Skydown Skydiving in Idaho has a 402 (according to USPA and DZ.com DZ listings). I have no idea how similar they are to a 401. Hopefully more similar than a cessna 207 and 208.
Like everyone else I'm not sure how relevant this is... but I've done 100 or so jumps out of a 411. We'd put two outside (one rear float and one in the door)and one inside the door with everyone else lined up single file inside. Only heard the stall warning horn a few times...
I have done a few tandems out of a Cessna 400 series twin. Sorry, but I cannot remember exactly which model it was. We remembered to keep weight well forward until the first few groups had exited. For example, the last tandem kept his pack against the instrument panel until 5 seconds before it was his turn to exit. The door was narrow, so I put my elbows on top of the student's shoulders. Suggest to your pilot that he lower a few notches of flap, to raise the tail, reducing the chances of some git hitting the horizontal stabilizer. Also remind him to fly jumprun fast enough that he still has plenty of control.
Suggest to your pilot that he lower a few notches of flap, to raise the tail, reducing the chances of some git hitting the horizontal stabilizer. Also remind him to fly jumprun fast enough that he still has plenty of control.
I know the 402 I've jumped also had quite a bit of ballast (weight) in the nose.
Thanks for thoes pictures. On the 401 looks like I can see hinges and an extra side to the door that is open. This could possably make the door wider for tandems and big ways, however the tail look awfull low, and close to the door. --------------------------------------------------------
The one thing I can add to this is...when jumping a 400 series Cessna, skydive down! I've known of at least one fatality and several non-fatal tail strikes because of exiting in a conventional "student" poised arch-type exit. If it were me flying that bird, I'd plan on a power-flaps-pitch combination that resulted in a minimum prop blast, nose low attitude; even if it means losing a bit of altitude on jump run. A few hundred feet of altitude loss is a lot less expensive than a stabilizer and/or a human life. So, these planes can and have been jumped successfully, but proper planning to avoid an accident is imperative.
We had one in Cal City and I hated it for AFF and Tandems. For up-jumpers it's okay as long as they don't snag anything around the small door and are observant of the horizontal stabilizer position.
With medium to large size AFF students the early levels are hard to launch. I found myself alone with AFF Level Ones so many times we started figuring the second jumpmaster was in the plane just to make things legal.
I'm an A&P mechanic, although I never did any work on one, but they always seemed underpowered to me and when fully loaded we used a lot of RWY. To get my mind off an engine going south at that point I always kept myself busy doing something else.
I was in the right seat one day, no students on board, and I mentioned my concerns to the pilot. He promptly pulled the right throttle back and scared the hell out of everyone in the back. We had a hell of an argument later about that.
I won't say this series Cessna is involved in a lot of mishaps, as there are a lot of factors to consider like maintenance, pilot, weather, etc. but it seems over the years I've seen them mentioned quite a bit.
At the DZ we called that aircraft a four-oh-shit . . .
I said the same thing to the pilot , that taill is way! too close and if you have to sacrifice alt. for head clearance that's a good thing! and too the people talking about a "small door" when we took apart the "lux" door , the was almost as big as an otter.\ thanks for the input from everybody! I really appreciate the feedback.
