Required radio calls for jump pilots

[nosehair]

Not at all. You can fly around all day in class E airspace and not talk to a soul. That includes dropping jumpers.

...interesting. I, like you,Avbug, have always read "controlled airspace" as airspace requiring ATC control, as was the case many, many moons ago. The term "controlled airspace" was the dotted circle around tower airports. Since the inception of the A,B,C,D,E,& G designated airspaces, the word "controlled" applies to all those except g. Gee, g is the only "Uncontrolled" airspace, so any person learning airspace concepts would read that as required communication in class E as indicated in 105.13.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Geronimoooooooooooooooo

 

[nosehair]

Geronimoooooooooooooooo

That's for the hang-glider kites in class g.

 

[avbug]

That airspace is controlled doesn't mean one needs to talk to anybody, or that anybody is listening. Class E airspace sets different distance to cloud requirements, but mandatory reporting or talking to ATC isn't intrinsic to the fact that the airspace has been designated Class E. The truth is that in many cases, there's still nobody there to talk to.

I stated before that where appropriate, in other words, where one must communicate with ATC, one must establish communications (not "report," but establish communications...make contact) with the appropriate ATC facility five minutes before the first jump. One is not required to make any particular call, but only establish communications. When one is required to talk to ATC...which very often may not be the case, as there may be no one to talk to, the only "required call" is advising that the last parachutist is out of the aircraft.

The communication requirement during the interim is monitoring ATC...not reporting anything. Establishing communications where able...and again, merely because the airspace is general controlled airspace (class E) doesn't mean there's anybody out there to talk to, or any need to do it. Where appropriate, talk to the appropriate facility, but it's often not appropriate, or necessary, and not required.

 

[DiverDriver]

Avbug,

Did you not put in your post "Again, there are no required calls."

But there are TWO required calls. You must "call" the ATC facility to check on. And you must "call" them to say that jumping has ceased. That seems pretty required to me.

I'd say we are splitting hairs at this point. You don't see the check on and check off as required "calls" for skydiving. I do. Oh well, at least other people reading this saw the posted regulation. And that's good. More conversation is better and makes people more aware.

 

[avbug]

But there are TWO required calls. You must "call" the ATC facility to check on.

No, the fact remains that you must only establish communications with ATC, and only where appropriate. One need not even talk to ATC in many cases, in which case there are no required calls.

 

[727gm]

The way to think of Class E airspace is not "airspace requiring ATC control", rather it is airspace available for ATC control.