I guess this is just about the first post I've made to this list, having being subscribed to it for the better part of 3 years now...
I'm a skydiver myself, as well as a glider pilot (and I've recently got a PPL too!). I was going to say something about what skydivers do in the air, but I see a post from John Chapman of the Parachure Federation has pretty well said it all. The usual arrangement is for skydivers to open their parachutes at around 2,500 feet. When falling in formation, we separate from each other at around 4,000 feet (higher if there are many involved) and then open up. Nearly all the time the parachute opens normally, or in a fashion where it can be controlled. Occasionally, it fails for whatever reason, and is usually disposed of by releasing it and deploying the reserve. (It's retrieved later.) For a short while, the skydiver is then back in freefall, and (as John mentioned) can well be below 2,000 feet. In a very recent post, the question was put: whether the jumper *was* still in freefall? If the jumper was under parachute, then the collision speed would be lower and I don't know exactly what the result of that would be. Dropzones are indeed not shown on WAC charts, but they are marked on VNCs, VTCs and ERCs (Visual Navigation Charts, Visual Terminal Charts amd En-Route Charts). As a PPL holder I have these charts and they can be useful to show airspace usage. They also show area frequencies, and it can be a good idea to monitor these frequencies just to see what other aircraft are in the skies, especially out of controlled airspace. These days, I often switch from 122.7 to the area frequency at Balaklava just to see what's going on that might affect me (not much usually), although it means that I'm out of touch of the gliding club. Not all power pilots necessarily know that gliders may not monitor the area frequency. These charts don't cost all that much and can be obtained from pilot's shops or from AirServices. And I keep a good distance from dropzones too, when I'm flying around!! Cheers Andrew Horton Balaklava Gliding Club ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Rundle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 8:40 AM Subject: [aus-soaring] Accident in the UK > > See > > http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/06/02/1022982651860.html > > for the whole article > > Headline > > > Parachutist's death dive kills glider pilot > > June 3 2002 > > > Investigations were continuing today into a freak mid-air collision over > central England when a skydiver smashed through the wing of a glider, > killing both himself and the glider pilot. > > The skydiver and the glider pilot died early yesterday following the > accident at Hinton Airfield, near Brackley, Northamptonshire. > > The glider's wing was knocked off by the force of the skydiver's impact > and both people plunged to their deaths from around 600 metres, an Air > Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesman said. > > > > > -- > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message > * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. > -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
