Was flying the other day and approaching the airport. It is a known dropzone and in fact, I used to fly a jump plane there. The winds were out of the east so it would be convenient to fly overhead and join the circuit to land into wind. I could join a downwind to land on the other runway with a few knots tailwind but I would have to maneuver farther to the left and then make a sharper turn to the right to enter a straight-in downwind.
I have always had the opinion to never overfly a dropzone. But I thought to myself that if there was no aircraft flying, it would be impossible to hit any skydivers. I had heard the jump plane announce jump run a few minutes ago so he should be descending by now. I think he normally talks to ATC. I decided to call him on unicom to see what runway he would use and if he was on the descent and he said that he would be on jump run in a few minutes. Hmmmm.....glad I called him as I maneuvered to the left to make that sharp turn to a wide downwind leg for a slight downwind landing.
But what if he had not heard me call and I never got a response. I might have flown overhead trying to save a couple of minutes in violation of my idea to not overfly drop zones as I was figuring I was smart enough to work things out. Plus there could always be a second aircraft brought up, as sometimes happens.
Best not to overfly the drop zone.
Best not to Overfly the Drop Zone
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore
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linecrew
- Rank (9)
- Posts: 1887
- Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:53 am
- Location: On final so get off the damn runway!
Re: Best not to Overfly the Drop Zone
Even worse, what if the aerodrome was an ATF (versus an MF) where you can go in NORDO? I can't believe we still allow NORDO in Canada...
Re: Best not to Overfly the Drop Zone
I’ve been nearly killed a scary amount of times by airplanes not on radio or wrong frequency. I agree, it’s insanity it’s allowed.
