Sky Divers in low ceiling?

bullwinkle said:
Jeez, jumpers scare me to begin with. I mean really, 200lb meat sacks falling at 125mph where I am trying to fly a plane...gah! Add them popping out of clouds at 2000 AGL and it becomes a horror show for me.

Somebody needs to drop a dime on these guys before somebody gets hurt.
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Make sure you give the other side of that (just to be fair.)
2000lb airplanes hurtling through the air at 125mph where Im trying to skydive! Gah! Sounds like a horror show.
SOmebody needs to drop a dime on these pilots for doing there non-standard crosswind patterns and not reading notams before they kill us.

Not that im a skydiver, just sayin
 
ClimbnSink said:
Everyone here has had an airplane to airplane miss that close. Welcome to the sky, chickens don't fly.
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NoHeat said:
While parking on the ramp, yes.

While flying no way!
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ClimbnSink said:
You didn't see them or you haven't been flying long enough
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Sadly, I'd have to agree. Big Sky theory doesn't work too well. In 1200 hours, I've had several:

1) Bo flew right in front of us when I was in instrument training, maybe 200 feet in front of us and 30 below... IE, close enough that I saw him with the hood on, though ATC had called him out and I wasn't so much head-down at that point - We didn't see him until he whizzed in front of us.

2) Grumman got pretty close to me on my way to OSH one year, he was on his way into Fond du Lac apparently. Saw this one coming quite a ways out and was able to monitor and watch him pass in front of me.

3) Another Cessna flew right in front of us on the way to 6Y9 one year - Same altitude (ok, maybe 10 feet higher) and 100-200 feet in front. Happened so fast my pax never saw the plane 'cuz she'd looked down for a moment. (I could have easily missed #1 in the same fashion had I not been talking to ATC, and I may well have had others I don't know happened for the same reason.)

4) I was departing an uncontrolled field IFR, in really crappy conditions - Definitely not anything close to VMC. I got my clearance on the ground, looked out the left window as I pulled onto the runway to check final as is habit, saw only gray muck... Pulled onto the runway and just about as soon as I'd lined up and begun to add throttle, some cowboy in a Bo that apparently doesn't much care for rules whizzed about 20 feet over me. That's the only one where I've heard 'em before I saw 'em... Still would have been too late to do anything about it. :eek:
 
Ok, have to jump in here(no pun intended, well maybe)..

As a skydiver for over 20 years a D License holder and Pro rated demonstration parachutist for 14 years on a well known Team, yes they are illegal. If the cloud layer base was at 2000ft and it was solid, they technically could not jump. Even though a jumper can exit at 2000ft legally, the pilot of the aircraft would be flying illegally due to cloud separation and flight rules.

Skydiving through a cloud is against FAA regulations. They must follow separation rules just like a pilot. If the cloud layer was broken and they could see the ground, they are cleared to jump. However, the pilot would still have to adhere to VFR flight rules. So in many cases the pilot is breaking the rules.

I have jumped many, many times at 2000ft when the cloud layer was at 2500ft. I have jumped in pouring down rain when the ceiling was at legal altitudes. Rain isn't an issue. Not fun though.

If the OP was at the same airport the dropzone is at, then they were not legal. If they were in a different area where the weather could be different, then may not be an issue.

However, like one poster said, Dropzones only make money when jumpers exit that plane. These days most dropzones use GPS to "spot" the dropzone. A jumper nowadays, never really look out the plane until jump run and go when the pilot turns on the green light. Most cases, it wouldn't be the best direction of flight either, according to winds aloft or on the ground. Its how its done these days to make money.

So, I would say to the OP, if you know for certain they were jumping on the same airport. Then I would talk to the DZ owner. For one, you may solve the problem by letting the owner know that you know the rules. Two, you may save a life-yours or some young skydiver that is going along with the older jumpers to fit in. Which is wrong!. Most skydiving operations follow the rules. But there are some rogue operators out there though.

Good luck in whatever direction you go. I personally, as a pilot and jumper, would say something to the dz owner.
 
gkdave said:
So, I would say to the OP, if you know for certain they were jumping on the same airport. Then I would talk to the DZ owner. For one, you may solve the problem by letting the owner know that you know the rules. Two, you may save a life-yours or some young skydiver that is going along with the older jumpers to fit in. Which is wrong!. Most skydiving operations follow the rules. But there are some rogue operators out there though.

Good luck in whatever direction you go. I personally, as a pilot and jumper, would say something to the dz owner.
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100% certain. It was the exact airport I was flying at and I was watching them pop out of the clouds. :D I was doing pattern work and watching this happen the entire time. The "pilot" talks like a punk on the radio and they all think they are coolest guys at the airport. Maybe, I'll just video it and turn it over to my instructor to deal with them. Putting all the puzzle pieces together, I believe they do what ever they want.
 
gkdave said:
Ok, have to jump in here(no pun intended, well maybe)..

As a skydiver for over 20 years a D License holder and Pro rated demonstration parachutist for 14 years on a well known Team, yes they are illegal. If the cloud layer base was at 2000ft and it was solid, they technically could not jump. Even though a jumper can exit at 2000ft legally, the pilot of the aircraft would be flying illegally due to cloud separation and flight rules.

Skydiving through a cloud is against FAA regulations. They must follow separation rules just like a pilot. If the cloud layer was broken and they could see the ground, they are cleared to jump. However, the pilot would still have to adhere to VFR flight rules. So in many cases the pilot is breaking the rules.

I have jumped many, many times at 2000ft when the cloud layer was at 2500ft. I have jumped in pouring down rain when the ceiling was at legal altitudes. Rain isn't an issue. Not fun though.

If the OP was at the same airport the dropzone is at, then they were not legal. If they were in a different area where the weather could be different, then may not be an issue.

However, like one poster said, Dropzones only make money when jumpers exit that plane. These days most dropzones use GPS to "spot" the dropzone. A jumper nowadays, never really look out the plane until jump run and go when the pilot turns on the green light. Most cases, it wouldn't be the best direction of flight either, according to winds aloft or on the ground. Its how its done these days to make money.

So, I would say to the OP, if you know for certain they were jumping on the same airport. Then I would talk to the DZ owner. For one, you may solve the problem by letting the owner know that you know the rules. Two, you may save a life-yours or some young skydiver that is going along with the older jumpers to fit in. Which is wrong!. Most skydiving operations follow the rules. But there are some rogue operators out there though.

Good luck in whatever direction you go. I personally, as a pilot and jumper, would say something to the dz owner.
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Well it's rare that I say this, I'm impressed.

What's you home DZ? Spaceland? you fly too?
 
JasonM said:
and they all think they are coolest guys at the airport.
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As usual it is about ego, not safety. They are the coolest guys at the airport. Only place on an airport where you will consistently find young pretty women is dropzones. Having young pretty women hanging around is the only real measure of coolness.
 
I recall a few years back on a cross country back home from miami stopping at a small airport in north florida. The ceiling was solid at 11 or 1200. I could hear the jump plane picking up a clearance to go up and then dropping them.
 
JasonM said:
100% certain. It was the exact airport I was flying at and I was watching them pop out of the clouds. :D I was doing pattern work and watching this happen the entire time. The "pilot" talks like a punk on the radio and they all think they are coolest guys at the airport. Maybe, I'll just video it and turn it over to my instructor to deal with them. Putting all the puzzle pieces together, I believe they do what ever they want.
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Hate to say it, they tend to be that way. All they do is give the jumpers an elevator ride up to altitude. Day after day, sometimes 30 lifts or more, depending where you are located. Soon they get really good at beating the jumpers to the ground.

Seen lots of crazy approaches for landings at a dropzone.
 
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