No Dave I don't it is illegal.
Back to FFE here is a copy of the email i just sent to the FAA
Dear Sirs,
On the 19th of April 2008 there was a fatal accident at the Mt. Vernon airport involving a Cessna 206 conducting sky diving operations.
I am a check airman with XXXXXXXXXX, and had this information passed to me which may help your investigation - the person passing it to me felt she could not come forward because of the close nit nature of the skydiving community.
Below is the information I had passed to me
"I am by no means anyone who really knows anything, just an innocent bystander who has risked my life more time than I care to think about by trusting that my drop zone will keep me safe. I think there were several factors that caused this accident.
1. Drop zone allowed a plane that was not airworthy, and even the owner of the drop zone did not want to fly it. It has had issues from the beginning.
2. I think the plane had a balance issue. I think there was too much weight and distributed unevenly in the plane. When we got in the plane, the pilot had to get in first because it was tail heavy. This plane has had the stall warning come on many times when exiting the plane. Most of the time people just jump when the stall warning comes on. When I say most people I am talking tandem instructors and very experienced jumpers.
3. I think the pilot was inadequate for training on this plane. I think the pilot made some real mistakes on this flight. A person on the ground stated they saw the plane level out when the 4 girls left. Then when Jen jumped and the chute got caught on the tail it was over. A good pilot would have said get the hell out of my plane at 10,000 feet not 4,500 feet.
Again I am a baby jumper with about 500 jumps so what do I know anyway. These are just my thoughts along with some real issues. I have described both.
There have been just too many things in the past that I have gone along with. But this time, things need to be address. An example is how come a double malfunction with a tandem (owner of DZ flying the tandem) was not reported. They were able to land but the DZ owner broke his neck. I sat with the gentleman who just came inches away from dying while he watched his video and I was told not to say anything. It was never reported to USPA. Instead DZO told us to say he fell off the back of the truck and that is why he wore the neck brace. Also there was a guy named Brent that had a double mal and landed hard on the end of the runway. I was there that day also. I took care of his kids until his wife was able to get there and they took him away by ambulance. He broke his back. This too was never reported to USPA or drop zone incidents because his reserve was out of date and they did not want anyone to know. Once again I kept my mouth shut. Why I do not know as it is not my nature. Oh yea and there is more… The day was cloudy and the ceiling was too low to skydive. I started heading home and had made it about 10 miles down the road when I saw a break in the clouds. I whipped a u-turn on I44 and headed back to the DZ just in time to see the sky clear up. DZO owner was flying the 182; 4 on the load. On the way to altitude the DZO and his wife were goofing around she was trying to catch a mint in her mouth. He was pulling back and pushing forward on the yoke to assist her in catching the mint in her mouth. He either pushed forward or pulled back to hard and we all flew to the roof of the plane. I hit my head very hard and still have neck pain today because of it. His wife cut her nose on the beam in the top of the plane and had to have stitches. I am sorry to say I was bought off by the mere price of one free jump.
I have not jumped there since, only when they had the larger planes – Mike Mullins – come in for the boogies.
I feel as if I played a part in letting all of this slide. Many others and myself are guilty because we did nothing, said nothing. We are all just as guilty as if we were in that door and didn’t let Marnie get out.
I hope you now understand why I can’t fight the battle on drop zone because I feel too guilty, but when things do come out and they will I will not be afraid to stand up and say what I should have said a long time ago."
