was breathless, tears flowing. Loved the whole movie. Jeez, that was a long time ago, now.

[eagl]

The last plane-jumper collision I read about involved a guy in free-fall hitting a private airplane.  The dude's lower legs hit the tail and the tail was ripped off, killing the 2 occupants of the plane.  The jumper survived with a badly broken ankle.

[midnight Target]

Holden McJohnson is right..

Fandango was very funny. Loved the scene where they attempt to tie onto the passing train.

[crowMAW]

Originally posted by deSelys
Press has got it wrong, he was NOT hit by the plane he had jumped from but by another one.

The press was right...the jumper and the jump-plane collided.  There are pics of the damage at:

http://www.wnbc.com/slideshow/traffic/4412623/detail.html?qs=;s=1;p=traffic;dm=ss;w=320



Here is the incident report from the FAA:

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 24HV Make/Model: DHC6 Description: DHC-6 Twin Otter (UV-18, CC-138)
Date: 04/23/2005 Time: 1315

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: None

LOCATION
City: DELAND State: FL Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT WHILE INFLIGHT DURING A SKYDIVING OPERATION, HIT A SKYDIVER IN MIDAIR
WHILE THE PARACHUTE WAS OPEN, THE SKYDIVER WAS FATALLY INJURED, DELAND, FL

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 14 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

WEATHER: METAR DAB 231253Z 21006KT 9SM FEW100 19/16 A2986

OTHER DATA

Departed: DELAND, FL Dep Date: Dep. Time:
Destination: DELAND, FL Flt Plan: NONE Wx Briefing: Y
Last Radio Cont: DAB APCH
Last Clearance: UNK

FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL (SO15) Entry date: 04/25/2005

[/b]

[deSelys]

It's still not clear CrowMAW: from the slide 3 of the link you posted:

Witnesses said he slammed into an airplane after skydiving from a different plane over Volusia County Saturday morning.

From the FAA report:

Damage: None

From what I've read, he was hit by another jump plane.

[Hawklore]

thats the problem, they were all fat people..




What do those abbrevations stand for?

[deSelys]

Pass: passenger

Fat: fatal
Ser: serious
Min: minor
Unk: unknown

...

[Seagoon]

Dunno,

In my short career of 6 jumps, the last thing I was worried about was the jump plane. I almost hit: power lines, a stone wall, a sheep stile, a road and finally I successfully hit: a big pile of sheep-poo after landing in a pasture instead of the nearby DZ. They made me walk back from that one instead of letting me in the "recovery vehicle."

Occurs to me that winds, jumper experience, and how steerable his chute was would have played a big role. Still 2 fatal accidents in one year isn't exactly an enviable record for a skydiving operation.

- SEAGOON