All I can say is...WOW!

[FlyingFisherman]

Excuse me while I change my shorts...

http://home.insight.rr.com/shawnm92/stuff/flyby.wmv

 

[FracCapt]

Holy crap....and I thought I had a close call on deployment once....mine was NOTHING compared to his!

 

[Say Again Over]

Look at the weather they were jumping through, typical jump operation, lucky for the jump pilot that there wasn't a fatality.

 

[wrxpilot]

Damn. That guy probably thought he was a dead man.

 

[FlyingFisherman]

. .....

 

[avbug]

I don't see any unusual weather. After the break, the photographer is back to earth as he tracks away, and then rolls face to earth. Immediately the aircraft is visible below. He does an altimeter check and throws, and makes no effort to avoid the aircraft.

With all the freestyle and head down that's the rage these days, there's not a lot of looking for traffic. That should be as much a priority to jumpers as it is to pilots. Personally, I try to stay aware of my traffic situation as much as I can, and I'm always looking for aircraft and other jumpers.

The sky just isn't that big, any more.

 

[Bjammin]

WOW, what are the chances? It like an aircraft being hit by a meteor.

I'm sure the NTSB would still conclude "pilot error" somewhere in the accident investigation.

 

[2000flyer]

Bet you ten bucks the guy in the plane never saw him!

 

[NoPax]

That was a Chipmunk, an old RAF trainer used at University Air Squadron's in the UK, so the likelyhood of the two pilots inside (assuming it wasn't a solo) looking outside for a jumper is remote.

Chipmunks have been out of commission for quite a while now - maybe 8-9 years. (it was also the first airplane I got to take a ride in).

I was once told of a midair between a jumper and a Warrior...the jumper broke his ankle, and the warrior suffered damage to the stabilator, and crashed.

 

[Eagleflip]

Had a similar close call with a Piper Arrow many moons ago jumping at Franklin County near Raleigh. Wasn't as close a call--maybe came within 50 yards of the aircraft, but at least I saw it before falling through his altitude. Since he had a little "line of sight rate," I knew I was going to miss him. Probably.

His Arrow was orange and white, and the pilot was wearing a white shirt. I bet he never saw me.