skydivers escape plane crash (w. video)

[Sulako]

Particularly intense video here:

http://www.trutv.com/video/most-daring/ ... =truTVshlk

[Morav]

WOW, looks like a nasty inverted spin.

[Hedley]

Everything appears to be ok until immediately after the first jumper leaves.

Does everyone here think that timing is just a coincidence?

Likely something messed with the aircraft tail. If so, this wouldn't exactly be the first time.

Every time I dump jumpers, I wear a chute, and exactly for this reason - the aircraft may not be controllable with junk wrapped around the (damaged) tail control surfaces.

[rigpiggy]

What airplane is that, looks kind of like an aircomp, but seems to have metal wings

[North Shore]

Everything appears to be ok until immediately after the first jumper leaves.

Does everyone here think that timing is just a coincidence?

Likely something messed with the aircraft tail. If so, this wouldn't exactly be the first time.

Every time I dump jumpers, I wear a chute, and exactly for this reason - the aircraft may not be controllable with junk wrapped around the (damaged) tail control surfaces.

I thought that was the law in any case? Seems like a good idea, nonetheless...

[TG]

Looks more like a good stall.
The tail probably lunched upward into this inverted position when the first batch of jumpers left the aircraft (after the initial stall)
Either from being to slow during the jump run, too much people in the back of the plane during the exit or a combination of the two.

I had this kind of stall one time in a Beech 18.
110mph, one notch of flaps and with the gear down to keep the W&B as much forward as possible.
Even so and even with them being briefed about the issue, they managed to all (12) go way in back at the same time during the jump run and I lost control.
Yelling JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! adding full power with the yoke full forward didn't change a thing. Nose was still going towards the sun (at its zenith merci!) Realizing what was going on, they all left very quickly.
The tail then literally lunched upward but not to the point of finishing into an inverted spin. And the only things bruised this day ended up being egos!


For reference:

In my case everybody was inside or hanging out behind the flaps

[dying2fly]

WTF! What happend to the pilot?... I didnt see him getting out. Disturbing.

[snoopy]

Why does that video strike me as a "Reality TV Show" instead of... well, reality?

"I thought that was the law in any case? Seems like a good idea, nonetheless..."

It depends upon the jurisdiction in which you operate. I dropped skydivers under CAA authority and we were not required to wear chutes. One of the video guys, who apparently ran a drop zone in the US, said chutes were mandatory there and did his best to convince me to wear one. IMHO as an inexperienced skydiver (one jump 15 years ago), it seemed to me far safer to go down with the ship, than try to extricate oneself from the pilot's seat and successfully depart the scene. Besides, if the situation is so bad you need to leave, chances are it will be very difficult to get out - and then there is the moral dilemma. Would you really want to be responsible for saving yourself only to kill a bunch of innocent bystanders with an aircraft you abandoned mid-air? It is not often that there is not at least some measure of control left.

If I ever considered operating in an area that required pilots to wear parachutes, I simply wouldn't take the job unless I became reasonably proficient at skydiving - then at least, jumping is a viable option. Otherwise, IMHO it is just a false sense of security in order to please a law.

Cheers,
Kirsten B.

[robbreid]

Video had me on the edge of my seat, trying to find info on accident?

PC-6 website; http://www.pc-6.com/

[dcabrown]

Does anyone know if the pilot survived? Perhaps he too was able to escape but it was edited out to dramaticise it??

Otherwise, I would find it pretty distasteful when these types of tragedies are presented as a type of "entertainment". Lets hope that wasnt the case and no one was killed in this accident...

[sapper6fd]

Looks like everyone lived and the pilot jumped when he realized he couldn’t get out of the inverted spin. It was all caused by a chute inadvertently opening and getting caught on the tail.

http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20 ... 5346&key=1

Here’s the story from those involved

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/ ... cgi?ID=143

[sapper6fd]

Scratch the above - I may have been wrong, potentialy a different incident... Same situation and story though....

[TG]

Scratch the above - I may have been wrong, potentialy a different incident... Same situation and story though....

I cannot figure out what type of aircraft is it but it's not a C182 for sure (not a PC-6 as well) and its registration start with CC...
Chilean !?

[robbreid]

I agree, not a Porter?, how about Comp air - registration appears to be CC-PJE.

http://www.aerocompinc.com/airplanes/CA7/

[sapper6fd]

I agree, not a Porter?, how about Compair - registration appears to be CC-PJE.

Definatly not CC-PJE

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cessna-U ... b05639c953

[robbreid]

Actually, I believe it is CC-PJE you can see the registration clearly in the video,
and I'd say it is a Comp Air 7 Turbine. Just not sure when accident took place??

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.s ... entry=true

[ptifred]

Always a chute with me when flying with skydivers!

CC-PJE is a Comp Air 7:

http://www.modocharlie.com/2007/11/ater ... melipilla/

If someone could translate...

[Hedley]

Always a chute with me when flying with skydivers!

Me too.

I don't know why any jumper dumper pilot would voluntarily reduce his level of safety by not wearing a parachute. Sooner or later, something going to go wrong - it's just a matter of when.

[MoonRay]

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-avia ... crash.html

[robbreid]

The pprune video - I like how the aircraft hit the runway dead on - nice!!

As for the Comp Air 7 CC-PJE used Google translator on the 60 comments,
it appears the accident occurred on August 18th 2007, the pilot also parachuted
out of the airplane - receiving minor injuries.

It actually states one of the jumpers took the pilot with him?

Accident happened in Tobalaba SCTB (Eulogio Sanchez Airport) Santiago Chile.

[Morav]

The majority DZ zones are located in sparsely settled areas.

Snoopy, if you had a skydivers canopy prematurely open while he was still in the airplane, and then his body tore through the side of the it taking out the tail, you would go down with the ship???

I dropped jumpers for one season and had a jumpers reserve pilot chute deploy seconds before I was about open the door. Luckily I saw it and landed safely with everyone on board.

Cessna are small, cramped and very slow to altitude. Skydiving rigs consist of two extremely tightly packed nylon canopies held closed by two pins. The reserve in particular has a spring loaded pilot chute. Add into the mix a couple of impatient, nervous uncomfortable jumpers, and it can be really easy for one of them to accidentally snag a handle or have a pilot chute sneak out of its pouch.

Any pilot dropping skydivers out of small types of airplanes would be insane to be with out an emergency parachute.

[metal]

Does that pprune video work for any of you? Isn't working for me right now..

EDIT nvm , got it to work

[robbreid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCyt-sIMym0 direct link to video that is posted on pprune.

[Hedley]

Q.E.D.

Any pilot dropping skydivers out of small types of airplanes would be insane to be with out an emergency parachute

Agreed - regardless of what "the experts" here say. Imagine if one of the "experts" here advocated flying without seatbelts. Dangerous advice which is going to get someone hurt, if someone mistakenly heeds it.

[Morav]

Agreed,

I spent two summers packing parachutes, and I can tell you from experience that the container systems which hold the two canopies(parachutes) on your back are designed two sizes too smalls. To this day, I don't know why this is the case, whether it makes a skydivers ass look nicer, or it's some guys sick revenge against packers , but I do know one thing... They are built to extract a canopy off your back in a chaotic 120mph wind very quickly.