Close call at zephyrhills

[auburnguy 0]

Does anyone know anything about a close call at zephyrhills between a skydiver and a airplane?

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Why don't you tell us what you heard.

[auburnguy 0]

From what I have been told a pilot of a private civilian aircraft almost hit a skydiver but pulled hard and barely missed him. It was not recent. At least 6 months ago, maybe more. Just looking for more info on the incident.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[Lindsey 0]

He (the private pilot) has damn good eyes if he was able to see the skydiver falling towards him and maneuver the plane to avoid a tragic collision. Ain't seein' it myself, but maybe my skepticism has outgrown its worth.

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[tweak 0]

I had a kinda close call with a small ga aircraft at Z-Hills but that was only a couple of months ago and wasn't really that close. I'm sure he saw me but he didn't have to change course to miss me. I did have to make a couple of turns to avoid his wake turbulence though.

[auburnguy 0]

The pilot was a friend of mine and he is prone to exaggeration, I'm trying to get the other side of the story. If its different then I'm gonna call him out on it when I see him next.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[diverdriver 5]

Quote

He (the private pilot) has damn good eyes if he was able to see the skydiver falling towards him and maneuver the plane to avoid a tragic collision. Ain't seein' it myself, but maybe my skepticism has outgrown its worth.

I had to manuever a Canadair Regional Jet at 250 knots to avoid colliding with jumpers over Crosskeys. It DOES happen and I DID see them in freefall. They passed the nose at less than a quarter mile. I could tell the jumpsuit colors and body position as they went by.

Chris Schindler
www.diverdriver.com
ATP/D-19012
FB #4125

[FlyboySMB 0]

You are also assuming they were in freefall, could have been under canopy.


(in my best crotchety old cowboy voice...)
Reminds me of a 4th of July some years back, when a friend of mine (Chance is his name.... funny, eh) was floatin down to the DZ at Hollister and one of them private planes came a flyin by. The pilot landed at Hollister & went to the DZO (it was Greg at the time) & told him... I think I may have hit one of your skyjumpers in the air. Well Greg just laughed & sent him on his way. Chance landed with his heart rate at about 300 BPM, screamin, I just got hit by a plane! Sure-nuf, he had a good two frames of video of his right end cell, er was it his left... can't member, getting clipped by that private plane. His end cell was a bit damaged, but not enuf to chop it.

Earlier in that same day, Chance did a demo near the airport & executed a rather poor hook turn. Only thing that kept any bones from breakin was they just plowed the field he "landed" in.

Needless to say, Chance called it a day after the "mid-air" & turned the green light on.

yep, those were the days.....

[tweak 0]

I don't remember exactly which weekend it was but it definitely wasn't before August. I didn't start jumping at Z-Hills until then.

I do remember it was a small twin - white with either read and/or blue trim. He was much higher than pattern altitude (about 4.5-5K I'm guessing) and moving along at a pretty good clip and was, I'm presuming, flying IFR since he was flying through clouds (which, being a pilot, seemed very odd to me since he was flying almost directly over what would be the downwind leg for 18 - but I have a low number of flight hours so maybe this isn't that unusual).

[auburnguy 0]

ok, this was definitely him. He was flying a twin (kingair I believe) and was IFR. So was this situation his fault or someone else's?

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[johndh1 0]

You need to talk to your friend again, and get his position specifically. Anyone flying around ZPH should be fully aware of the skydiving situation, unless they have been locked in a cave since 1969.
It is a first-class operation, one that works well with the local air traffic (and has for I-don't-know-how-long) and would not put itself in an adversarial position with anyone's safety intentionally.

They have done an exceptional job there of keeping the GA/FBO traffic, glider operation, and skydiving, etc., at safe and comfortable separation for a long time now.
I myself have been in an airplane several times on the (NE/SW, I forget the numbers) runway on the FBO side, and have seen almost two dozen comrades under canopy in the air that might make a green aviator nervous - more than once this has been during the week of Sun-n-Fun, with much more traffic than this airport is accustomed to, but handled with care. Somehow, off the ground, and at speed, objects appear closer than they are, especially with vivid color of canopies against a familiar and empty blue backdrop.

Still, to call it a "close call" with insinuation by your friend of only the slightest aversion from devastating is quite an accusation on his behalf, especially on an airport such as Zephyrhills.

Roll Tide Roll

[auburnguy 0]

Like I said before, he is known to embellish the truth. I am going to call him out on it next time I see him.
He says that the aircraft didn't announce that they were dropping jumpers so it was zhills fault and not his.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[tweak 0]

Well if it was him... And I still wouldn't be too sure since he said it was over 6 months ago, but...

He does have a flare for exaggeration because it definitely wasn't as close as it sounds like he described. But in this case, IMO, he was flying way too fast for such a low altitude through the clouds in such a close proximity to an airport that's so very well publicized for having jump operations ongoing so soon after the "jumpers out" call was issued to a/c in the vicinity. I'm assuming that those warnings are given to a/c flying around Z-Hills because everytime I've flown anywhere near airports that have jump operations going on, I've always gotten good info as to what's going on (beware of jump operations, jumpers out, etc...). I'm assuming that's standard practice for atc.

Some people might think it was more of a close call than I considered it to be and some may think less but we came within about 150-200 yards. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time because the second I saw him, even though he was moving along pretty quick, I knew there wasn't a chance of him hitting me based on his flight path (unless he turned straight into me). I didn't even get the 'Holy Shit' feeling until later when I realized that I could have very well been much, much closer to him than I was. I wasn't flying right at him but about a 30 degree angle towards him maneuvering over the spot I picked to do some spirals before setting up to start my downwind.

If I were closer to that spot and I was directly in his path, at his speed when he came through the cloud, he probably wouldn't have had a chance to turn in time. It was this afterthought that makes me think he shouldn't have been there flying like that (so low/close/fast through clouds where he was). But then again, in that case, I probably would have been a little closer than 'legal' to the cloud than I should have been.

...but anyway - if that was him.

[johndh1 0]

No way. My bet is that your friend was in error. He was not in the remote parts of Mississippi where they don't have to worry about incursions so much over small airports below 14,000 ft. They are in a very busy part of a very busy state in the U.S. as far as General Aviation. Very few other areas of the country have to worry themselves with year-round GA traffic. Hell, half the bodies-in-air as far as skydivers in the USA are Europeans on Holiday in Florida in the Winter months.

In this case, ignorance is not an excuse.

Roll Tide Roll

[DougH 270]

Since when were skydivers cleared for flight in IFR conditions tweek?

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[tweak 0]

Quote

Since when were skydivers cleared for flight in IFR conditions tweek?

Don't understand what your questioning. It wasn't 'IFR flight conditions' at the time or we wouldn't have been jumping (except for maybe hop-n-pops if the ceiling was high enough). It was perfectly fine for flying VFR that day. I only mentioned that he must have been flying IFR because he was flying through clouds.

[normiss 622]

Funks...is that you?

[tweak 0]

Nope. Don't believe we've met.

I've only been out to Z-Hills a handfull of times since August. Haven't met a whole lot of people out there yet.

[johndh1 0]

Date and time of the incursion will determine who was liable and at fault. Surely AWOS records will prove atmospheric conditions the day of. It's all a matter of record.

I, myself, will err on the side of Skydive City, unless proven otherwise.

Roll Tide Roll

[johndh1 0]

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Like I said before, he is known to embellish the truth. I am going to call him out on it next time I see him.
He says that the aircraft didn't announce that they were dropping jumpers so it was zhills fault and not his.

No offense personally, but you completely lost me here.

Roll Tide Roll

[tweak 0]

It had to be either 08/11/2007 or 08/12/2007 because those were the only dates that I did solos on and I remember it was a solo jump. I didn't make note of it in my log book (which I should have) but the one solo I did on 08/12 I did make a note that I pulled at 7K for cloud avoidance. Best guess for time was somewhere about 2:00-3:00 p.m. I wouldn't swear to it but I'm pretty sure that was the jump.

[johndh1 0]

I'm looking for the original complainant's dates and times recorded. Surely he will have it in his flight logs noted that he had to take evasive action.

Roll Tide Roll

[auburnguy 0]

I guessed the 6 month mark. I had talked to his brother about it before talking to him and just guessed that it had probobly been about 6 months ago. Ill let you know what he says when I talk to him next.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[johndh1 0]

No...don't bother. I can already surmise enough exaggeration on the part of the excited novice pilot. Just let this one fall off the page.

Roll Tide Roll

[auburnguy 0]

The guy has been flying for about 6 years, is not a total novice.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson