37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1112087 |
Time | |
Date | 201308 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
State Reference | US |
Environment | |
Flight Conditions | VMC |
Light | Daylight |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
Flight Phase | Descent |
Route In Use | Direct Visual Approach |
Flight Plan | VFR |
Person 1 | |
Function | Pilot Flying |
Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
Events | |
Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
I monitor the CTAF 112.8 for hours at a time and monitor all weather in the region regularly. On almost all occasions at ZZZ airport the sky diving operations pilots use very poor communication; advise area traffic on approach [to] the airport and to remain clear of the area. The general attitude and actions is [that] they do not have to yield to; or accommodate any other traffic at the airport. There is a very distinct 'this is our airport; we do what ever we want; and stay out of our way' attitude. I have personally seen sky dive aircraft take the runway with landing traffic on final with no radio call that they were taking the runway. I have heard the sky diving pilot call out to traffic 'all area traffic do not approach the airport' on multiple occasions insinuating that the airport was closed to all other traffic when in fact it was not. Additionally; they have poor position reporting; do not identify themselves on occasion as a sky dive aircraft; and [do not] use their north number. Additionally; they are very confrontational and combative on the radio. There is a major issue with procedures and a complete lack of cooperation with other air traffic. I fly all over the country and have never heard or seen such unprofessional and blatant disregard for other traffic and pilots and have never witnessed such improper sky diving operation radio calls. Additionally; I believe that they have access to the ASOS and manipulate the cloud cover reporting function. I believe that they have on several occasions disabled the ceiling and cloud reporting function; so that they can go ahead and jump through solid cloud ceilings. Last time I was there was a solid overcast layer at 5;000 MSL reported all over the region except for the ZZZ airport. When I arrived at the airport it was indeed overcast and they were performing sky diving operations from 14;000 MSL. This was not the first time that this has happened. I firmly believe that they are an accident waiting to happen. Their operations are primarily on the weekends and at the worst possible time due to the amount of low time inexperienced other traffic.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: C182 reports poor procedures and communications by skydiving pilots at ZZZ airport on a daily basis.
Narrative: I monitor the CTAF 112.8 for hours at a time and monitor all weather in the region regularly. On almost all occasions at ZZZ airport the sky diving operations pilots use very poor communication; advise area traffic on approach [to] the airport and to remain clear of the area. The general attitude and actions is [that] they do not have to yield to; or accommodate any other traffic at the airport. There is a very distinct 'this is our airport; we do what ever we want; and stay out of our way' attitude. I have personally seen sky dive aircraft take the runway with landing traffic on final with no radio call that they were taking the runway. I have heard the sky diving pilot call out to traffic 'All area traffic do not approach the airport' on multiple occasions insinuating that the airport was closed to all other traffic when in fact it was not. Additionally; they have poor position reporting; do not identify themselves on occasion as a sky dive aircraft; and [do not] use their N number. Additionally; they are very confrontational and combative on the radio. There is a major issue with procedures and a complete lack of cooperation with other air traffic. I fly all over the country and have never heard or seen such unprofessional and blatant disregard for other traffic and pilots and have never witnessed such improper sky diving operation radio calls. Additionally; I believe that they have access to the ASOS and manipulate the cloud cover reporting function. I believe that they have on several occasions disabled the ceiling and cloud reporting function; so that they can go ahead and jump through solid cloud ceilings. Last time I was there was a solid overcast layer at 5;000 MSL reported all over the region except for the ZZZ airport. When I arrived at the airport it was indeed overcast and they were performing sky diving operations from 14;000 MSL. This was not the first time that this has happened. I firmly believe that they are an accident waiting to happen. Their operations are primarily on the weekends and at the worst possible time due to the amount of low time inexperienced other traffic.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.