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HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly Wish-ListiFly Wish-ListAdd skydiving drop zone alerts to aviation GPS and navigation apps!Add skydiving drop zone alerts to aviation GPS and navigation apps!
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3/24/2019 9:14 PM
 

Twice in the last year, I have landed at an airport where skydivers were also landing on the area between the runway and taxiway....with no notice to me.

I broadcasted to UNICOM I was coming in, used CTAF for all calls, and even ASKED and got nothing -- and then saw skydivers making PLFs in the grass while I was flaring for landing...

I went up to to a guy (jumper) who landed afterward, and he basically told me "...yeah we saw you and just avoided you, so it's cool - no problem, dude."  I went on to say that if I had to perform a "go around" it would not "be cool" and I might be in the midst of you, or wearing your chute around my prop!

Fact is, I like most skydiver and respect what they do and why they do it - more power to them. But for the love of God, why do you have to have the PI for your DZ within 100 meters of the numbers on a runway?!

Having thought about this a long time, I don't think there is a practical way to have an alert on Ifly that is real-time. 

About the BEST we could do is proabaly have a shaded ring around drop zones (that we can switch on or off as desired) to remind us to LOOK. After all, many of the pilots here fly ABOVE areas where there drop zones, and then there are those like me who fly most of the time at or below 1,500 AGL where they are always a factor.

I think a 3-5 mile ring or shaded area pilots can turn on or off would be sufficient to provide a reminder, if that were technically possible someday.

Good idea from the Gent who brought this up...may save a plane and jumper someday.

Mike N714AJ

 
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3/24/2019 9:36 PM
 

I'm guessing you were not on Flight Following when that happened.  FWIW, I bet ATC made an announcement about it.  Even if you weren't in two-way comm with ATC, if you had been monitoring the freq you would have used for FF, you probably would have heard that.

For short local flights, I don't always get FF, but I do almost always tune into the freq just to hear what's going on.  Sometimes I hear myself called out as traffic, and can reverse-engineer those calls to get a clue about traffic near me.  I also listen up for skydiver activity in my area, since there are a couple of nearby fileds that do that pretty often.

 
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3/24/2019 9:42 PM
 
Yes, good advice. I usually click on the frequency tab of the closest airport and tune in the Approach Control or Center frequency listed for that airport. The other day while doing that, I was hearing a Baron calling and calling trying to contact Atlanta Center. I told Center a Baron was calling and he switched to a different radio and made contact.
 
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HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly Wish-ListiFly Wish-ListAdd skydiving drop zone alerts to aviation GPS and navigation apps!Add skydiving drop zone alerts to aviation GPS and navigation apps!