Sharing airspace with aircraft (landings)

[dthames 0]

Recently I was on a jump with 19 people and on final I was headed toward the runway at a shallow angle. I would land before I got to the runway, or I would turn and parallel it if I got 'close'. I knew I was a bit long but didn't want to mess anyone behind me up. I was looking all around keeping an eye on all of the other canopies.

Just as I touched down, the plane landed, coming up from behind me and I was not previously aware that it was on approach. The last time that I had looked all around was about 12 seconds before I touched down. Why had I not noticed the plane on final?

Reviewing my video carefully, I finally spotted the plane in my recording. The plane was below the horizon's line. I was looking for things in the sky that I had to watch out for. Somehow the plane was lost in the ground clutter. I was so low already, looking for something moving against the Earth must have been omitted from my observation.

Lesson: Don't just look in the sky, even if you are low.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[Unstable 8]

Interesting!

Here in flyover country, we see dropzones at small, uncontrolled airports that are largely full of older, experimental, or ultralight aircraft. Was this aircraft on the airports unicomm channel to announce the landing?

=========Shaun ==========

[theonlyski 3]

Moral of the story is, if at all possible, do not land on or near a runway lest the pilot not see you in time. It's hard to see some aircraft when they're below the horizon, however I would encourage the pilots to fly standard patterns when possible and the skydivers to know what the patterns are.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4608018#4608018

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
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[diablopilot 2]

I should think that it should be expected that the aircraft you jumped out of will be landing on the runway shortly after you jumped out of it. Depending on aircraft type, and your skydive/equipment type that could be before, during, or after your landing.

Be safe.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[dthames 0]

Unstable

Interesting!

Here in flyover country, we see dropzones at small, uncontrolled airports that are largely full of older, experimental, or ultralight aircraft. Was this aircraft on the airports unicomm channel to announce the landing?

It was the jump plane and I am not complaining about the pilot or the operation. I just wanted to note what happened.

Another reply suggest to expect the jump plane close to the time that you do. Yes, I was very focused on the canopy traffic and omitted equal concern for aircraft.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[pms07 3]

It's really difficult to talk about this scenario intelligently without knowing the approximate distance from the runway you were and how far from the runway (or approach to runway) you were when you landed. 25ft? 300yds? What? If you were close enough that a plane landing on the runway was a concern then you were in the wrong place. If not, why be concerned? Airplanes at real airports, generally, land on the runway. Parachutes should keep their distance.

[dthames 0]

pms07

It's really difficult to talk about this scenario intelligently without knowing the approximate distance from the runway you were and how far from the runway (or approach to runway) you were when you landed. 25ft? 300yds? What? If you were close enough that a plane landing on the runway was a concern then you were in the wrong place. If not, why be concerned? Airplanes at real airports, generally, land on the runway. Parachutes should keep their distance.

Yes, the pilot was concerned. He came and spoke to our group as we debriefed. Based on what he said, I didn't think it was me. Looking at my video and GPS data after I got home, it was either me or me and someone else.

I 100% agree that the pilot don't need to be stressing over canopies when he is landing. I have adjusted my thinking that while it might look reasonable to me, what the pilot sees is different. I fully expect the pilot to keep the plane lined up on the runway. But what does he expect from the canopy pilot? Most likely anything should be expected from the canopy pilot because the canopy pilot has no specific line to follow. These two different point of view, creates two different margin of error values.

The reason that I created the thread was to bring that fact up. I would admit that I don't have the pilot's feel for what is too close and I would agree his/her point of view should be the guide. I think that I have learned something and want to share that.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[piisfish 135]

The canopy pilot doesn't have a specific line to follow bus has a specific line to avoid. Easy isn't it ?

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[riggerrob 558]

Best way to avoid collisions is for everyone to fly predictable patterns.
I have jumped at busy European DZs where they had parachutes, gliders, privately owned airplanes and student pilots all gracefully sharing the same airspace.
Parachutes "play nice" by avoiding over-flying the runway below 1,000 and consistently landing in the same field. They fly their parachutes paranoid, with eyes on stalks, always prepared to turn (right) out of the path of on-coming traffic.