Buckerfan wrote:
If there are people who are equally crazy as skydivers, it is the pilots who fly them. With a turbine powered skydiving plane, like a Pilatus Porter, I have often seen them descend almost vertically after the drop, much faster than the parachutists. Crazy stunt.Five years ago at Dunkeswell a completely out of control skydiving student decsended out of low cloud, swept very low across the airfield straight *down*wind on a very windy day and very fast and missed the wing of my plane by 5 feet, slamming into a car at the fuel pumps. She was extremely lucky to have lived. Her helmet left a very deep dent in the car. I jumped on the phone and arranged ambulance and helimed rescue. Her f***cking ‘instructor’ tried to hush the whole thing up.
Wow that’s a scary story. It’s crazy to think that in such a situation where the skydiver is clearly putting you and themselves at risk and in the end you could be charged with manslaughter (assuming you actually survive the collision).
Parthurnax wrote:
It’s crazy to think that in such a situation where the skydiver is clearly putting you and themselves at risk and in the end you could be charged with manslaughter (assuming you actually survive the collision).
Towing gliders (ENOP) where there also is a lot of skydivers, you simply have to be aware of this. Student skydivers have very little control, they are students after all and learn the hard way 
When waiting for the gliders to line up, I used to turn off the engine when skydivers were coming, or at least be prepared to turn it off. Fresh students ends up all over the place, and could easily end up in the rotating prop. You cannot blame student skydivers for being students and do mistakes. You can however blame others for not knowing better.
I remember one episode where one student was blown way out of course and ended up among some holiday cottages. They searched for hours after the dude, but he was like vanished from the face of the earth. Then, eventually he called and said he was OK. What happened was he landed more or less on the porch of one of those cottages. The owners where there and saw the whole thing. Invited him in for dinner, and he excepted of course. While everyone else was worried to death and searching, he was relaxing with a nice dinner That’s skydivers in a nut shell
LeSving wrote:
When waiting for the gliders to line up, I used to turn off the engine when skydivers were coming, or at least be prepared to turn it off. Fresh students ends up all over the place, and could easily end up in the rotating prop. You cannot blame student skydivers for being students and do mistakes.
I do the same – no need to let one of those soft bodies damage your prop!
eurogaguest1980 wrote:
no need to let one of those soft bodies damage your prop!
Exactly
