Posted on 07/21/2008 6:30:59 AM PDT by Devilinbaggypants
A British soldier and jump instructor participating in a parachute competition in Germany got hung up on the landing gear of his jump aircraft, reportedly a Britten-Norman Islander, and was rescued by the only person left on the aircraft -- its pilot...
(Excerpt) Read more at avweb.com ...
That could give cost-cutting airlines some bad ideas.
Hero bump!
“Hello passengers, Thank you for flying XYZ airlines. My name is Joe Blow and today I will be your pilot, copilot, flight attendant and ticketing personnel. If you need anything please press the appropriate button and I will be right there. Due to the fact that I will be away from the controls for quite a bit of time there will be significant turbulence and you will be required to remain in your seat at all times.”
The landing gear is awfully close to the door on this type aircraft.
I would like to think that most pilots who fly jump planes would have considered this situation a very real possibility and would have a check list to cover it. Or least in the back of the mind what to do in the event they were faced with it.
I would like to know why the jumper couldn't just do a cut-away and his reserve.
The dynamics of exiting an aircraft in flight are such that it's almost impossible to make contact with anything even with or forward of the exit.
Actually, it sounds like a premature deployment of a main canopy and they are fortunate it was a disaster. If the main is deployed before the jumper has exited, much less cleared, the aircraft then it's possible for the canopy to open outside the jump plane while the jumper is still inside. Bad news. It can badly damage the aircraft and/or become tangled in the control surfaces of the tail section.
Maybe a subsequent article will be a bit more enlightening as to what happened!
Every jump pilot I’ve seen has worn a parachute. I know aviation rules vary, but in the US it is required.
It sounds like the jumper was entangled in the lines, that a cutaway would have accomplished nothing. Also, if he had laundry get entangled with any part of the airframe it means that there was a pre-deployment accident in the aircraft.
This guy was lucky. Pre-deployments can kill people and damage aircraft.
I might have an answer. He might have got tangled on the wheel by his static line and rigging by his feet and was being carried in a feet first-head back position and spinning like a little propeller.
Unless you can do some really powerful situps.... say thousands of pounds, you can't reach down to get your knife and if you're spinning it's tough to release the main. Especially if you're banging against the hull....hahahahahaha...
Oh, and the fact that he may have been busy cr#pping his pants might have also had something to do with it.
I'd kinda like to see the video if possible. Sounds like the pilot deserves a pint at the least.
A pre-deploy killed a guy I jumped with out at Skydive San Marcos here in central Texas. It was the late 90s I think. Pilot chute went over the horizontal stabalizer and he hit the h.s. square in his back. I believe he died right there. Fortunately the chute cleared the h.s. and he was pulled free. This fact alone saved the aircraft. The H.S. was somewhat damaged from the impact.
A good friend of mine was killed in San Marcos back in the 70’s.....Jerry Laney. It was a collision with another jumper that did him in; both were killed.
With the new chute systems it’s strange how you can have a pre-deployment. When the front-mounted reserves went out of style the likelihood greatly decreased. This event is strange.
LOL! X-actly
Man I love skydiving. I wish I could do it again, but I got married and have two small ones at home. I told my wife I would not jump again unless I could afford the life insurance to do so. I need about $1,000,000 to feel comfortable. If I get killed in my pickup I'm covered. If killed on the dz....no pay off.
Blue Skies
B17580
That sound horrible. When I instructed such incidents were my biggest fear. I was always shouting for them to cover their reserves. Sky diving was a blast. But, on one jump I decided I had enough and quit....just like that. It was a perfect jump on a perfect day....etc.etc.
C - 7215 I-72 SCR 3095 (We believe this was the first 8 man star by a sport club in Europe)
SCS 1299
(I told you I was old)
“The landing gear is awfully close to the door on this type aircraft. “
Not as close as the pilot’s door is to the prop.
Consider this.
The chutist dragging from the landing gear was creating a significant drag to one side. The pilot, going outside the plane, would create additional drag.
If you look at the picture in the posts above, it is difficult to imagine how you would ‘get to’ the landing gear to cut any chute lines.
As to why the chutist didn’t cut the lines, remember, he is being drug at over 100mph and probably spinning like a top.
Those are excellent points. I don’t think the article said what type of aircraft it was, although there was a picture posted with the article.
In any event, I’m mighty impressed with this pilot’s presence of mind and quick thinking. Hope when I get hung up on the jump plane I have a pilot with that much on the ball!
There is just so much that isn’t covered in the article. It makes it very difficult to come to any conclusions about what happened and what was done as a result.
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