Bumper,

I flew at a private airfield that was mainly a jump
center and the gliders were just a little side business.
My time there was from about 1990 through about 1994.

When I started flying there, the jumpers used 182's
(also used for tow plane) and Twin Beech's. Then,
they moved up to Queen Air, then King Air, then CASA's.
As they were moving to CASA's, I changed airports.
Not because of the jumpers, but I wanted to move to
a club that was based on a much larger and more open
field.

Anyway, all we were flying then were 2-33's, an L-13,
and a 1-26. Basically, we were pretty much within
the area where the skydivers were since we didn't go
cross country. The gliders didn't have radios. We
just kept up of where the jumpers were by checking
to see where the jump plane was. If the jump plane
was on the ground, you were safe from any collision
from someone in free-fall: they were either on the
ground or under canopy. If they were under canopy,
they were easy to spot. We also knew each day where
the drop zone would be, based on the winds. Once the
jump plane started its climb out, again known by watchting
the field (remember, we weren't flying cross country,
but just around the airport), we knew to stay well
away from the jump zone.

The skydiving operation was, and probably still is,
one of the largest around, at least in the Southeast.
They lease out their King Airs, Twin Otters, and CASA's
to other jump operations.

We operated safely for the five years or so that I
flew there. I would think with radio equipped gliders
going cross country, there wouldn't be much problem
at all. Just get to know and understand each other's
operation and I think it will be fine.

The airport is North Raleigh (00NC) and the business
is Carolina Skydive (I think, it's been a while since
I've been there.)

You might find that there's usually a nice crowd of
pretty women at jump centers, too! I'm used to NO
women at our glider field. So, the scenery may improve
even more than it naturally is at Minden!

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
LS1-d


At 16:12 11 July 2006, Bumper wrote:
A Skydiving company has approached airport management,
wanting to open a
skydiving operation at Minden-Tahoe Airport, Nevada,
USA. Minden, as you're
probably aware, is considered by many to be one of
the true soaring Mecca,
with superb soaring conditions, beautiful scenery and
much more. It also has
a mix of powered aircraft traffic including business
jets, with over half
the airport operations being glider related.

There are a number of other airports in the US, and
probably elsewhere, that
support both gliders and skydivers, though I'm not
sure they have the same
number of operations was KMEV (60 to 70K per year).
Safety, is a primary
concern, as is the potential for driving away soaring
pilots.

If you have any experience, good or bad, in sharing
an airport with
skydivers, please post.

all the best,
--
bumper ZZ
'Dare to be different . . . circle in sink.'