Dangerous Practices at a Florida DZ

[skyjames 2]

After looking at your profile, I would say you made the correct decision.
Assuming that a "few" years ago you were just off student status.

Jumping at DZs you are not familure with should add a level of danger alertness. Yours was working.

RIP... Mike McDonnal did his 8th and last jump at this dz. He didn't make it back to land, hit his head on a submerged rock and drowned, in shallow H2O.
This "lake" in the middle is only 15 feet deep. His problem wasn't cloud cover or darkness, it was wind on a sunny day.
We used to joke it was the 'gators that would kill you if you landed in the lake.

To be fair, the dz had a different owner and different name at the time.

I have jumped those conditions you mention ... at that DZ and felt I knew the area well enough (200+ jumps there) to be comfortable.

I hate to miss out on the last load of the day, but will if conditions aren't right.

John is right about the "aroma" during the day, it wasn't sugarcane burning.

That was then, different ppl there now.

.

"exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile"
'nother james

[billvon 2,991]

>In the US, it is illegal to punch a cloud, or to be within 1000 feet
>above, 500 feet below, or 2000 feet horizontally from them -- further
>if above 10000 feet MSL. The danger is to other aircraft.

While I agree, all skydiver/aircraft collisions that have occurred so far have been in clear air. See and avoid does not work for normal freefallers, and shouldn't be relied upon. If anything, the larger danger with clouds is that you can't see a plane below you before you exit, which is the one time that people look (sometimes.) The danger is proportional to how well controlled the airspace is. In uncontrolled airspace (i.e. over a busy uncontrolled airport) it's very dangerous.

>In the era of GPS spotting, it's not so likely that a bad spot over
> clouds/water will happen, unless the pilot is confused.

While GPS is great, it's not too good at detecting clouds. Which is why I try to get at least one person on my dives to look out the door. It's been suprisingly hard at times.

>About the
> time I started jumping, a load of jumpers drowned from a bad over
> clouds/over water spot..

Are you referring to the Lake Erie incident? In that incident, a pilot attempted to spot with suggestions from ATC; no one on board could see the ground and the pilot didn't know where he was, and ATC confused him with another aircraft.

[Rookie120 0]

You made a decision, you lived to tell about it! Next question please.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!