Maryland - Aerial Jettison of Cremated Remains (over water)

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dave5891

Filing Flight Plan
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Dave
Hello PoA.

I live in Maryland. My father passed away about 7-8 months ago now and he had a... interesting... and very serious request. He wished to be dropped (his ashes) from an aircraft while yelling "bombs away". I googled if its legal (I found 14 CFR § 91.15) and it looks like its legal as long as "reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property."

Yes the ashes will be in a bisque fired clay urn for jettison. No waving a plastic baggie full of dust out a window.... I'm thinking over the ocean is best. My sister said she would never eat another crab again if i did it over the bay...

I'm not trolling. I'm willing to pay for a flight for my sister and myself. Just trying to figure out who (or how) do i get in touch with to fulfill his last wishes. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
 
There was a long thread on the ins and outs of this type activity a year or two ago. Maybe this new version of site software has a better search function than the old one.

Good luck finding someone. Not sure how many coastal Maryland/Delaware pilots are here.
 
Sorry for the loss of your dad. Welcome to PoA. There are a bunch of folks in the area- I'd offer to help but I only have a 2 seater. You could probably call up Freeway or Lee and see if they could work this in to a demo flight. As long as the urn can fit out the window, should be no big deal.
 
I like your dad's sense of humor.

Considering that the Navy has been dropping actual bombs into the bay for 70 years and the heavy commercial shipping, I wouldn't worry about the health of the crab population from a single urn.

It may be challenging to find a plane that you can safely and legally do that from . A skydiving Drop-Zone with a modified Cessna 182 or 206 may be your best bet*. They have little to do off season and would probably get the nature of the request.


* As they are allowed to fly with the door open.
 
my concern is getting the whole "bomb" out of the plane without having the lid come loose. ;)
 
weilke said:
I like your dad's sense of humor.

Considering that the Navy has been dropping actual bombs into the bay for 70 years and the heavy commercial shipping, I wouldn't worry about the health of the crab population from a single urn.
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Somehow, I don't think her concern was damaging the environment.
...think about it...
 
Secure the lid with 100% cotton twine. It will easily decompose.
WA State requires the escape hole on crab traps to be secured with cotton twine so if the trap is lost, the crabs can escape.
 
weilke said:
I like your dad's sense of humor.

Considering that the Navy has been dropping actual bombs into the bay for 70 years and the heavy commercial shipping, I wouldn't worry about the health of the crab population from a single urn.

It may be challenging to find a plane that you can safely and legally do that from . A skydiving Drop-Zone with a modified Cessna 182 or 206 may be your best bet*. They have little to do off season and would probably get the nature of the request.


* As they are allowed to fly with the door open.
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I assume the sister made the comment because she doesn't want to eat a crab that may have ingested the remains.

And every light plane I've flown can legally fly with the door open.
 
Lindberg said:
And every light plane I've flown can legally fly with the door open.
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In something like a 172, how would one ensure that the object doesn't strike the horizontal stabilizer upon release?
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
my concern is getting the whole "bomb" out of the plane without having the lid come loose. ;)
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That actually happened to a buddy of mine. Shortly thereafter, his plane was stolen and never recovered....coincidence or ?
 
weilke said:
I like your dad's sense of humor.

Considering that the Navy has been dropping actual bombs into the bay for 70 years and the heavy commercial shipping, I wouldn't worry about the health of the crab population from a single urn.

It may be challenging to find a plane that you can safely and legally do that from . A skydiving Drop-Zone with a modified Cessna 182 or 206 may be your best bet*. They have little to do off season and would probably get the nature of the request.


* As they are allowed to fly with the door open.
Click to expand...
I thought pa32's could fly with aft door removed? Never had a need for that so not certain
 
robin ardoin said:
Why aren't more skydivers decapitated by the horizontal stabilizer?
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Are any of them, ever? Or do tail strikes happen occasionally? Do pilots of skydiving planes have a specific configuration that's necessary to achieve before safe egress?
If so, that would be evidence that someone not aware of these items perhaps shouldn't risk dropping a solid object from the plane.
 
Baked Potato said:
Are any of them, ever? Or do tail strikes happen occasionally? Do pilots of skydiving planes have a specific configuration that's necessary to achieve before safe egress?
If so, that would be evidence that someone not aware of these items perhaps shouldn't risk dropping a solid object from the plane.
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9.8 m/s (sq)
 
Lindberg said:
I think you'd be more likely to hit it if the stabilizer was right below the door.
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I agree. If I was on board, though, "likely" would not be good enough for me!
A quick Google search shows that there have been instances of skydivers striking the tail. I'm still wondering if there are specific checklist items that need to be completed by such pilots before clearing people to jump, to minimize the chance of this happening. Or actions that the skydivers must take, like pushing outwards.
 
If you find a pilot who has experience in ash dispersal,they will handle the logistics.
 
Baked Potato said:
Are any of them, ever? Or do tail strikes happen occasionally? Do pilots of skydiving planes have a specific configuration that's necessary to achieve before safe egress?
If so, that would be evidence that someone not aware of these items perhaps shouldn't risk dropping a solid object from the plane.
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The drop plane slows to something like 80 knots so anyone without a wing suit on drops pretty quickly. Wingsuit jumpers know to keep the wings folded until well clear of the airplane.
 
In the .044 seconds it would take for the urn to hit a tail 2 meters back (assuming an airspeed of 45 m/s), if my math is right (it probably isn't) the urn would have dropped less than an inch. This does not account for the time it takes for the air resistance to speed the urn up, which I am not equipped to calculate, and is probably more important. ;)
 
Salty said:
In the .044 seconds it would take for the urn to hit a tail 2 meters back (assuming an airspeed of 45 m/s), if my math is right (it probably isn't) the urn would have dropped less than an inch.
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Urn doesn't remain stationary. It is also moving forward at the same speed the plane is until the drag slows it down to a 0 m/s forward speed - which takes much longer than .044 seconds.
 
EdFred said:
Urn doesn't remain stationary. It is also moving forward at the same speed the plane is until the drag slows it down.
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yeah, see my edit. We'd need the drag coefficient of the urn, which we could approximate, but I'm unwilling to do so. ;)
 
According to my figures, the urn should miss the tail...

1697476580831.png



A = airplane
B = urn being bombed away
C = altitude
D = weight of person dropping urn
E = airspeed velocity of unladen swallow

(I are good at math. I took the same math class for 3 years in the second grade...)
 
Zeldman said:
According to my figures, the urn should miss the tail...

View attachment 121508



A = airplane
B = urn being bombed away
C = altitude
D = weight of person dropping urn
E = airspeed velocity of unladen swallow

(I are good at math. I took the same math class for 3 years in the second grade...)
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African, or European?
 
Racerx said:
I thought pa32's could fly with aft door removed? Never had a need for that so not certain
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Yes. A number of planes can. But you gotta have a mechanic remove and reinstall the door and a owner willing to do this. A jump ship is set up to do this either by TC or STC and you may find an owner who's gonna say 'heall yeah!'
 
Baked Potato said:
In something like a 172, how would one ensure that the object doesn't strike the horizontal stabilizer upon release?
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Gravity.

Skydivers have hit their head on the horizontal stab of various aircraft including 90 series king airs and H6 Turbo Porters. But that was usually the result of them being propped up high in the door as part of a formation exit or as a camera man (or if the plane was flying faster than usual to keep up with a different jump aircraft. An object just dropped from the door at typical jump-run speed will go straight down.
 
Lindberg said:
I assume the sister made the comment because she doesn't want to eat a crab that may have ingested the remains.

And every light plane I've flown can legally fly with the door open.
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More of a mental thing. If you are willing to eat crabs from the Chesapeake, some 1 in a zillion diluted cremains are not something you need to worry about.
It's gonna be easier to find a plane to go out over the bay than someone willing to venture off shore.
 
Full disclosure....nothing will cut our intake of crabs from the Choptank river....in Cambridge, MD.
 

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EdFred said:
Urn doesn't remain stationary. It is also moving forward at the same speed the plane is until the drag slows it down to a 0 m/s forward speed - which takes much longer than .044 seconds.
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Winner, winner, chickin' dinner!
 
Salty said:
In the .044 seconds it would take for the urn to hit a tail 2 meters back (assuming an airspeed of 45 m/s), if my math is right (it probably isn't) the urn would have dropped less than an inch. This does not account for the time it takes for the air resistance to speed the urn up, which I am not equipped to calculate, and is probably more important. ;)
Click to expand...

That is why you thrust it down while yelling “BOMBS AWAYYYYY!!!!!!”
 
You should NOT drop a clay urn at all. And it may be illegal into the water. For burial at sea off a ship, they use a papermache urn the dissolves in the water.

For disposal from a plane, the ashes are scattered without the container. There designs using PVC tubing to disperse the ashes below the belly to avoid sandblasting (ashes are abrasive), dents (bits of bones) and MOST importantly, from having the ashes blow back into the airplane. A friend of mine has one setup to use on a C-182.

If you are wanting to hire someone to do this, that is a charter operation, and not all airports can do it.
 
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