Why jump out of a perfectly good aircraft?................
I was gonna take up skydiving and hang gliding when I was in my teens... My Dad threatened to disown me if I did.
I’ve done this in Michigan, former golden knights instructor as ornery as one could expect. Trying to save lives by harshly directing the students on procedures and risks. One lady couldn’t take the verbal abuse, was freaking out, quit and drove away. Probably saved her own life and others. Not cut out for this.
The plane had about 10 students plus the pilot. Having my PP certificate already, the plane looked old, rickety, and a counter argument to the “why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane to skydive?” aphorism. Felt kind of dumb and wonderful at the same time, had steerable chute and radio in the helmet so chief (field mom) could direct you from trees, power lines, etc. Never needed to go again.
I’ll take the Cessna 150 (or better) any day over 1960’s unpainted jump plane.
I made a few sport jumps in the 70s, only worked my way up to 10 seconds of free fall. It was fun, but I got into other stuff. I doubt that any parachute center would let a 70-year-old who hadn’t jumped since 1979 do a solo jump, and I won’t do tandem, so I’ll probably never jump again.
Got my wings at Fort Benning in November 1976. Great experience, glad I did it. Walking off the drop zone after my 5th and final jump was a seminal moment in my life.
Aircraft was a Cessna 208B, first out in 85.
P&W PT6 turboprop engine. Those things are reliable as an american-made anvil when maintained properly. Engine trouble or bad fuel? I’d go with bad fuel but that’s just me.
“Any skydivers at FR?“
Yep. Was crippled for three or four months. Hit a patch of shear well above the trees. Was t enough air resistance in the wing to bless myself with or flare. WHAM!
I am a former Jumpmaster and Instructor. On takeoff, all the jumpers move as far forward as possible. I have never seen them do anything else.
This crash may have been due to contaminated fuel, overloading, or some other failure, such as improper flap settings. They’ll find out. I highly doubt if any of the jumpers moved around and changed the center of gravity.
One of my friends was killed in the Golden Knights jump many years ago. I heard that the weight transfers had something to do with that.
There is nothing like freefall work. I loved exiting last, then having to dive to catch up with the other jumpers. In a dive one can exceed 200 mph...flying like superman. You cannot beat that thrill.....except for today’s wing suits. WOW!
One of my old jumps, the pilot aborted his takeoff, I had not seen so many helmets go on so fast.
Old skydivers like me have too many stories. I’m very happy I did it.
Retired now for 4 years after almost 40 years of skydiving. Originally trained in the military, both Airborne and Halo school. Was an instructor for 35 years. Been flying jumpers in Caravan/Kodiak/PAC turbines on weekends for about 20 years.
I went to skydiving school. I dropped out.
Seriously, it is a rush . The little plane I was in I was glad to get out of it into the open air. Five jumps was enough for me. Didnt love it enough to make it a regular race thing.
A well executed crash injuring only 14 people.
had that thought on my bucket list so on my 79 birthday I went to our local sky diving place signed up and we went up 10.000 feet and jumped or rather rolled out of the plane and free fell for a bit then just glided around was a great experience they explained everything before the jump looking forward to doing it again.
Hope everyone will be OK. 🙏 I know where this little airport is.