Being a newbie jump pilot is a lot of work

flhrci

flhrci

Final Approach
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Jan 26, 2007
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Groveport, OH
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David
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Yesterday was my first day of taking loads up in the 182, solo. It has taken 6 weeks of waiting for slots to open up to do and complete my jump pilot training. Yes, my DZ has a training program. Very rare.

Anyway, I took up 5 loads, 4 of which the DZ owner was taking a tandem student. Each flight was a chance for him to guide me and coach me and make me nervous. He is a commercial pilot as well as tandem master btw. I improved each and every flight on spotting and airspeed control. I was relieved by the next shift at 2pm having the first flight just after 8:00AM.

I was so exhausted and stressed at the end of the day. I even went to bed before 10pm. Exhausted! Thankfully right now it is one or two half days a weekend or less so I have time to get used to it and not get burned out.

I have not had to work this hard at flying since I did my instrument and CFI ratings years ago. No one warned me this type of flying was so mentally intense. I even confused ATC once yesterday to! LOL The last load I flew I had to protect all of us. The 206 was 1000 feet or so above us and I had to go out of my way to stay out of the DZ while getting back towards it on the jump run. Very stressful and made me nervous, but safety is very important. I want to take care of the people on my plane.

In a week or two once I fly a few more loads and get a little more comfy, I plan to get my currency jumps done and start jumping again.

It is pretty cool to be on both sides of the sport.

David [/FONT][/FONT]
 
I just got checked out at an airport that does extensive sky diving. I'll tell ya, I give major credit to anyone who sky dives or flys those guys up there. It does look hectic. I was at the airport about 2 hours this past Saturday including pre-flighting and flying around the pattern and then tying down and I think the jumper plane went up at least 2 times. The best part was while I was taxing out I saw these people standing off by the grass to the side of the runway all nervously looking up. The trusty jumper pilot called "jumpers away.". I though to myself, "man if those people only knew they were looking skyward for all this time for nothing!" After I finished my Run up the chuets had deployed and the peoria were clapping as the jumpers came in to land. It definately added to the experience. Before this I was flying at a busy class c airport. I really kind of liked the small airport vibe. I nice change for sure.
 
It gets hectic for short periods of time. For about 6000 feet you are just boring holes in the sky. :) But the initial 3-4k is calling up ATC, possibly letting out a hop n pop and looking out weekend flyers, of which I also am.

The decent, that is fun. Yesterday I was doing light spirals at 160mph IAS. Woohoo!

But, yea, the small airport thing is there as well as the skydiving community atmosphere. Makes it nice.

David
 
Cool write up. I have applied to a local dz. Had a phone interview and hoping to hear back again soon.
 
NJP_MAN said:
Cool write up. I have applied to a local dz. Had a phone interview and hoping to hear back again soon.
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Good luck!

Supposedly we are the only drop zone that has planes and pilots insured right away by USPA. Good thing if true.

135ish training program consisting of aircraft checkout, simulated jump run training flight, 2-3 flights observing the other pilots, 2-4 flights of you flying and being observed on real jump runs.

Took a long time to complete all that because of the revenue slots needing to be filled. Up jumper flights don't create any revenue. Tandem jumps do.

Fun to do though

David
 
Hey David, I just got a job as a jump pilot and it doesn't look like I'm going to be getting a lot of training. Do you have any words of advice or recommendations of things to study? I'm a new commercial pilot with 300 hours TT. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
 
DZs worth working for will provide a good amount of training, especially if you haven't flown jumpers before.
 
Like anything you'll get used to it and it becomes fairly stress free. Just always try and remember you have four souls in that airplane that are trusting you to keep them safe.

I eventually get flying them, mostly because if I have free time I would rather be wrenching on my Flybaby or out flying it.
 
I'm interested to hear how you like this as time goes on as it's one of the things I think I'd like to try once I get my CPL.
 
chrislyons5 said:
Hey David, I just got a job as a jump pilot and it doesn't look like I'm going to be getting a lot of training. Do you have any words of advice or recommendations of things to study? I'm a new commercial pilot with 300 hours TT. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
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I have been posting in your other thread. I just saw this one. I would insist on some kind of training if you have another jump pilot there. Brief with the other pilot before the start of the day on where the winds appear to be coming from . Always drop the jumpers upwind of the landing area. The upwind drop spot is called the "spot."

Full manifold pressure all the way up. The MP will drop pretty quickly so you don't have to be worried about too high of a manifold pressure.

Be careful on the descents. We kept the 182 at 15 inches MP. Roughly 160mph descents. You can spiral or descend any way you want.

Radio calls on local and approach or center freqs. We called ATC at 3000MSL, 1 minute prior and after exit. called local at 1 min prior, exit and when released from ATC.

There is a lot more. They need to go over it all with you.

PM me your email and I will send you our operations manual and a checklist I made. Hopefully there is enoguh info there to help you get started.

David
 
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