Cessna 172 for jump ship?

[Steve]

Has anyone seen a cessna 172 being used for skydiving? I heard someone talking about it at my airport.

 

[Eagleflip]

You can do it, but it'll be very load limited.

The FAA can approve the door modification (the door will swing upward, hinged on top), or the door can be removed entirely.

Even with minimal fuel (three inches on the dip meter), however, my guess is that you'll be over gross with three normal size jumpers and you as pilot.

On the other hand, I've jumped out of a normal 172 by just pushing out the door, but it isn't something you'd want to do more than once.

 

[Steve]

Eagleflip

Do I even have to ask? Whats the story behind jumping out the 172???

 

[jumppilot03]

172?

If you are planning on starting a dropzone, a 172 is useless. To make money in the skydiving industry, you must do tandem jumps. In a 172 you are only going to be able to put 1 tandem (2 people) due to weight limitations. What do you do if they want a video of the jump? Other than that, I have seen it done before. Let us know what you plan on using it for.

 

[Eagleflip]

Two of us were hired to do a 4th of July lake jump in my Nawth Carolina hometown. The regular jump plane had a date with revenue that weekend and I had to find another way to make the drop possible.

A friend offered to drop us out of his trusty "Chickenhawk." Remember that paint job Cessna did in the late 70's? The world's largest chicken, looking mean and sleek on the side of a 172. Man, we looked like virtual skygods climbing into that rascal.

Both of us sat in the back (while the owner brought along his 8 year old son in the front right seat!) and we managed to push our way out the door, igniting our smoke on the way out, and in general, having a large time.

Large, that is, until something started stinging my leg...Egads! That blasted smoke was spitting burning jiz right onto my leg...Yeow. Managed to go into a rather enthusiastic track and made the bad stuff go away, at least until I dumped. It got better after that.

Hit the water too.

A better story is our jump from a Piper 180...but that'll have to wait.

 

[Jump Pilot]

Never seen or heard of a 172 used as a jump ship. An old timer I know used to jump a Cessna 180.

If this is a one time deal, good luck. Make sure they do some pratice climb outs before the flight.

Otherwise, score a 182 or 206.

 

[avbug]

Anything can be used for a jump platform. Ultralights have been used. I attended the local balloon jumps last summer.