Skydiving Places

[CX880]

Do those places hire pilots or do they usually just have one guy who's a lifer? Anybody have any experience with these places, they usually fly Twin Otters.

 

[PilotSkydiver]

If you don't have any prior skydiving (pilot) experience, you will probably have a hard time getting on at a twin otter type place... Most people have to have 300-500Hrs Flying skydivers in a 182-206 before you get into the large/turbine equipment... It's a great gig if you can get into it but like all things it's not for everybody.

 

[CX880]

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

 

[avbug]

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

Ah, no. But your attitude, which smacks of ignorace, is a perfect example of why someone without any jump or jump pilot experience may not be the first choice. Or the best one.

Why did you post this in the Part 135 forum?

 

[Hand Commander]

[QUOTE
You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.
][/QUOTE]

Yep, that's all we do. Max performance takeoffs at or near gross weight out of short runways on hot days, manuevering around class B airspace and remaining VFR if clouds are in the area, looking for and avoiding traffic while in a constant climb and 3000+ fpm descent, making no less than 3 radio calls on three different frequencies within 2 minutes of a drop, flying a perfectly straight and precise jumprun so that 23 people of various skill levels and different canopy sizes can all safely exit the airplane free of clouds and traffic and land where they are suppose to taking into account the constantly changing winds as efficiently as possible so as to not waste time, fuel or daylight. 20 to 25 times a day (28 is my personal record). All the pilots before me are now with various airlines and corporate operators all over the world, but apparently its not a great gig for experience. I know of a Caravan position opening up in Socal. Anyone interested, PM me, except CX880, you wouldn't like it.

 

[CX880]

Ah, no. But your attitude, which smacks of ignorace, is a perfect example of why someone without any jump or jump pilot experience may not be the first choice. Or the best one.

Why did you post this in the Part 135 forum?

Wow you mean there are pilots who gain experience at a skydiving place to move on to another skydiving place!? Must be some gig

 

[avbug]

Actually, yes there are. But you're here as a troll...trying to get a rise out of folks, aren't you? Most folks intelligent enough to get a pilot certificate aren't as dense as you appear to be.

You don't really have a question, do you?

Again, why did you post this in the 135 forum??

 

[Waldom]

You're right CX880. Those of us that haul skydivers are a bumbling, inexperienced bunch of going nowhere amatures. If I were you, I'd stay far away from this gig and use your superior ability where it will be appreciated.

 

[Otter]

Turbine jump ship operations can be as much fun as it is a challenge. Not to disagree with an obviously informed individual like CX880, but jump runs in a 727 were a sight to see (I wasnt piloting, but the view coming out of the airstair exit at FL180 and doing 180 knots......priceless Paris, CA now has a DC-9 (baby 9 I think) doing regular jump operations.

Granted the 727 and DC-9 arent fun as a Porter off a short grass strip, but I suppose they are unskilled hacks with no clue about "real" flying either.

 

[CX880]

Actually, yes there are. But you're here as a troll...trying to get a rise out of folks, aren't you?

You don't really have a question, do you?

NO I'm serious, just trying to get some info. I don't think I ever put anybody down, look at my posts, don't get why everybody's worked up.

 

[avbug]

Wow you mean there are pilots who gain experience at a skydiving place to move on to another skydiving place!? Must be some gig

Yes. "Some gig" would depend on your point of view, but if you want to start in a 182 and move to a Caravan or Twin Otter, then yes, you're going to need a little experience. Operators don't want to hand you their expensive equipment unless they can trust you with it, and insure you in it. Jumpers don't really care to fly with you unless they can trust you. Some jump pilots make the circuit and stay busy year round, others don't. Some jump flying is highly specialized.

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that?

Have you ever opened the side of a 182 at minimum controllable airspeed, had four or five people climb outside and hang on the wing while directing you to make turns to arrive over an exact point in space, at 15,000? Have you ever been required to make a descent to beat an object you dropped at 18,000' or 15,000' to the ground, without doing any damage to the engine or airframe? Have you thought about what it's like to fly an airplane with a student hung up on a static line, hanging below the airplane while you fly at minimum controllable airspeed with the door open? Can you imagine what happens when a tiny bit of silk gets out of a container and exits the door, peeling the side of the airplane back like a can of tuna fish, and straining the attached jumper through the side of he tear in the airplane before it separates your empennage...and have you thought about what it may be like to exit tha spinning wreckage with the other jumpers in a panic to get out? Or have you just thought about letting "passengers" out before making a nice pretty descent to go get some more?

Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

That would really depend on what you mean by experience or "gig," but some people find it enjoyable, fun, even rewarding. If you don't want to fly jumpers, then don't. Nobody has put a gun to your head and forced you to do it, have they? Then again, it's doubtful anybody has offered you a job doing that, or that they would want you to do that, given your attitude. That you don't see you have an attitude is perhaps a bigger problem for you, because others clearly do.

VFR daytime flying can be excellent experience, and if you have a head on your shoulders, any flying experience can be valueable to you. A poor carpenter blames his tools.

Do those places hire pilots or do they usually just have one guy who's a lifer?

Drop zones do hire pilots. Usually ones, unlike yourself, who give a stuff about what they're doing. I don't know what "lifer" means, but some jump pilots do stay with flying jumpers. I have a friend whom I haven't seen for several years who travels through the year with an airplane, working and living at drop zones. It's his life. He carries his motorcycle in the airplane, lives at the DZ, and in the winter travels overseas where he's a foriegn language translator for a national library. That particular lifer has a masters degree in electrical engineering. He likes what he does, and those who fly with him like him and the job he does. He's an avid jumper, and there's a distinct difference in the way he does his job vs. other who don't have his experience. It certainly shows up in the bottom line for the DZO (drop zone owner).

Anybody have any experience with these places, they usually fly Twin Otters.

Drop Zones usually fly Twotters? The most common jump airplane is the 182. 206's are common. Caravans aren't uncommon, and yes, Twin Otters, Skyvans, and other capable aircraft are found.

Yes, everybody who responded has jump pilot experience. Again, why are you asking in the 135 forum?

You do know that 135 isn't applicable to jump operations...right??

 

[puddlejumper]

Do those places hire pilots or do they usually just have one guy who's a lifer? Anybody have any experience with these places, they usually fly Twin Otters.

Yes, they hire pilots. I have some experience with an operation in North Carolina. You can Google "Carolina SkySports". They used to have airplanes based all over the country.

PJ

 

[nfg2u]

I flew the 182 for two years before getting in the Otter.

Those were the days, 8am-8pm only leaving the a/c while someone hot fueled for you and you hit the head, flying 23 loads a day! The twin otter is a joy and can be a handful with 13 people or more hanging on the outside while your trying to keep from stalling!! wheee that was fun.. now we sit for hours on end drink coffee and complain about how the pay sucks while waiting for our oceanic clearance...

Classic!!

Quote:

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

and an excellent come back!!!


"Ah, no. But your attitude, which smacks of ignorace, is a perfect example of why someone without any jump or jump pilot experience may not be the first choice. Or the best one."




BTW all that VFR turbine time came in handy! Wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

[Diver Driver]

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

A skydiving facility (Dropzone) is a business like any other which the objective is to make money and having an efficient staff and PILOT is the key. Been a good jump pilot (unlike your opinion CX880) takes a lot of practice, skill, safety, good attitude etc. is not just take off, drop the passengers, come back down a land. Anyone can take off, climb, cruise, decend and land but to take off in a hot day, high density altitude, max gross weight, climb as fast as possible, drop the jumpers at a specific point in the sky that they will make the landing area at the dropzone (keeping in mind the clouds, traffic, winds aloft etc.) decend as fast as possible without breaking the airplane, while looking out for the jumpers since the pilot is responsable for all of them from take off until each one of them lands safely and landing the airplane and pick up the next loads takes more than you think.
Flying for a dropzone is tough, 5 or 6 loads is just a warm up but flying 20 to 30 loads a day is hard to get used to (35 loads is my record in a caravan)
As a jump pilot everything is hands flying (no auto pilot on most jump ships), you get to develop strong flying skills, just an example, we (Jump pilots) can land an airplane upwind, downwind, and my personal favorite 90 x-wind at 35 knots which for a normal pilots can be classified as insane but jump pilots can do it.

We do it for all kinds of different reasons (not just the hours or money)
Flight time is flight time, VFR, IFR, Day, Night, is all flying and is all Fun!!
Go to a dropzone nearby and spend a few hours watching the operation, talk to the pilot, maybe ride as an observer on the airplane, have a few beers with the jumpers and listen to some stories so you can get a little taste of what is like to be a jump pilot... Next time be careful on how you express yourself since it might come across completely different...

P.S. Is awesome to see all the jump pilots standing up for what they love to do, be safe guys!!!!!

 

[molson247]

A skydiving facility (Dropzone) is a business like any other which the objective is to make money and having an efficient staff and PILOT is the key. Been a good jump pilot (unlike your opinion CX880) takes a lot of practice, skill, safety, good attitude etc. is not just take off, drop the passengers, come back down a land. Anyone can take off, climb, cruise, decend and land but to take off in a hot day, high density altitude, max gross weight, climb as fast as possible, drop the jumpers at a specific point in the sky that they will make the landing area at the dropzone (keeping in mind the clouds, traffic, winds aloft etc.) decend as fast as possible without breaking the airplane, while looking out for the jumpers since the pilot is responsable for all of them from take off until each one of them lands safely and landing the airplane and pick up the next loads takes more than you think.
Flying for a dropzone is tough, 5 or 6 loads is just a warm up but flying 20 to 30 loads a day is hard to get used to (35 loads is my record in a caravan)
As a jump pilot everything is hands flying (no auto pilot on most jump ships), you get to develop strong flying skills, just an example, we (Jump pilots) can land an airplane upwind, downwind, and my personal favorite 90 x-wind at 35 knots which for a normal pilots can be classified as insane but jump pilots can do it.

We do it for all kinds of different reasons (not just the hours or money)
Flight time is flight time, VFR, IFR, Day, Night, is all flying and is all Fun!!
Go to a dropzone nearby and spend a few hours watching the operation, talk to the pilot, maybe ride as an observer on the airplane, have a few beers with the jumpers and listen to some stories so you can get a little taste of what is like to be a jump pilot... Next time be careful on how you express yourself since it might come across completely different...

P.S. Is awesome to see all the jump pilots standing up for what they love to do, be safe guys!!!!!

As a former "Diver Driver," that was well said! Flying divers is an absolute BLAST. You meet many people and hear many great stories. It is truly an experience that one will never forget. I enojoyed my 12 hour flying days. :beer:

 

[Dart]

Wow you mean there are pilots who gain experience at a skydiving place to move on to another skydiving place!? Must be some gig

yeah there big guy!! I started flying skydivers and still do. I have flown everything from a 747 to a citation X....I owe it all to my skydiving bros!!

Blue skys

 

[krautfed]

Would you guys consider jump piloting as "entry level"? Just looking on down the road. Ran into a group of jumpers at a local bar and they were definitely my kind of people to work with.

 

[Jump Pilot]

You're joking, they just go up and drop the pax and go back down why do you need experience for that? Plus VFR daytime is not exactly a great gig for experience.

Dang it, now my wife will know that those 1000 hours are all for nothing.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the greatness of flying the cherished topless female skydiver and earning extra altitude.

 

[Diver Driver]

Ahhhhhh, there's nothing better than a topless female jumpers asking for xtra altitude, it always makes my day!!!!!

 

[GoingHot]

Avbug, Hand Commander and Diver Driver, those are some of the best descriptions of skydiver flying I have heard. Enjoyed reading them, and can relate. Most of my fixed-wing turbine time is flying skydivers.

I would only add one thing for CX880: A jump-ship is not a carnival ride. "CHIT CAN HAPPEN"

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X19018&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041028X01721&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041105X01762&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20010601X01046&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X20144&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20040729X01099&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020322X00392&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X18790&key=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X18819&key=1