Mark Burns

Mark Burns

Well Known Member
Just wondering how many of us have made a parachute jump.

I'm an "ex-skydiver". Haven't jumped in 15 years. 359 total jumps. Had to use my reserve 3 times. Worst injury was a sprained ankle. All civilian fun jumps. My first few jumps were under old military 28 footers, with the reserve on your belly. Highest jump was from 20,000. That was fun!

Freak Brother #1345

Mark
 
I've done 5 - all solo freefall. What a blast! Not very high though - only 10 sec of freefall. I had thought of getting my license and my own rig, but figured two money pits, er, I mean hobbies, are enough. ;)
 
Ever try paragliding. Its a little different but equally exciting. I've never jumped from a plane. My highest launch was 11,000 feet over Macedonia..You can stay up for hours or fly ridge lift like Peter Pan.
paragliding.JPG
 
5 freefall with the Air Force, 5 static line with the Army. Marine Corps won't let me jump because my job doesn't require it...

PJ
RV-10 #40032
 
Geronimoooooooooo

I think it is exciting and had opportunity to do it but I passed.
emoticon-no.gif
Jumping is a high risk sport (statistically) and why jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

I do own a Para-Phernalia wedge emergency chute. I hope I never have to use it, but got ground training from Allen Silvers (highly recommend)
http://www.pia.com/silver/ShopInfo.htm
(good info on his site)

one death out of every 100,000 jumps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachuting#Safety


With the new high performance small "flying" chutes high time jumpers with over 500 jumps are getting badly hurt by miss use. They have high forward speed and can stall. Even with 1 death in 100,000 (which is not that favorable of odds) there are many injuries.

George
 
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Jumped twice in the same day back in 1987 at a small airport in Alabama. Anybody can jump once! I was the first to jump for the day and I couldn't wait to do it again. The second time I was the last in the plane and I couldn't wait to get out. We had a perfectly good airplane but the pilot sucked!!! They were training him and we barely cleared the fence at the end of the runway! I probably will do it someday down the road again.
 
Jumped once. I loved it and was thinking of going again right away, and then one of those "pro" jumpers broke a leg. "Hmmmm... for the price of another jump I could get another hour and a half in the 172...."
 
jumps

Not me, but a friend I work with jumps often. Him and his wife each have over 3000 jumps and are into competetive sky diving. He was telling me just today that a friend of theirs who is an instructor with about 800 jumps "Bounced" as he put it last weekend. He said he didn't go by the numbers and cut his main to late and his backup was opening as he found the highway.

They are an interesting couple and they have a Cessna 172 also. Here is a guy that will jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but he will not cross the Sierras in a single engine. I've tried to get him to loosen up and there is no way he will be doing anything like it in this life time, but free falling from 18,000 feet, no problem.

???
 
Gave one back to the taxpayers

My one and only ride under a parachute came at the end of an ejection sequence from a Navy TA-4. Glad I had the option.
 
Pounder said:
My one and only ride under a parachute came at the end of an ejection sequence from a Navy TA-4. Glad I had the option.
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Better than the alternative definitely. My uncle autorotated in Vietnam on his second tour. Spent several months in the hospital. To my knowledge he hasn't been off the ground since (at least not while conscious).
 
jump -- unlikely

I suspect that the only thing that is going to get me to jump out of an airplane is an onboard fire. That falling feeling is just not fun.
 
I have 108 jumps, never hurt, never seen my reserve. My mom on the other hand did a tandemn jump while visiting me in Hawaii and and got two freefalls for the price of one. They had a line over collapsing the right side of the chute which put them into a nasty spin until they cut away. She didn't even know what happened until the tandemn master told her when they were on the ground. She is very proud of her pictures and video. Skydiving is a blast, but I would rather focus my time and money on flying and building.
 
mashy73 said:
Who would want to jump out a perfectly good airplane?
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I worked as jump pilot for a while and I can assure you most of those airplanes are far from perfectly good. Barely airworthy is more like it in most cases. I wish I was kidding.
 
87 Jumps, B License, no malfunctions. Oddly enough, I haven't jumped once since I started building the -7.
 
One jump

I had always wanted to try it, even with my fear of high places. An ironic fear for a pilot, but somehow airplanes never bothered me. My wife finally bought a tandem jump for me and I had a blast. If I wasn't sinking all my money into my RV-8 kit I might have even adopted it as my new hobby.

Craig Schwartz
RV-8 (awaiting fuselage kit)
Santa Rosa, CA
 
Skydiving

Current [recent] AFF JumpMaster, 700 jumps, 1 reserve ride back on jump #53. Weekends are 1 day jumping, 1 day building (depending on weather, of course). And to those who ask "why jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?"; have you seen some of the planes we jump out of???? You'd leave too! :D
 
joe gremlin said:
I worked as jump pilot for a while and I can assure you most of those airplanes are far from perfectly good. Barely airworthy is more like it in most cases. I wish I was kidding.
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That's no BS. When I was in the Corps, we were operating out of a jump place in SC one night to do external lifts. They had a Twin Otter there that looked like total crap. This was at night, too - I don't even like to think of what that crate looked like in the daylight...

Back on-topic, I haven't jumped yet. I WILL jump at least once. I've fastroped from a helicopter a few times, and that's great fun. Not someting civilians get many chances to do...
 
Why would anyone jump from a plane, which is going to continue flying? Never jumped out and never will if it's up to me. ;)
 
800+ Jumps, 1 malfunction, now retired due to bad shoulders and lack of money to fly AND jump.

Modern "body flight" has really advanced from the old days. See some of the videos here . What may not be immediately obvious is that these guys are head down, doing about 180 MPH from thirteen thousand AGL to around 3k. Lasts about 30-40 secs at these speeds

What I miss most are the canopy rides. High performance parachutes are a blast to fly, breeze in your face, highly maneuvaerable, and, when landed properly, quite a rush. A 180 degree downwind to final turn produces very high speed, exhilirating landings. Unfortunately when this is improperly done, the consequenses are severe. It is what injures/kills most skydivers nowadays.

It isn't for everybody....but I have to say I miss skydiving EVERY day of my life. And no, there is no perfectly good airplane. Though when you build it yourself, you are probably closer than most.

Blue Skies.
John
D22353
 
Back when I was flying skydivers (never jumped myself), I asked why anyone would jump from an airworthy airplane. His answer was "Statistics! Most aircraft accidents happen during take-off or landing. By not doing landings, I've reduced my chances by 50%."
Mel...DAR
 
62 military freefalls including a few from 25,000' with oxygen and quite a few a night. The majority were with weapon and equipment as well. Unfortunately there was nothing fun about it. No injuries though and I never saw my reserve.

I also did 362 civilian freefall jumps. No injuries and no reserve ride. Those were a blast, but I sold my rig to help pay for the airplane. I can't really afford to put time or money into any other hobby and build the plane at the same time. Maybe I'll get back to it someday, but I actually prefer flying to jumping anyway!

I also have over a hundred military static line jumps (stopped keeping precise count a long time ago). Static line is actually the more dangerous form of jumping. With an 18-22 ft/sec descent rate, that's a hard landing! Over the course of a career I've had three concussions, a dislocated shoulder, and pulled my reserve twice (both as a result of entanglements at night with other jumpers) - and I've actually been pretty lucky compared to most. Very few people do more than 50-60 jumps without breaking bones (or worse).

I'm not on jump status now and it would be fine with me if I never did another military jump again in my life. Like a lot of things in the Army, I enjoy the challenge, but it's just not fun.

Civilian skydiving, on the other hand, is great and is as safe as you make it. George quoted a figure earlier of 1 death per 100,000 jumps, and that's generally accurate. However, when placed into the context of the death rate among other activities, it's not so bad. One of the most complete worldwide studies ever conducted on the risks of parachuting was done in 1993 by Finnish researchers. Dan Poynter quotes it in his book Parachuting: A Skydiver's Handbook. Dan is very well regarded in the skydiving community, so I tend to trust this study since he quotes it. They came up with a rate of 1.4 deaths per 100,000 landings. Guess what the death rate for general aviation was? 1.4 per 100,000 landings! When considered from the viewpoint of death rate per participant, the numbers are even more striking. Traffic fatalities yield 28 deaths per 100,000 participants. Skydiving has 25 per 100,000 participants. General aviation has (get ready) 145 deaths per 100,000! Although that figure includes passengers, that's still quite a bit more.

Now we all know that there are liars, d*** liars, and then statistics, but there's a lot of evidence out there to support the idea that skydiving is about as dangerous as driving and less dangerous than general aviation flying. Intuitively it makes sense as well. The skill required to jump out of an airplane and land without injury is far less than that required by a student pilot flying his first solo. Psychologically, skydiving seems more dangerous because you're asking your body to perform an unnatural act. After all, even babies are afraid of falling. It's an instinctive fear. Generally people die from doing stupid things (much like aviation). Conservative skydivers rarely bounce.

The bottom line is that it's not as dangerous as most people think and with modern automatic opening devices you really have to go out of your way to get yourself killed. It's worth trying at least once. Even if you never do it again, it's a one-of-a-kind experience.

Chris
RV-7
Empennage done - Wings on order!
 
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If you really want to learn how to fly, get out of the plane!

55+ jumps, top speed 202 MPH, highest alt 18,500!

It?s one of the best experiences out there, and no 'falling feeling'. You're already going 120MPH in forward flight. When you jump, your motion transitions from forward, to 'down'.

One injury, 'busted' knee, strained ligament/tendon. Happened because I was stupid and failed to check the wind. Landed down wind at about 35MPH :eek: That day, I was a lawn dart.

Peter
 
Wind tunnel jump

Eloy AZ is skydiving Nirvana and is only about a 15 minute RV flight from P19. We have several where I live that jump regularly. One of them was part of the big 350 person formation jump a couple of years ago. It is on my list of things to do.

One of my perceptions of the current of the current crowd of jumpers is that they are 'skateboarders and surfers with parachutes.'

Skydive AZ recently opened one of the skydiving wind tunnels. It is expensive but with a few people sharing the cost it is workable. Haven't tried that yet. A friend and regular jumper did 10 minutes in there. He didn't walk upright for a couple of days. Lots of physical work.
 
RV7Guy said:
One of my perceptions of the current of the current crowd of jumpers is that they are 'skateboarders and surfers with parachutes.'
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Although this does represent a lot of current skydivers (the more dangerous ones in my opinion), there are a lot of conservative jumpers out there as well (conservative in the safety sense - not political :)). Different drop zones seem to cater to different crowds. A lot of the larger DZs seem to bring in the skateboarders and surfers, while some of the smaller ones cater to a more professional crowd. Even among the jumpers at a large DZ, there may be multiple cliques with their own styles. Go out to any DZ on the weekend and you can figure out who's who within an hour of observation.

Don't be turned off by the skateboarder and surfers. They're out there, but it's not hard to steer clear of them.

Chris
 
Flying One Way or Another

I have been an aviation enthusiast since my first ride in a PSA 737 when I was Seven years old. Since then I have been looking up and wanting to be back in the air.

I passed the written portion of the PPL in High School but not enough money to fly. I was sent to Madigan Hospital in Washington for a physical as part of the Navy and Air Force Scholarship program and found out I had 20/30 vision in one eye that disqualified me for flight school.

So, after a year or two I decided to join the Army and jump out of airplanes. Like Chris said in a previous post, not always fun but always a challenge. Especially those overcast nights with less than 10% illuminuation, no horizon for reference, from 800' and the DZSO putting out a fire while the jumpmaster sends you out the door with 20+ knot winds! Yee Haa.

Civilian skydiving is much more fun, the freefall is awesome. I also agree with the others when they say the jump planes are not perfectly good airplanes.

The RV has definitely been the best flying yet and I hope to be doing it for many more decades.

Jim
"Skytrash"
from a particularly bad skydive.
 
In 25 years of skydiving I have heard most of it before -
...perfectly good airplane.
...lawn dart.
I have been teaching skydiving for 20 years. I have taken many acro flyers for a skydive. When things go bad and you need to get out of an airplane you need to trust the chute.

One of my greatest pleasures was taking a lady who had been one of Idaho's female pioneers on a tandem skydive. She had come to the drop zone with her neighbor and mentioned she had always wanted to jump but now she was too old. I explained that she still had adventures left in her and she went for it and did great.

We have one local gentleman who is great advertising for the sport. He made a parachute jump reasoning if he was going to wear an emergency chute in his racing plane he ought to know how to use it. He had a control failure (similar to Sean T's recent failure) and had to get out. He landed fine.
He is now a member of the Catapiller Club.

I do not see myself so much as a risk taker. I use state of the art equipment, I utilize all safety features (AAD, audible/visual altimeters, etc) I stay current, practice my emergency procedures regularly, and I take care of myself physically, and continue to learn.

Now if you would have seen me bouncing off the tail of a Pitts S2B during an airshow routine I used to do you could probably call BS about not being a risk taker.

I use to think skydiving was just something I did - it's more than that.

I must admit building my own plane in my garage and doing loops and rolls in it has ranked right up there.

I have long given up defending or attempting to explain skydiving to those that don't understand. It's not for everyone, if it were I'm sure I wouldn't be doing it.

Today was a perfect day - beautiful 2.5 hour flight in the RV and one fun skydive with three friends.

Rob Herndon
RV6 223RH 320hrs.
 
1963-1981 Total of 1400 Jumps, Licensed Rigger, Jumpmaster, Instructor, Drop Zone Owner. Bought first airplane for jump operation, then learned to fly. Jumped just about every kind of parachute, including test jumping new square reserves. Broke both legs at different times, once jumping old modified military rig and once test jumping a new square reserve chule. Still have the desire but the body is too fragile.

Russ Daves
N710RV (RV-10 reserved) hope to fly in next six weeks.
 
I started jumping in 1981 at 22 years old and still make an occational jump at 48. My last jumps were last simmer when I went to the DZ with my son who did a tandem jump. I have over 1000 jumps, a 'D' expert license and was a jumpmaster and Instructor for a time.

I had a pilots license at 17 and found skydiving to be the best way to feel like I was REALLY flying and for the great social aspects with like minded aviation oriented people. I have jumped with Golden Knights, Britsh Marines, naked women, parapalegics, doctors, bankers, blue collar joes and we all shared in the joy of living life to the fullest. I even met my wife of 20 years at the Drop Zone, although she is not a jumper.

One of the great benifits I have gotton from skydiving is the chance to fly in and jump from so many different types of aircraft. To date I have jumped over 30 different types and models of aircraft, including a hot air balloon, C-130 (rear exit), B-17 (bottom exit), helicopter, most Cessna types, cubs, Tayler craft chief, ultra-lights, twin otters, caravans, etc. My only regret with building an RV-6 is I don't plan to jump from it (cross my fingers).

One of the reasons I was drawn to the RV series of aircraft was the performance that I can not find in an affordable factory built plane and the social connection, again, with like minded aviation oriented people.

Blue Sky
 
I made two jumps-
Had a stuck slider on my very first jump...might as well get it over with right away. I walked around for a week with a stupid grin on my face. I went back a couple of weeks later for my second jump.
I had a great time, but was very uncomfortable about the way that the jump center managed the aviation aspect of the sport. I felt safer under canopy than I did in the crate that was used to haul us up to jump height.
Don
 
Check it.

Good morning,

I have been lurking this site for quite awhile and this is my first post here. I have been interested in aviation since a very young age. I earned my Private Pilots Liscense in 1997 and started jumping in 1998. I haven't flown much as PIC since I started jumping (junior enlisted pay in the AF only allowed one or the other), but I now have over 2100 jumps. I became an enlisted instructor at the AF Academy for the jump program there, and also participated very activley in the civilian jumping in Colorado since 2000.

In that time I have learned that pilots can be just as dangerous to parachuting operations, as any thing else. A good jump pilot is worth their weight in gold, but a bad jump pilot (there are more bad jump pilots than good ones) can be very dangerous. Another thing I have learned is that there seems to be an animosity between jumpers and pilots, and this attitude will end up killing people some day. There have been countless times when I have seen aircraft overfly an active drop zone location with canopies in the air. This can be prevented by a carefull study of your sectional. The little parachute symbol means that there can be meat missles trying to take your wings off from above at any time. I can guarantee that if you have a collision between your aircraft and a jumper, that both of you will lose. Many drop zones operate throughout the week now a days. I feel that if pilots would get rid of this "Why jump out of perectly good airplanes" attitude and share the sky with others then all operations in the sky can be safer. Conversly, if jumpers learned a little about pilot's operations to include pattern locations, altitudes, and go around procedures things can be much safer. Do you remember the old GI Joe cartoons? Knowing is half the battle.

When you jump quite a bit you will soon find out that many pilots will stay with what we jumpers call a malfunction a lot longer than they need to. Personally I feel that pilots should make at least one jump or at least get training on bail out parachutes, so that they would know the parachutes operating limitations. For those of you who have bail out parachutes in your aircraft, do you know how much altitude you need to get inflation and deceleration before you land with it? Do you know what body position to hold while deploying (poor body posittion next to poor packing is probably the causal factor of most malfunctions, and yes you can get a malfunction on a bail out rig). Do you know how to steer your canopy, and how to safely land it? Do you know what to do in case of a tree, power line, or water landings? Do you know how your parachute will land in higher elevations? These are things you should make an honest answer to, and not let your ego get in the way. There wouldn't be bail out rigs or caterpillar clubs if people didn't need them.

Moving on the skaters and surfers issue. I actually take offense this reference, as most skydivers are not the pot head hippy freaks that you generalize us as being. This was more the case in the 70's and 80's, but now many skydivers are hard working professionals in their everyday lives. Yes accidents happen in this sport, just like accidents happen in your arena. Some times people walk away, and sometimes people are carted away. I fly a relatively small parachute with a high wing loading. I feel experienced and current enough to maintain the ability to fly this type of canopy. I bet you high performance pilots out there try to stay fairly current with your high speed low drag rockets, don't you? It is true that most injury and death trends are from people flying canopies that are way out of their league. This is like putting a 50 hour pilot into a legacy 2000, or an F-1 Evo. Does this happen? Yes, but yours and my sport is pretty good at self policing. Fortunatley this has become an emphasis item in the parachuting community, and is being addressed like your runway incursions are being addressed. It is usually the pilots ego (canopy or plane) that causes mistakes, and we all know that mistakes can be deadly in the game of aviation.

So the moral of the story is, The sky doesn't belong to pilots, or jumpers exclusively. When there are close calls, stop and talk about it instead of thinking "those stupid jumpers have a death wish. Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" It very well could be your fault.

Oh, and by the way asking a jumper "why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" is pretty much a sign of your own ignorance. It would be like me asking you if you had a death wish flying in your home built. Carry on.

Grant Adams
Private Pilot
Senior Rigger
Static Line Instructor
IAD Instructor
Accellerated Free Fall Instructor
PRO rating holder (104)
Former Tandem Instructor (I didn't want to haul meat all day at the DZ any more)
 
266 jumps for me and one malfuntion on jump 38 (borrowing a rig that someone later called a "cutaway rig"), but haven't jumped in 15 years for numerous reasons. I still miss it though. Freefall is where it is at! The parachute is only a means to get back into freefall.

As for why; would you go boating without knowing how to swim? :eek:
 
A skydiver at Heart

Uh-oh... here's a topic I can blabber about for a while... here goes my lunch break :D

Interesting responses in here. A few more skydivers than I thought, and its good to hear.

I've been jumping for 17 years. Made almost 1,800 jumps with no reserve rides. My wife has been jumping a few years less and has about 1,100 jumps... again, no reserve rides. We met at the dropzone, and share many of the same interests (including building our RV). We even teamed together for 4 years on semi-serious 4-way skydiving teams (2003 Team, 2005 Team). A lot of fun, and an EXCELLENT way to learn how to fly your body!

Like Frank, I've had the priviledge of jumping a variety of aircraft: Twin Otter, Caravan, 172, 182, Skyvan, Porter, CASA, Mi-17 helicopter, Antonov AN-26, Antonov AN-2, and a hot air baloon to name a few... all fun in their own right! Oh, and for the record, the hot air baloon was the ONLY 'aircraft' I ever jumped that gave me the sensation of falling (physics explained by 'RVF-84' earlier)

I jumpmastered for 2-years, and like being a CFI, you've got to want to do it because it doesn't pay well! I did a little canopy relative work (got my 4-stack award ;) ) and the largest freefall formation I've been in is the current Texas state record of 125 people (although this pales in comparison to the current world record of 400 :eek: )


RV7Guy said:
...the skydiving wind tunnels. It is expensive but with a few people sharing the cost it is workable. Haven't tried that yet. A friend and regular jumper did 10 minutes in there. He didn't walk upright for a couple of days. Lots of physical work.
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The single greatest advancement to the sport of skydiving next to the square parachute and the 3-ring release. These tunnels allow skydivers to hone their freefall flying skills in a very controlled and safe environment. My wife and I each have over 20 hours in the tunnel training with various teams. To skydivers, it's indoor skydiving... to pilots, I think a good parallel would be to think of it as indoor formation flying... it's like flying in formation one second, and then being able to instantly step off to the side to debrief, agree to some changes... and then jump right back in to try those changes out. Very effective training tool! And when you figure up the equivalent cost 'in the air', the tunnel time equates out to about 1/2 the cost of a skydive.

Btw: for some videos of impressive formation skydiving skills, check out some of the world class teams at last year's US Nationals.


Chris Meredith said:
Civilian skydiving, on the other hand, is great and is as safe as you make it.
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There is some serious truth to that statement! I believe it applies to the flying community as well!


Chris Meredith said:
Generally people die from doing stupid things
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Never has a more truthful statement been spoken!


Spizzzarko said:
There have been countless times when I have seen aircraft overfly an active drop zone location with canopies in the air.
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I have been above some of these planes while in freefall... not a good feeling! But, on the other hand realize that just because there is a dropzone at an airfiled doesn't mean that it can't be flown over. Properly established communications with the DZ oporations could easily result in a safe situation for everyone. This takes effort on everyone's part though.


Spizzzarko said:
I feel that if pilots would get rid of this "Why jump out of perectly good airplanes" attitude and share the sky with others then all operations in the sky can be safer. Conversly, if jumpers learned a little about pilot's operations to include pattern locations, altitudes, and go around procedures things can be much safer. Do you remember the old GI Joe cartoons? Knowing is half the battle.
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Very true. Skydivers & pilots alike share the responsibility.


Spizzzarko said:
It is usually the pilots ego (canopy or plane) that causes mistakes, and we all know that mistakes can be deadly in the game of aviation.
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Again, very true... Almost all skydiving incidents are caused by human error (i.e avoidable), and from what I understand, and have experienced in my limited amount of time as a pilot, this is true of pilots also.


Spizzzarko said:
So the moral of the story is, The sky doesn't belong to pilots, or jumpers exclusively. When there are close calls, stop and talk about it...
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Amen! Unfortunately this is usually where the ego's get in the way and the blame-games start! When the pucker factor rises, set the ego & defensive mechanisms on the shelf, and get down to the brass tax of the root cause. Nobody is perfect... we just don't want te believe it can be ourself :eek:

Oh, and why do I jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Did you see my 2005 team!
 
Hey, I almost missed this thread; whew!

Well folks,

I have also had some experience flying without wings.

I have just shy of 1900 jumps in my logbook.

I have jumped from Twin Otters, Porters, Lots of Cessnas, DC3s, A passle of Super Constellation jumps, a 727, Beech 18s, Bell 206 helicopters, hot air balloons, and I probably am missing a few.

I haven't jumped since we had kids (my wife has a couple of hundred jumps; yes, I exploited my instructor rating). Our newest is 6 days old, hence no RV project growing in the garage yet.

Though I am no longer current, at one time, I held a USPA D license, Static Line and Freefall Instructor ratings, and I also had my fill riding as a Strong tandem sandwich hundreds of times (don't touch my hands or I'll head butt you to death).

In my 10 years or so of active jumping, I accumulated 8 reserve rides (5 were tandem). Of the others, one was borrowed gear packed by someone who forgot to c0ck the pilot chute (duh!) (shame on me for not checking), Once, I hooked up a demo parachute backwards (actually hooked right riser to the left side and visa versa) (moronic). The last one was hurry-up and hangover related; on a dawn load, I put my gear on and jumped even though the legstrap on my right had passed through the webbing and twisted (pilot chute in tow; nobody noticed, not even me). I am not proud of those three mistakes I made (two of them were early on in my career; the borrowed gear incident happened 11 weeks after I broke my back). Aside from the tandems, they were all dumb, and of course, my fault.

Tandems tend to have some difficulties occasionally (at least, back then) due to the greater complexity and forces involved. All of the tandem reserve rides were equipment related, not stupidity.

I compressed vertabrae at my wedding (but it got us on the newlywed game) and even had a tandem student vomit in my mouth at 4000 feet under parachute (I could tell she had eaten Taco Bell for lunch--but the hot sauce was not from a packet).

People say things like, "It's safe...right?"

I don't think it is fair to anyone to pose skydiving in those terms.

The idea of letting go of an airplane in flight is absolutely stupid. Mind you, I would not trade my experiences, but I always want folks to know they should never enter into the activity without first asking themselves why. If someone else was trying to push them, or they had something to prove; I occasionally suggested that they might find satisfaction AND longevity in other sports.

For me, their was no greater joy than having a beer after ten or eleven jumps on a weekend day; knowing I had fun, wasn't hurt, made money. It was also quite satisfying to find that operating in a freefall environment became as easy as walking or chewing gum.

Hey, this is waaay too long already. I ramble well, sorry.

Wade Lindberg
 
Grant...I think most of your comments were right on the money - especially about looking at your sectional and steering clear of parachute icons. Most jump planes are putting jumpers out between 10,000-14,000' in the vicinity of those symbols. If you can't steer clear, then just monitor CTAF - they'll announce when they are about to release and when jumpers are away.

However, I'm not sure that I completely agree with you regarding the animosity between jumpers and pilots. Although I agree that it does exist, I think that it exists primarily from the jumpers' perspective. My impression is that the vast majority of pilots don't know enough about skydiving to have an opinion one way or the other. Even on this board, with the obvious exception of those of us posting, I suspect that most of the pilots here haven't had enough exposure to skydiving to develop animosity or admiration toward jumpers. So, I think that the animosity you're talking about is a DZ phenomenon - not something that exists throughout the GA community.

Although I can only speak for myself, I've never taken offense when someone's asked me why I'd want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. My experience is that it's usually asked jokingly, not disdainfully. Still, I know that there are a lot of people who don't "get it" and that's okay. But, I've also never felt looked down upon just because they don't understand. Of course, maybe people talk about me behind my back more than I realize! :D

The bottom line is that I don't think jumpers need to have chips on their shoulders. The vast majority of people don't have strongly formed opinions about skydiving and those that do are usually positive. Maybe I'm just lucky (or oblivious), but I've never run into anyone with a truly negative view of skydiving. I'm sure others have, but I don't think that it's rampant among pilots or the general community. Having said that, I'll probably be followed by somebody saying that we're all a bunch of idiots :D

Otherwise, good points!

Chris
 
1500+ jumps, 1981-1996
Static Line Jumpmaster
AFF Jumpmaster
Tandem Master
C-15536(?)
D-8365

Started jumping the Saturday after I graduated from high school. Always wanted to learn to fly but never had the money. After college and some other distractions (motorcycles) I finally took flying lessons... then started building my RV 5 months later. Only jumped 4 more times after I started flying. Got married last year so I'm pretty sure the skydiving days are over... but I'm ok with that. I worked pretty hard the last couple of years doing tandem jumps and got pretty burned out. I've got plenty to keep me busy and don't miss it unless an aircraft taxis by and I get a whiff of burned av-gas. That will get the heart thumping every time! (only skydivers will understand)
 
667 free falls - 5 static line.

I have been kicked out of a plane 672 times. 5 of which were night jumps, 3 reserve rides, no serious injuries. Jumped an old army T10 round twice and developed a real respect for airborne folks. That is real tough guy parachuting there as you hit like a sack of dirt! PLF anyone?

Most jumps were out of C-182's, C-206's, C-45's, DC-3's and one Stearman (out of the front hole at the top of a loop).

Any jumpers / RVers here that used to frequent Waynesville Ohio, Grand Lake, Montezuma or Xenia, Green county drop zones?

Jeff -7A Tiffin, OH 16G
 
skydiver vs. Warrior

All this talk of jumpers and planes reminds me of this accident in which the jumper lived but the four people in the Warrior perished.

NTSB said:
NTSB Identification: BFO94FA015 .
The docket is stored in the Docket Management System (DMS). Please contact Records Management Division
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, November 21, 1993 in NORTHAMPTON, MA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 1/11/1995
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-161, registration: N3011F
Injuries: 4 Fatal.
A PIPER PA-28, N3011F, WAS IN VFR CRUISE FLIGHT HEADING EASTBOUND AT ABOUT 5700' MSL, AS A CESSNA 210 (PARACHUTE JUMP PLANE) HAD JUST COMPLETED A CLEARING TURN TO A WESTBOUND HEADING, INTO THE SUN, AT 7300' MSL. A PARACHUTIST JUMPED FROM THE JUMP PLANE & STRUCK THE VERTICAL STABILIZER OF THE PA-28 AFTER A FEW SECONDS OF FREE FALL. CONTROL OF THE PA-28 WAS LOST, & IT CRASHED IN AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT. THE JUMP PLANE WAS IN RADAR & RADIO COMMUNICATION WITH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) IN ORDER TO RECEIVE TRAFFIC ADVISORIES PER THE FAA ATC CONTROLLER'S HANDBOOK. THE PA-28 WAS RECORDED ON RADAR. NO ADVISORIES WERE ISSUED TO THE JUMP PLANE AFTER THE PILOT CALLED '1 MINUTE PRIOR TO JUMP.' TESTS SHOWED THAT ONE TRANSCEIVER IN THE PA-28 WAS TUNED TO 120.30 MHZ; A WARNING FOR PARACHUTE JUMPING WAS GIVEN OVER THIS FREQUENCY. A 1/8' PARACHUTE SYMBOL (COLORED BLUE) WAS DEPICTED ON THE SECTIONAL CHART AND WAS SUPERIMPOSED OVER A RIVER (ALSO COLORED BLUE). THE CONTROLLER WAS RECEIVING ON-THE-JOB TRAINING FROM A FULL PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

FAILURE OF THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) FACILITY TO IDENTIFY AND PROVIDE THE REQUIRED TRAFFIC INFORMATION TO THE JUMP AIRCRAFT BEFORE RELEASE OF THE JUMPER(S). A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE PILOT OF THE JUMP AIRCRAFT.
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why go so high?

This was an entertaining thread. Personally, give me a bridge, antenna, span, earth object any day!! You will get the thrill of your life! :eek: Live within your personaly limitations and all is good.

With 350 skydives, 80 BASE jumps and 60hrs. The key theme is to life to the fullest and without regret!!! :D

INVICTUS - awesome poem
 
I jumped from a helicopter once WITHOUT a parachute!

OK, so it was hovering only a few feet high and I had to get out to manually extend a stuck landing gear. But I did jump from an airborne aircraft!

Sure wish those grounding straps were longer. A CH-53 generates a whopping punch of static electricity after flying for 6 hours. I don't know which is worse: becoming one with the ground as when landing a parachute or becoming the ground. :D

Jekyll
 
About 30 years ago I did 3 static line jumps with the old round chutes. Lot's of fun but pulled a muscle on the 2nd jump. Did the 3rd one anyway.

The airport I fly out of now has a skydive operation as well. I have seen far too many cut-aways for me to want to try again.
 
perfectly good airplane?

hehe. lurked for a long time but finally had to post. i'm a current skydiver/basejumper. just over 2000 skydives in the past 5 years, and just over 100 base jumps. that's what got me into flying. i've also competed in the last two US nationals in freeflying and 2005 national and world swoop competitions. i'm pretty much a jump on saturday, build build the RV on sunday kind of a guy. jumping's fun. like anything else, it's only as dangerous as you make it. i think everyone should give it a shot. or check out the wind tunnels in either Eloy, Orlando, or Perris Valley - no parachute required!

cj
#40410
www.perfectlygoodairplane.net
RV-10 wings

by the way - there's a small video clip of a sweet basejump on my site if you really want to get scared... hehe.
 
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jump out of a perfectly good airplane?????

Never done it but judging by Sean D. Tucker's remarkably good health these recent days, I don't think it would be a problem if the situation was in violation of the perfectly good airplane rule.

I guess I just love airplanes too much to want to leave them mid-flight, unless necessary.

Did fly skydivers for a short time and discovered the initiation routine rather abrubtly. The jumpmaster kicked out all his students over the drop zone and then promptly turned off the engine with the key, and then backed out of the door into the wild blue with said key high in his hand saying ..".SEE YA!!...

Jeff
-8 wings
 
Jumper hitting aircraft

Bill said:
NTSB said:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

FAILURE OF THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) FACILITY TO IDENTIFY AND PROVIDE THE REQUIRED TRAFFIC INFORMATION TO THE JUMP AIRCRAFT BEFORE RELEASE OF THE JUMPER(S). A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE PILOT OF THE JUMP AIRCRAFT.
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Strange - no fault of the jumper? Couldn't he see and avoid the aircraft? Perhaps he was doing flips or something...

Very scary story.
 
Ok I'm in

I'm another forum lurker who finally needs to post

I've got at least 550 jumps most of those with the Air Force Academy as an instructor/jumpmaster. I was (am) generally a safety fanatic so I never suffered more than a sprained ankle. 1 reserve ride (streamer), although my canopy was opening as I broke away. I have a video memento of it with the sound of my coach laughing at me in the background.

I "retired" shortly after I left the Academy since so many of my buddies had sustained some serious injuries and since I couldn't think a good reason to keep jumping. I finally sold my rig several months ago to help fund my return to the cockpit. I expect to be building my RV in a few years after I get out of grad school. Speaking of which, I'm supposed to be studying now.

Blue Skies,
DJ
PTWOB 142
RV-someday
 
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