Skydivers vs. Gliders?

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.'

Ray, I believe you're referring to Carolina Sky Sports, NE of Raleigh,
known by skydivers as simply "Louisburg" ...

I've flown at two gliderports that also had skydiver operations. One
used good radio procedures and I found it no problem to keep an eye out
for the jump plane - they'd announce approaching the drop area. The
other used a drop area well away from glider operations and was never a
problem.

At least skydivers are well trained and have a good incentive to avoid
flying into a glider.

It's ultralights I hate - the flying equivalent of snowmobiles!

What Ray said +
I flew at North Raleigh for a short time. Practically all cc. Honestly
I never felt comfortable with the whole operation (which Ray accurately
described).

Why? A little confusion on the part of a glider pilot relative to their
position and they can be directly in the path of falling jumpers or the
dreaded King Air in vertical descent. It was a primarily a jump
airport, no doubt. They fall through cloud decks (broken or otherwise)
and otherwise do their thing. The glider guys chase local thermals.
Seemed like a matter of time before these 2 things would meet at this
particular operation. It was just too tight with the drop zone being
1,000 feet or less away from mid-runway.

And then I can remember using N. Raleigh as a turnpoint when flying out
of other airports - what the hell was I thinking?

However, a large airport like Minden is a different matter. The glider
ops are well organized commercial enterprises. drop zones and glider
ops can be separated. The old Bermuda High op out of Chester used to do
the co-exist thing. It worked well at contests, I wonder how on normal
weekends.

Ray Lovinggood wrote:
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.'