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Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:56:57 -0400
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From: H & J Johnson <hjjohnson@sasktel.net>
Subject: Re: [LML] Re: The amazing survivability of aircraft (sometimes!)
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I've had this very experiance while flying divers. Early deployment out of the door. I jumped on the rudder as
soon as I saw chute lines in the door, the diver was spinning horizontally [his vertical axis horizontal] w/ his
legs splayed out [G force from the rotation?]  and his runner/heel hit ~ 6-8" in from the tip of the H-Stab. 
Tremendous 'bang' and the H-stab was fluttering like a flag in the wind.  The student hanging on the wing
[I've got a very vivid picture burnt into memory] came off the plane at ~ 45deg. I was looking him in the eye as
the chute deployed while he was still on the strut [pulled him off]. The first diver [instructor] had held onto the
pilot chute as he went out the door [what he's supposed to do] and deployed the student while he was still
'on' the strut. 

The last two guys got the 'get out now' call and dove out the door just like that [experianced divers]. I had my
seat belt off pretty quick and was ready to jump myself [in Canada we are still mandated to wear a chute]. I
Called the second plane and advised him.  I aimed the plane at a good size lake nearby. I was pretty much
ready to jump but couldn't 'make' myself do it. The plane still seem flyable. The tail was still vibrating a bit
but it was still flying so I took my time, didn't change any configurations [trim, flaps etc & left the door open]
and got it back down.  Was one of the scariest flights of my life.  The diver got out of it w/ some serious
bruises, lost his shoe and broke a bunch of chute lines. The student didn't know anything was wrong until
later.

The diver left a ~ 24" of scrape mark [from the steel rings on his harness] down the side of the plane. From
that point the rudder started to pull the tail out of the way and by the time he went past the tail he was out 
~ 5' from the fuse [the tail moved that hard/fast].  Don't know if I could repeat it, or even how I managed it [we'd
done training but nothing prep's you perfectly for the 'real deal'] guess it just wasn't my day to go. The mechanic
that eventually repaired the plane guessed [by the dents in the fuse on the opposite side [leading edge of the 
stab came in and hit/dented the fuse] that the stab had moved rearwards 12+" on impact.

Long days, short trips [22min up to 10.5 and back] and lots of fun [divers are a great bunch, if a bit 'crazy]' :) ] !
At the end of the day, when they yelled 'party time'...  lets just say they knew how to live it up :D

Fwiw

J.  Johnson
235/320 55%

> It's amazing what the human body can do to an airplane.  As a 
> regular  
> weekend "meat bomber" I've seen some ugly things from skydiver 
> strikes  
> on 182s, 206s, twin otters, caravans, and others.  We were doing 
> night  
> jumps over Ft Bragg years ago from a Helio Courier.  Something 
> came  
> lose in the tail (it wasn't a human that hit it in this case), but 
> the  
> pilot landed the crippled plane with the horizontal tail barely  
> hanging on.  He had a parachute on, but since it was night, he  
> couldn't see the tail to know how bad it was.  If he could of, he 
> said  
> he would have jumped.
> 
> Matt McManus
> 
> 
> Quoting Ross Leighton <rossl@mweb.co.za>:
> 
> > I came across this Cessna 206 at Cape Town international airport 
> today. It
> > is used for parachutist transport (or meat bombing as we call it 
> locally).> Yesterday a parachutist deploying at FL090 suffered a 
> premature deployment
> > of his chute whilst still in the doorway of the aircraft. The 
> chute caught
> > in the wind, pulled him into the right hand horizontal 
> stabilizer. The
> > result is as you see in the photo. Parachutist survived with 
> back injuries
> > and the pilot managed to fly a controlled crash approach down to 
> the runway
> > of the airport. Best glide apparently was 130KIAS below which 
> aircraft> wanted to fall out of the sky. The plane was losing 
> 1000fpm on the descent.
> > Other than a hard landing with attendant prop strike, the 
> aircraft survived.
> > So did the pilot who clearly is made of the right stuff. 
> Apparently it used
> > to be SOP that pilots of jump planes wore chutes but it fell by 
> the wayside
> > over the years. Guess that will be revisited now.
> >
> > But just goes to show how resilient aircraft are sometimes.
> >
> >
> > Ross Leighton
> > Cygnet Capital
> > Cape Town, South Africa
> > Cell: 082 881 3183
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
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