Depends what number you start at Cap.
Sky Diving At or Near Airports
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog
Re: Sky Diving At or Near Airports
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience often comes from bad judgment.
Re: Sky Diving At or Near Airports
I used to drop skydivers. I never announced when they were all down because I had no idea when they were all down.
The airports near me that have skydive operations do not announce when all jumpers are down. One should not expect this. One would be wise to avoid overhead operations of airports with skydiving activity unless they are sure that there is no jumping on that day. And remember, the majority of jumps are upwind of the airport.
Sometimes jumpers open at high altitude and if that is a jumper with a student chute(student chutes descend slowly), it could be quite a while before they reach the ground.
Avoiding an overhead arrival is exactly what I did last week. I asked ATC if there was skydiving activity during a weekday and there was. I took a few extra minutes to avoid the more convenient overhead arrival in order to join the circuit a different way. In that case, it turned out that the airplane was on the ground but there could be more than one aircraft.
Of course, there should be an advisory for a jump run happening but mistakes/ miscommunications/etc happen. Therefore, I was cautious.
I did almost hit a skydiver pair doing CRW together many years ago when I assumed the would be down but had opened high. They thought I intentionally buzzed them and felt it was a very cool experience.
The airports near me that have skydive operations do not announce when all jumpers are down. One should not expect this. One would be wise to avoid overhead operations of airports with skydiving activity unless they are sure that there is no jumping on that day. And remember, the majority of jumps are upwind of the airport.
Sometimes jumpers open at high altitude and if that is a jumper with a student chute(student chutes descend slowly), it could be quite a while before they reach the ground.
Avoiding an overhead arrival is exactly what I did last week. I asked ATC if there was skydiving activity during a weekday and there was. I took a few extra minutes to avoid the more convenient overhead arrival in order to join the circuit a different way. In that case, it turned out that the airplane was on the ground but there could be more than one aircraft.
Of course, there should be an advisory for a jump run happening but mistakes/ miscommunications/etc happen. Therefore, I was cautious.
I did almost hit a skydiver pair doing CRW together many years ago when I assumed the would be down but had opened high. They thought I intentionally buzzed them and felt it was a very cool experience.
