US
Three Killed as Sky-Diving Plane Crashes in Louisiana
- Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:47am by
Scott Baker
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CROWLEY, La. (AP) — A small plane carrying a group of sky divers has crashed in south-central Louisiana, killing three people and injuring two others on board.
Acadia Parish sheriff’s deputy Maxine Trahan says there was a pilot and four jumpers aboard the single-engine plane.
FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says witnesses reported seeing the Cessna 182 take off about 2:30 p.m. Saturday from LeGros Memorial Airport in Acadia Parish. Lunsford says the plane was about 200 feet in the air when it lost power and the pilot attempted to make it back to the runway.
Trahan says one of the survivors has been released from the hospital and the other is staying overnight. She has not released the identities of those on board.
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Hoosier Daddy
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:06amVery sad about your business associate, and you may grieve for him in any way you wish, but don’t tell the rest of us how to spend our time or our money, okay? You could use that specious argument against any pastime or pursuit. It doesn’t fly (pun intended).
Report Post »mikemanners11
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 5:02amI don’t feel sorry for these clowns…
Thousands of Americans are losing their homes, jobs, futures, and all hope because of the economy…and these jokers are jumping out of planes for fun?
A business associate took his life because he just lost EVERYTHING. He just wanted to work and provide for his family. He lost his business, he is in debt, he had to lay off his workers, and his wife left him. He had no time to jump out of planes for idiotic fun.
Upside down priorities in this country…
Report Post »squeaker
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:26pmYou would be surprised at what skydivers do for the communities around the Drop Zones. It’s just a sport many enjoy. So to bash them is really a sorry act on your part.
Sounds like your “clown” didn’t know how to run his business. Ahhh to bad…!
Report Post »dalfsson
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 1:40amit was 200 feet. you go right ahead and try a hop and pop at that altitude. just be sure to leave me in your will. if they had their chutes packed like a base jumper’s chute, maybe. but not a normaly packed rig. even the military doesn’t jump that low with static lines. that low their fall rate would not be enough to pull the chute out fast enough before they hit the ground.
Report Post »anunbeliever
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 8:16pmIf the plane was stable they all should have bailed out. They had plenty altitude for a hop and pop. I used to jump from a C182 The pilot should have ordered them all out and the lighter plane woukd have had much better chances making it too.
Report Post »common everyday citizen
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 2:33pmYes, very sad.
The skydivers musta forgot they had parashoots on…
Report Post »1proudAmerican
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 3:35pm@Common Everyday Citizen – Parachutes don’t open at 200 feet.
Report Post »P4cooler
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 2:11pmI hope the pilot did a run-up before takeoff. Takeoff is the most dangerous part of flight in general aviation. Of course I am very sorry to hear of this tragedy.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 2:01pmAmazing timing of this story, for me anyway. Needless to say, this is a tragic accident and my heart goes out to all the families of those who died. As a pilot, I have been a reader of Flying magazine for many years. Earlier today I picked up an issue from a few months back and just finished reading about flight departure accidents like this. Rule of thumb: most often you cannot make a successful return to the airport unless you have reached an altitude of about one thousand feet. Statistics show this to be so.
In a situation like this, panic and confusion are the biggest enemies to the pilot. Most often there is no more than a half minute to get it right. The steep turn (180 degrees +) required to pull off an on-field airport landing in conjunction with low airspeed, a high descent rate and lots of aerodynamic drag is too much to overcome, except from “high.” And if a pilot did make the turn around successfully, he’d be landing downwind (not desirable) and into possible departing aircraft. Best solution: straight ahead gliding descent within an arc of perhaps 30 degrees left or right. Better to land under control like that than in a stall-spin trying for the field in back of you. Airplanes respond to the laws of physics and no amount of determination can change that!
Report Post »TPaine
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:48pmI started jumping in 1965. And there is nothing like sky-diving (of course, people will say the same about skiing, mountain climbing, racing, etc.) to get the adrenaline flowing. And a Cessna 182, gutted for jumping, holds 4 jumpers comfortably. I’ve jumped a C-180 with 3 other jumpers – no seats (except for the pilot) and a jump door that swings up under the wing when on jump run. So if you’re not a jumper, don’t comment on the safety.
If anything, pilots (and I’m one of them, too) are trained NEVER to try to make it back to the runway in a power-out situation, because it never works. You take your chances straight ahead.
And that ubiquitous response, “Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?” can only be answered by doing it. You’ll learn really quick why the birds sing!
Report Post »1proudAmerican
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 3:38pmTpaine – I totally agree with you. If I had the money, I’d jump every weekend.
Report Post »Oil_Robb
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:23amTo each thier own and I feel for the families…….BUT Ive never understood people who participate in Mountain climbing , Ice climbing. sky diving ect . Unless you are of age and are single. But far to often they are men who know the odds of them dieing go way up and leave families behind needlessly. I have the same thoughts with the Military, go ahead and join when you are 18 or 19 but then wait untill you are out or 30 before you get married. It IMO is selfish to have a wife and kids when you are never home and have a graeter chance of dying are beeing disabled and or marital and pyscological baggage when you come back. ITS JUST SELFISH
Report Post »ArmedAndNotDangerous
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:18amThe Pilot panicked, he did not do what he was trained to do – which is ‘FLY THE AIRPLANE’.
Report Post »Making a 180 degree turn in a fully loaded aircraft without power will ALWAYS result in FAST loss of altitude – period. We are always taught – ‘Fly the Plane’. God Bless their souls.
randy
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:26amMy Heart goes out to all involved.
But come on, 5 people had to be crammed in that plane like sardines without parachutes.
Accident waiting to happen.
The Cessna 182 Skylane is a four-seat, single-engine, light airplane , built by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas . It has the option of adding two child seats, installed in the baggage area.
Report Post »Hoosier Daddy
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:46pmI believe the 182 is the predominant jump plane in the US. With the co-pilot seat removed, it can carry four jumpers to 10,000 feet or higher in a reasonable amount of time and can be had for several thousand dollars instead of a million or more. It has a record of reliability that engenders confidence and accidents like these are, blessedly, rare. The great majority of my jumps are from 182′s and some of those planes looked like basket cases, but were mechanically sound and airworthy, just not showpieces.
Report Post »squeaker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:15pmRandy, The interior is gutted except for the pilots seat. 4 jumpers geared up is pretty comfy for the ride to altitude.
“TPAINE” said it…. JUMP, You’ll learn why birds sing.
Report Post »tbear44
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 9:13amWhat a sad story. Pilot and passengers probably didn’t have much time to do anything, except hold on. My prayers go out to all of them and their families.
Report Post »cmsmik
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 7:38amWhen my friends ask me to go skydiving, my response has always been. Why in the world would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
Report Post »Devil Dog 7175
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 8:03amRight you are…Here its quit the rush though…
Report Post »aburningmann
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:40amuntil you go, you will never understand!
Report Post »Hoosier Daddy
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:37pmRoger that, Aburningmann. Still, it’s not for everybody. I had to ignore my debilitating fear of heights to make my first jump but I wanted the jump more than I wanted to give in to my fear. After that, like many, it was in my blood like a drug and I had to have it. What matters is that you know the dangers and accept that bad things can happen. It’s just especially terrible when the bad things are, like plane crashes, completely out of your control. As a veteran of three reserve rides, I‘d rather have my fate in my own hands and not in the pilot’s (God bless them all).
Report Post »EnlightenedinGA
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 6:23amThat seems like a lot of people for such a small plane.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 4:17amMy prayers are with them and their families especially at this time of the year.
Report Post »101
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 3:41amMy prayers go out to the families.
Blue Skies
Report Post »smamere
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 2:42amA good read is “The Survivor’s Club” by Ben Sherwood. Some circumstances do not have optimal outcomes regardless of preparedness, though. This may be one of those times. Sad…
Report Post »countrysideflair
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 2:40amNothing like being in a crashing plane with a parachute, but too low to jump.
Report Post »squeaker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 3:13amSadly… Runway behind, Altitude above and Loosing or Power lost is always a bad situation. Not to mention you are flying heavy with 4 skydivers and their gear on-board. Seems the pilot maybe should have opted for an emergency landing rather than trying to return to the runway. They were too low for the jumpers to exit. I’ve seen this terrible outcome several times. — But at least these folks were all doing what they loved to do.
Report Post »Hoosier Daddy
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:30pmThis is why I never rest easy till we’re 1K feet AGL. At least then I’d have a chance at scrambling out and pulling my reserve. Also why I chose a Racer container, for it’s speed of reserve deployment.
Report Post »Condolences to the families of the dead and best wishes for the survivors.
squeaker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:40amSad to hear this story….
Blue Skies to the survivors and their families…
Report Post »JackOfTrades
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:37amwow…
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:34ami will pray for the families and may god be with them in their time of grief .
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:22amawful
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:19ampure awfel.
Report Post »proudinfidel54
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 5:01pmSound like these guys should have used those Parachutes
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:12amMy
My God!
Report Post »mark t
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 8:30amHey I know let’s go strap this cloth on our back then jump from aplane at 2000 feet???
Never sound like a good idea to me …
Happy Killmore
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:32amIt’s a great idea in wartime, matbe not so much for funtime.
Report Post »dalfsson
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 12:49pmmy condolences go out to the families of the dead.
mark t- 1.it’s not cloth, it’s high strength low surface tension nylon. 2. they usual altitude for jumping is 10,000 feet, not 2000. that’s where they usually open the chutes. 3. this could have happened to ANYONE in a small plane, not just skydivers. skydiving is alot safer than you might think. if it had not been a skydiving plane, i doubt it would have made the news.
randy- the C182 is actually one of the more common skydiving planes. they take out all but the pilot’s seat, and the divider between the passenger compartment and baggage area, and remove everything else not needed from it to reduce weight when they set it up to be a aircraft used for jumping, and they also don’t load a full load of fuel so weight is not as much of a factor as you might think.
Report Post »Avi8or
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 1:14pmSo sad. :(
It sounds like he tried to do “the impossible turn.” That is, after takeoff, you loose power and try to turn 180 degrees back to the runway. In all but a few cases it doesn’t end well. Check out this link, if you want… http://blog.aopa.org/asfblog/?p=595 (If you google video search “impossible turn” you can see the video.)
I am a flight instructor, as well as an EMT for one of the local ambulance companies, and a month or so ago there was just such an accident at my airport. The pilot survived without injury, luckily, but his aircraft is probably going to be totaled. It was kinda weird to be on the runway with an ambulance, and not an airplane.
Report Post »1proudAmerican
Posted on December 19, 2010 at 3:20pmMark T – you don’t jump at 2,000 ft. I jumped at 9,000 and it was awesome. Don‘t knock it til you’ve tried it. Accidents happen.
Report Post »PhantomsPhorever
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:02amAVI8OR nailed it. I am so tired of seeing pilots loose their life doing this stupid move. An off airport landing in a single engine aircraft is completely survivable if you hit the ground level, slow and under control. I have seen Cessena’s go through brick buildings at 65 MPH with minor injuries to the occupants. It makes me boiling hot everytime I see some hot shot instructor advertising that you can learn to do this maneuver with any plane. It just perpetuates the myth and increases resistance to landing on a road or in a field. If you operate out of a field regularly you should already have your go-to places picked out. I know exactly where I‘m going to land at my home field until I’m at safe altitude and enroute.
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