Total Freak Accident

[skydiverdriver]

I'm wondering if the sailplane even had a radio? Perhaps he was just floating around, perfectly legal, and had no idea he was near an active DZ. I don't know much about sailplanes, but if they are composite, would they show up on radar? It's possible that everyone was doing something perfectly legal, and just bad circumstances led to an accident. I know that jump pilots and skydivers are supposed to look for traffic, but you don't always see them. I'm sure a skydiver's primary focus is on his altimeter, and his fellow jumpers which are his primary collision threat.

 

[ShawnC]

Oh they show up on radar, but most don't have transponders.

Now as far as radio, if it was a x-c ship then it had it, but if it was just a local flight/training ship it most likely didn't have any radio.

 

[NEDude]

The same type of accident occured a few years back in Lebanon, NH (KLEB) during an airshow. A skydiver hit a biplane. The plane went down behind a nearby shopping center and the skydivers body, chute opened and all landed, without his head, right in front of the spectators. Very sad accident.