4 ms·

Regarding higher airspeed, I'm not suggesting that they go any faster—only that they burn altitude to maintain airspeed instead of flying level on asymmetrical

Regarding higher airspeed, I'm not suggesting that they go any faster—only that they burn altitude to maintain airspeed instead of flying level on asymmetrical thrust. Regarding sink rate, in the absence of a definitive source I don't really buy that a moderate sink rate (again, with the same low airspeed) is going to significantly increase the risk of somebody hitting the tailplane. In the absurd extreme of a vertical dive, I guess a skydiver would probably be outpaced by the aircraft due to their different terminal velocities, but a shallow dive is a very different picture.

lazide 5y ago
It’s not uncommon to be a foot from the elevator on some models of jump planes - when flying level, and without ‘floating’ out the door like some folks are prone to do. As with many things, ‘it depends’. Most jumpers aren’t going to be happy burning the altitude they just bought with their jump ticket so the pilot can be a little lazier though.
- caconym_ 5y ago
  Most jumpers probably have no idea how dangerous it is to spin a multiengine aircraft, and anybody who would classify as "lazy" a pilot's avoidance of an asymmetrical thrust condition a hair above stall with a large, draggy mass hanging off the opposite side of the aircraft is, frankly, not really qualified to opine on the subject. Spinning a King Air is, from an aviation safety point of view, unacceptable. Accidents happen, but the point is that great pains must be taken to prevent them from happening again; and if the skydiving community wants to convince the aviation community at large that this procedure is perfectly safe, they really need to show that what happened here was a freak accident rather than a totally predictable one. That will be a tall order, because it was a totally predictable accident. Safety needs to take precedence over convenience. If the King Air can't run skydiving operations safely and conveniently, maybe it should not be used for skydiving operations.

lazide 5y ago

It’s not uncommon to be a foot from the elevator on some models of jump planes - when flying level, and without ‘floating’ out the door like some folks are prone to do. As with many things, ‘it depends’. Most jumpers aren’t going to be happy burning the altitude they just bought with their jump ticket so the pilot can be a little lazier though.

caconym_ 5y ago
Most jumpers probably have no idea how dangerous it is to spin a multiengine aircraft, and anybody who would classify as "lazy" a pilot's avoidance of an asymmetrical thrust condition a hair above stall with a large, draggy mass hanging off the opposite side of the aircraft is, frankly, not really qualified to opine on the subject. Spinning a King Air is, from an aviation safety point of view, unacceptable. Accidents happen, but the point is that great pains must be taken to prevent them from happening again; and if the skydiving community wants to convince the aviation community at large that this procedure is perfectly safe, they really need to show that what happened here was a freak accident rather than a totally predictable one. That will be a tall order, because it was a totally predictable accident. Safety needs to take precedence over convenience. If the King Air can't run skydiving operations safely and conveniently, maybe it should not be used for skydiving operations.