Skydivers - X26 is a DANGEROUS place

[LXApilot]

Hey guys- I wanted to get your opinion on this one... While flying the boss and his family down to Sebastian, Florida awhile ago in the ol' multi-engine, I was surprised by a very strange turn of events. We were descending out of about 4,000 with X26 in-sight when we were cleared over for the visual approach to the airport and told to switch to advisory. Before I switched over to advisory, Miami Center advised that 'there is no observed traffic between you and the airport'. We were anticipating runway 4 with the winds, and so maneuvered ourselves onto the left base before making my call to traffic. I was pretty busy flying and talking on the radio and such (we had been 'slam-dunked' by the center) and made my initial call at about 5 miles on the base leg to the runway. I again made a call once established on the left base to which I was replied to "whoever that is better clear out of the way, skydivers over Sebastian 13,000 and below in 30 seconds" I was surprised that someone would have responded like that and stated "I'm inbound IFR on a visual approach, we are on a 2 or 3 miles left base to the final, are you going to let us get in or drop them on us?" I waited a few seconds to hear the reply; "we are going to drop them now, be advised sky divers 13,000 and below out the door at this time." I cut the airplane sharp towards the numbers and made a short approach to the runway. - I didn't want to be climbing towards the skydivers on a missed approach. In the landing roll-out skydivers were falling all around us, on the active runway, on the taxiways and on the grassy areas surrounding the taxiways. During the taxi-in I started to think about that pilot who had dropped his skydivers on an inbound IFR airplane, not advised ATC of his intentions, and has probably done so in previous encounters as well. I have been vectored directly over X26 before at about 9000 going into Melbourne or Ft. Pierce and had it been this day I might have found a skydiver splatted on the nose... I handled the passengers and fueling and took it upon myself to go over and 'have my say' with the Caravan pilots, but they had already landed and closed up shop for the day by the time I went over there. I hope to avoid X26 in the future, but what would have been you guys course of action? Just curious as to what your responses would have been...

 

[greg20]

I would, at the least, file an ASRS report. It can't hurt, as they can always use more data.

 

[Huck]

1. Was there a current skydiving notam?

2. Was he talking to any ATC at all? Maybe not the same center freq as you....

 

[cvsfly]

Poor coordination of the skydiver pilot. You were already established in the pattern. They are supposed to monitor traffic inbound and out. They are also supposed to notify ATC, but don't rely on ATC to coordinate the jumps. He should have delayed release. But you need to be aware of skydive activity as well. X26 is NOTAMed. I've too often seen skydiving operations that think they own an airport. This coming from a former skydive pilot.

 

[Lancair]

I have also had my close calls at X26. I was a flight instructor in Vero Beach for almost 2 years. I was doing a instrument flight with a student getting vectors for the Vor 11R at VRB. Miami center put me on a left downwind right over X26. I knew that wasn't the best place to be so I was extra carefull looking for traffic. Sure enough right infront of me were parachutes. I took the controls made a hard turn out of the way and called Miami Center. They had no idea there was parachuting activity going on at Sebastion. My student nearly jumped out of his seat when I turned the aircraft I think I scared him half to death.

Our flight school didn't let students solo into X26 becuse of all the jumping. I have seen them come through the clouds and jump while I was in the pattern to land. All I can say is keep your eyes open when you go in or out of there.

 

[Jump Pilot]

Permanent DZ's are also charted on VFR sectionals by little parachute symbols by the airport.

 

[LR25]

If you were going in with a multi-engine jet, just say no problem, and that you will have a fuel bill waiting for him at the FBO for the extra gas you will burn.

 

[Wiggums]

Yeah, but the real question is how does a guy with 750 hours land a job in the right seat of a jet. Good work.

The jump pilot should have been talking to center.

 

[bart]

Just for info - Sebastian is probably one of the busiest Drop Zones Eat of the Mississippi... I have jumped there when an Otter load was going every 10 to 15 minutes (Close to 100 skydivers an hour). It is busiest in the winter, when all the Euopeans come here on vacation.

The pilot should have been talking to center. Drop the DZ owner a line on his website, I am sure he will straighten his pilot out.

 

[Sean]

skydiving

I went to FlightSafety in Vero Beach for all my ratings so I have spent time in the X26 area....I'm also a skydiver so I think I can help with your dilemma.

Most of the other posts were right on. There is a NOTAM and the Caravan Pilot's must talk with Daytona and Miami Approach before jump run. The Pilot has to announce 2 minutes prior to jumpers away with center and over the CTAF.

For pilots that have never experienced landing at an airport that has skydiving in progress it may be a little nerve raking at first. If you flew out of X26 for sometime you would not even blink an eye...for the most part skydiving is a very safe operation. There have only been a few midair accidents involving jumpers and airplanes and most of those did not accrue in the US....also none in a pattern (that I can think of)...most were much higher (3,000ft)

I'm sure this pilot was cleared for jumpers away with approach sometime after you were told cleared for the vis...The Caravan pilot then must have gone over to ctaf and announced his attentions (Jumpers away watch out below 13,500). When you told him where you were and what you were doing he just wanted to make sure you knew people were coming down. What you did was fine, you could have done the normal base then final no reason to cut it short...I might have done the same thing but I'm around airports that have jumping in progress so I'm used to it.

Also, most of the pilots that fly the turbine jump a/c like the Caravan and Otter's etc are airline, military, and 135 folks...very experienced and are out just flying for fun.

What I would do if I were you is go to your local skydiving place and ask if you could jump on for the ride...you can sit right sit and fly the Caravan or Otter...you would also learn allot about the jumping etc...All knowledge that could help you in the future going in and out of a place like X26.

 

[UALHammer]

X26

I know this airport well. I live there, and used to work there many moons ago.

The problem is that the skydiving airplane is talking to the high altitude sector of Miami Center, and you were talking to the low sector. Often times, the high controller doesn't have a chance to let the low controller know what is going on. The low sector is usually swamped with all of the Flight Safety planes training.

The pilot should not have dropped, nor ATC have let the plane drop with an inbound IFR. It sounds like there were errors on the other parties. I'm just glad things weren't worse. Filing a NASA form might just be the thing to do. Remember they are used for safety first and formost, and a get out of jail free card second. It might help out someone in the future.

The next time you fly into an airport with skydiving operations, I would ask ATC the status of any jumping, and monitor that airports' CTAF on the way in.

It's another aspect of aviation we all have to deal with on occasion.

Hammer

 

[172driver]

Deland is a bad one too...also in Florida. Anyone second this opinion? Routinely, you will see four or more airplanes in the pattern, one shooting an approach, and jumpers falling. No one seems to pay attention to the jumpers. Operations go on normally and the jumpers stay clear of the pattern. To make it worse, the jump planes don't want to sequence themselves into the normal flow of traffic, so they dive through the pattern and fly their own pattern at 500' AGL for the intersecting runway. We would all like to stay the he11 away from DED but our DPE insists on taking our applicants there for their checkrides, thus we must train there. Talk about a nightmare.

What is the proper etiquette, rule, safety factor for a jump airport? Is it OK to stay in the pattern because I'd just as soon get the he11 out of Dodge. I'm shocked when people continue the operation like nothing is happening. I've seen jumpers land on the active rwy for god's sake.

 

[pireps]

I also instructed at FSI in Vero and did many IFR instructional flights, many going to MLB and back. One particular day we were flying in IMC and the weather was pretty crummy, 1000' broken and tops around 6000'. I could see we were being vectored right over Sebastian, and sure enough, here come the jumpers, right through the clouds, parachutes opening right in front of us! Never heard a warning from Center or anybody. Seems like they didn't talk to anybody since they can't legally jump when it's IMC. Sure woke me up.

PHK (Pahokee) was just as bad if not worse. Didn't give me any confidence that their Twin Otter had skull and crossbones on the tail. Problem there was that when doing an instrument approach to a missed, you would have to climb in a hold right over the airport to get radio reception with Palm Beach approach. And more than once either the jumpers or the Otter would dive right by you. I pretty much avoided both airports as much as possible.

 

[Jump Pilot]

For what it's worth, here's my routine:

Two minutes prior to drop notify center. Verify with center that there is no crossing/inbound traffic.

Flip over to unicom and announce we'll be dropping jumpers in two minutes from 11,500 over the airport.

Announce we'll be dropping jumpers in one minute.

Announce jumpers away over the airport with parachutes 5,000 feet and below in the vicinity of the airport for the next 5 minutes.

Call center back and tell them jumpers are away. Cleared from the freq.

It is up to the diverdriver to keep everyone informed.

Your results may vary.