Joe_Kay

Squawking Ident would be a good plan as it would be an easy standard operating procedure that could be established with local ATC. I've done a few visits to ATC at work and the ident feature just causes the aircraft callsign to flash or bloom depending on the ATC system. That would definitely get the controllers attention even if they were talking to other aircraft. When I got close to that plane ATC contacted the jump plane just after we jumped, identing with 15 seconds to go would have probably averted this situation, good suggestion. Joe

Tom, Thanks very much that's exactly the sort of thing that I was thinking about. If people want to send your dropzone details out to local airfields you can get contact details for all the airports in your area by using the FAA search link at: http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/airport_safety/airportdata_5010/ Unfortunately there are no e-mails on this but it seems like a pretty comprehensive list and there are phone numbers included. Joe

Thanks to everyone that has posted on this thread, I have been interested in reading all of the posts from the experienced jumpers out there. As a military helicopter pilot and someone who does a bit of private piloting I have a slightly different perspective to some of the other pilots that have posted. Sectionals are freely available to us and we have more rigid pre flight procedures. As I have sectionals I was therefore surprised that fewer private pilots are using them and it has made me think even more that something needs to be done to increase communication between skydivers and private pilots. So here is my suggestion. Every dropzone sends out an e-mail or fax to every airfield within a 100 mile radius. The dropzones could ask the airfield to display these notices on the NOTAM board with details of the DZ location, normal jumping procedures and times, monitored frequencies and contact details. Granted this won't reach every private pilot but pilots talk to each other and this information would soon spread. I also acknowledge that good spotting is very important and we should never just rely on one spotter but encourage the entire load to look for aircraft. If the USPA got on board with this as part of the annual safety day then I feel we could reduce the amount of private pilots flying over dropzones unaware that they are even there. As a pilot I don't want anyone falling through my rotor or wing any more than I want to fall through one while I'm jumping. Joe

This is the story, after a 6 way formation last weekend, a plane passed through our group as we were opening provoking much shouting and swearing at the stupidity of the private pilot and air traffic control who only called our jump pilot with the traffic call after we had exited. Anyway, as a pilot in the UK and a new jumper here in the US I have been looking into the charts and procedures that are in place in the US and have been pretty shocked. In the UK drop zones are much more clearly marked on aviation charts than here in the US. Having clearly marked airspace around dropzones just strikes me a common sense and having spoken to people at a few drop zones this close call was by no means an isolated incident. Has the USPA ever approached the FAA to try and improve the marking of dropzones on the sectional charts or is anything else being done? This is an accident waiting to happen.