Skydivers vs. Gliders?

Here in lake Elsinore California we coexist with a skydive operation.

The airport manager has defined his drop zone so that we have our side
of the airport with dirt runway and do all our operations outside of
his drop zone except when we are at the Glider IP and in the pattern to
land. We use a common frequency to annouce our intentions at the
airport for tow planes and gliders, and the skydive planes annouce
their activities as well as 2 minutes to drop, and drop.

It seems as though general aviation passing through the area have no
clue and many times I have seen aircraft passing through the drop zone
as the skydivers have jumped.
The skydive pilot is constantly warning GA traffic to stay clear of the
drop zone.

I have not seen any problem with it, as its just a minor inconvenience
for us gliders to go around his zone that is centered over the airport.
Typically you dont ussually fly above the airport anyway as the lift is
on higher land above or near the ridge or by some other hills near by
away from the drop zone.

So far(9 months of Sundays) I have only seen 3 sky divers faceplant in
the LZ, and that was WITH a prefectly good chute......he missjudged his
Kamakazzi style landing I guess. They like to spiral in at high speed
and flare at the last second.

I have also heard of the France skydiver that dropped through cloud and
impacted a gliders wing thermalling under that cloud......wing
disintegrated, as did the skydiver....the pilot landed with his chute.

Ray

a écrit:
This can be done safely and effectively provided, of course, that the
jump operations and glider pilots in the area are on the same frequency
and communicate diligently.

A jump operation coexisted with Estrella for some time but that was
long before I gave up skydiving and took my first gliding lesson there.
I never heard of any associated problems.

There is at least one airport in southern France that hosts (or did
host) major skydiving and soaring operations. There was a fatal
incident some time ago when a skydiver in freefall hit a glider,
directly over the airport.

~ted/2NO


I suppose you are writing about the Gap airfield. A reserved airspace
exists there for parachutists. Alas, some foreign pilots, although duly
warned in preflight briefing, penetrate it!
If you read french, look at:
http://planeur.phpnet.org/ivb//index...ic=4394&hl=gap

You can look at this too: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/indasky/03.jpg

Getting OT, but ... yes, I was referring to the field at Gap-Tallard. I
hope to return to fly gliders in the area someday. And visit that very
fine restaurant close to the aerodrome. And the pizzeria in Tallard ...

I have also heard of the France skydiver that dropped through cloud and
impacted a gliders wing thermalling under that cloud......wing
disintegrated, as did the skydiver....the pilot landed with his chute.


A similar thing happened at a glider/jump club close to my gliding club near
Oxford.

I understand that the gliding operations and the jump operations, agree a
divide zone for each to operate in.
Only there appeared to be a misunderstanding on one occasion and the agreed
zone ended up with a fatal overlap.

FWIW, I'm completely against mixing GA with jumping - it's just not worth
the trouble.

Gail