History - Civil Jump Planes dropping more than Skydivers

Twenty years ago NASA teamed up with a Drop Zone near Mojave, California for their X-38 project. The Jump Aircraft that was utilized was a C206. Scaled Composites Inc. built the X-38 test airframes. A very interesting article about the project is found below. Author is unknown. Photos by Jim Ross.

A 4-foot-long model of NASA's X-38, an experimental crew return vehicle, glides to earth after being dropped from a Cessna aircraft in late 1995. The model was used to test the ram-air parafoil landing system, which could allow for accurate and controlled landings of an emergency Crew Return Vehicle spacecraft returning to Earth. The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) research project is designed to develop the technology for a prototype emergency crew return vehicle, or lifeboat, for the International Space Station. 

The project is also intended to develop a crew return vehicle design that could be modified for other uses, such as a joint U.S. and international human spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane-5 Booster. The X-38 project is using available technology and off-the-shelf equipment to significantly decrease development costs. Original estimates to develop a capsule-type crew return vehicle were estimated at more than $2 billion. X-38 project officials have estimated that development costs for the X-38 concept will be approximately one quarter of the original estimate. 

Off-the-shelf technology is not necessarily "old" technology. Many of the technologies being used in the X-38 project have never before been applied to a human-flight spacecraft. For example, the X-38 flight computer is commercial equipment currently used in aircraft and the flight software operating system is a commercial system already in use in many aerospace applications. The video equipment for the X-38 is existing equipment, some of which has already flown on the space shuttle for previous NASA experiments. The X-38's primary navigational equipment, the Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System, is a unit already in use on Navy fighters. The X-38 electromechanical actuators come from previous joint NASA, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy research and development projects. 

Finally, an existing special coating developed by NASA will be used on the X-38 thermal tiles to make them more durable than those used on the space shuttles. The X-38 itself was an unpiloted lifting body designed at 80 percent of the size of a projected emergency crew return vehicle for the International Space Station, although two later versions were planned at 100 percent of the CRV size. The X-38 and the actual CRV are patterned after a lifting-body shape first employed in the Air Force-NASA X-24 lifting-body project in the early to mid-1970s. The current vehicle design is base lined with life support supplies for about nine hours of orbital free flight from the space station. It's landing will be fully automated with backup systems which allow the crew to control orientation in orbit, select a deorbit site, and steer the parafoil, if necessary. The X-38 vehicles (designated V131, V132, and V-131R) are 28.5 feet long, 14.5 feet wide, and weigh approximately 16,000 pounds on average. The vehicles have a nitrogen-gas-operated attitude control system and a bank of batteries for internal power. The actual CRV to be flown in space was expected to be 30 feet long. 

The X-38 project is a joint effort between the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas (JSC), Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia (LaRC) and Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California (DFRC) with the program office located at JSC. A contract was awarded to Scaled Composites, Inc., Mojave, California, for construction of the X-38 test airframes. The first vehicle was delivered to the JSC in September 1996. The vehicle was fitted with avionics, computer systems and other hardware at Johnson. A second vehicle was delivered to JSC in December 1996. 

Flight research with the X-38 at Dryden began with an unpiloted captive-carry flight in which the vehicle remained attached to its future launch vehicle, Dryden's B-52 008. There were four captive flights in 1997 and three in 1998, plus the first drop test on March 12, 1998, using the parachutes and parafoil. Further captive and drop tests occurred in 1999. In March 2000 Vehicle 132 completed its third and final free flight in the highest, fastest, and longest X-38 flight to date. It was released at an altitude of 39,000 feet and flew freely for 45 seconds, reaching a speed of over 500 miles per hour before deploying its parachutes for a landing on Rogers Dry Lakebed. In the drop tests, the X-38 vehicles have been autonomous after airlaunch from the B-52. After they deploy the parafoil, they have remained autonomous, but there is also a manual mode with controls from the ground.

*Repost* As a Jump Pilot you should always be watching your Skydivers exit!

This is a cool shot of my buddy "voodoo" and a tandem passenger exiting our C206 Jump Aircraft at Skydive Taft a few years ago.  You can see me in the background watching the exit and is something you as a Skydive Pilot should always be doing.

It is very important to make sure that none of the skydivers lines or handles get snagged on a seat belt, a door frame or anything else.  Also, insure that they have indeed unbuckled their seat belt.  I have personally never seen it, but I have heard of skydivers forgetting to unbuckle their seat belt and then attempting to jump, resulting in them dangling from the side of the aircraft.

As you can imagine that type of situation could cause major problems for them and you as the pilot.  I always have a hook knife handy as well, in case I need to cut their seat belt off. I encourage you to do the same. I personally like the Gerber "Crisis Hook Knife". It is available on Amazon and eBay. Go buy one, you might save a life with it one day!

My fellow Jump Pilots, please remember to review often, fly safe so that you can continue to have fun!

- SkyDiverDriver.com

Skydive Las Vegas acquires Sin City Skydiving

In business since 1993, Skydive Las Vegas operates a PAC 750 out of Boulder City Airport (BVU), about 20 miles southeast of "The Strip". Numerous sources have told me that they recently purchased Sin City Skydiving that operates a C206 out of Jean Nevada which is located about 20 miles south of the strip. 

If you visit the Sin City Skydiving site it states: "Sin City Skydiving is on temporary hiatus at this time. For immediate service, please contact Skydive Las Vegas at 702-SKY-DIVE or visit their website at www.skydivelasvegas.com. Blue Skies..."

There is another drop zone, Vegas Extreme Skydiving, operating a PAC 750 out of the same Jean Nevada airport (0L7). It is not known at this time whether Skydive Las Vegas plans on moving their newly acquired company to another airport (ie. North Las Vegas airport), growing it at its current location or simply liquidating it.

It IS known that the two Las Vegas skydiving companies are not the best of friends. So if the two do end up operating out of the same small airport, I foresee at least a couple of arguments and feather ruffling. Hopefully my fellow jump pilots will not get dragged into the drama. I have a feeling this story will have some updates in the near future.

The ATSB has concluded its on-site investigation of the skydiving airplane crash at Caboolture Airfield QLD Australia

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has concluded its on-site investigation concerning a Cessna 206 that crashed on Saturday March 22nd at Caboolture Airfield, Queensland Australia, with a pilot and 4 parachutists on board. Today they released this statement:

Updated: 26 March 2014

"The ATSB team completed its on-site investigation of the accident involving VH-FRT on 25 March 2014. The ATSB has retained several components for further examination. This includes the aircraft’s engine and related components, propeller, various flight control components, some cockpit instruments and parts of the pilot’s seat. The extent to which the ATSB’s examination of the aircraft and components will be able to identify any potential anomalies is limited due to the level of damage that was sustained.

The ATSB has conducted and is analysing a significant number of witness reports. It is also reviewing the aircraft’s maintenance records, operational records for recent flights, and pilot training records. The investigation will also include reviewing potentially-related occurrences to identify if there any common aspects.

A preliminary report is expected within about 30 days of the accident. Should any critical safety issues emerge in the course of the investigation, the ATSB will immediately bring those issues to the relevant authorities or organisations and publish them as required."

The only photograph that they have released is the one below that shows a small amount of debris and what appears to be a bent propeller in the background.

5 dead in skydiving airplane crash near Brisbane Australia

At approximately 11:30 am local eastern Australian time (Saturday morning) a Cessna 206 with skydivers onboard crashed soon after take off from Caboolture Field near Brisbane Australia. Witnesses said that the airplane veered sharply to the left soon after take off, hitting the ground and bursting into flames. All 5 people onboard died in the crash. It is not clear which skydiving company owned the airplane, there is more than one operating at this field.

Update: According to police the victims were 4 males and 1 female. A male pilot, 2 male skydiving instructors and 2 skydiving customers. The names have not been released yet. 

Bryan Carpenter of Aerodynamic Flight Academy told reporters that, "The Cessna 206 lurched sharply to its left at an altitude of 100 to 200 feet." It is not known what caused the crash. However, according to Mr. Carpenter, "...the engine was delivering power on touch down."

As a Jump Pilot you should... watch their exit!

This is a cool shot of my buddy "voodoo" and a tandem passenger exiting our C206 Jump Aircraft at Skydive Taft a few years ago.  You can see me in the background watching the exit and is something you as a Skydive Pilot should always be doing.


TIP: It is very important to make sure that none of the skydivers lines or handles get snagged on a seat belt, a door frame or anything else.  Also, insure that they have indeed unbuckled their seat belt.  I've never seen it, but I've heard of skydivers forgetting to unbuckle and then attempt to jump.  That might sound funny but it can cause major problems for them and you as the pilot.  I always have a hook knife handy as well in case I need to cut their seat belt off. I encourage you to do the same.