pic of freefall + airplane nose dive?

[dbonevt 0]

I volunteered to do a presentation to local pilots about skydiving. I was wondering if anybody had a good pic of a jumper in freefall with the airplane (preferably a twin engine) in a dive in the background. I'd love to have one in my presentation to illustrate the fact that flying jumpers isn't your everyday flying. I searched the web but came up empty.

Thanks,

Dave
Dallas, TX

[MotherGoose 0]

Google "skydive" :

CLICKY

You think you understand the situation, but what you don't understand, is that the situation just changed.

[dragon2 0]

Got plenty of pics of a Grand Caravan + tandem, our pilots have a sort of informal competition about who can get the plane the most vertical in a picture

A few shots of this year:

click
click
click
click
click

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[davelepka 4]

My question is if this is a good impression to make on the local pilots regarding the safety and AC ops of a DZ?

The planes that pilots like to stand on their nose were not designed with this type of manuver in mind. Yes, the argument can be made that if you perform it correctly you will add very little loading to the airframe, but that's only if you do it correctly.

Maybe focus your discussion on the relevant areas, the first being flying in the airspace around an active DZ. This is one area where we need the local pilots to pay attention to their charts, and do their best to avoid flying within 2 miles of a DZ. We're asking them to this in the name of safety, and it doesn't seem like the best idea to present a picture some may see as unsafe while doing this.

If you want to show them the world of a jump pilot, tell them all about the communication with ATC, configuring for jumprun, the dangers of premature deployments, the weight shifting (and weight loss) of jumpers moving around back there, and the issues of parachute traffic around the runway area after a drop.

There's plenty to talk about without making the focus a borderline manuver in a large twin.

[PharmerPhil 0]

Very good points. Mike Hawley in New England does many of these presentations to non-skydiving pilots and might have some good material to use.

Additionally, if you must publish these types of photos, and if you like your pilot, you should probably Photoshop out the tail numbers and avoid putting dates on photos like this. You could get a pilot fired (or worse).

[dbonevt 0]

I appreciate your concern, and I am not taking the presentation lightly. I am both a pilot and skydiver, so I know both worlds pretty well.

The presentation is not a "how to play nice with your local DZ" kind of presentation. It is more of a what is skydiving, how has it evolved, what does the equipment look like, why do people do it, etc. The "planes of skydiving" section is one part of a 2 hour presentation, and yes, I will spend a little time on flying safely around a DZ.

I know the crowd very well, as I am friends with most of them. Most of them aren't even flying anymore (age), and the ones that are, are sharp enough to know where the local DZ's are and how to avoid them. There will definitely be a Q&A session, so I can spend more time on it there if anybody has any questions about flying around a DZ.

Thanks for all the help!

Dave