Narrative:

Upon returning to lebanon-warren county airport (I68); I encountered an unannounced skydiver. I was on a three mile final to runway 19; with landing checks completed; when a single engine fixed wing announced turning final to runway 19. I noticed this airplane at my 2 o'clock position and at least three times my altitude of 1000 ft AGL. I slowed down as to allow more room for this airplane to land. The airplane touched down and no more notice was directed; by me; to the airplane. Upon descending to 300 ft AGL; I spotted a lone skydiver at my 12 o'clock high position. I immediately announced to the crew that I was doing a hard right turn to avoid a collision with this skydiver. I then completed a 360 degree turn; reestablished my approach; completed my checklist items and landed uneventfully. Prior to my landing; I established communication with the taxiing airplane and asked if he knew about the skydivers. This is when I realized this was the jump airplane. The pilot of the airplane stated I called 'jumpers away' during my descent. At no time did I hear any communication from this airplane during our flight to I68. To add further clarification to this event one must understand the geographic restraints that are in play. They are: 1. We cross two busy airports on our route to I68. One of which has heavy IFR and business aircraft traffic. 2. All three airports are on different unicom frequencies. 3. Jump airplanes are required to announce a 10 minute warning prior to jumpers away. 4. There is an established jump zone; at the airport; for skydivers to land. On an average day flight there is little; to no; opportunity to listen in on all three frequencies. This is exacerbated by other frequency and radio chatter. The skydivers are landing over our helicopter while parked on the ramp; and not using the designated jump zone. This is a continuous problem. This weekend; alone; there were close to 500 jumpers during the two day time period. Attempts to establish procedures have failed. There seems to be little regard for aviation procedures and safety at this airport. This is an accident waiting to happen; and it will happen!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter on approach to I68 has a near miss with a single engine aircraft and skydiver.

Narrative: Upon returning to Lebanon-Warren County airport (I68); I encountered an unannounced skydiver. I was on a three mile final to Runway 19; with landing checks completed; when a single engine fixed wing announced turning final to Runway 19. I noticed this airplane at my 2 o'clock position and at least three times my altitude of 1000 FT AGL. I slowed down as to allow more room for this airplane to land. The airplane touched down and no more notice was directed; by me; to the airplane. Upon descending to 300 FT AGL; I spotted a lone skydiver at my 12 o'clock high position. I immediately announced to the crew that I was doing a hard right turn to avoid a collision with this skydiver. I then completed a 360 degree turn; reestablished my approach; completed my checklist items and landed uneventfully. Prior to my landing; I established communication with the taxiing airplane and asked if he knew about the skydivers. This is when I realized this was the jump airplane. The pilot of the airplane stated I called 'jumpers away' during my descent. At no time did I hear any communication from this airplane during our flight to I68. To add further clarification to this event one must understand the geographic restraints that are in play. They are: 1. We cross two busy airports on our route to I68. One of which has heavy IFR and business aircraft traffic. 2. All three airports are on different UNICOM frequencies. 3. Jump airplanes are required to announce a 10 minute warning prior to jumpers away. 4. There is an established jump zone; at the airport; for skydivers to land. On an average day flight there is little; to no; opportunity to listen in on all three frequencies. This is exacerbated by other frequency and radio chatter. The skydivers are landing over our helicopter while parked on the ramp; and not using the designated jump zone. This is a continuous problem. This weekend; alone; there were close to 500 jumpers during the two day time period. Attempts to establish procedures have failed. There seems to be little regard for aviation procedures and safety at this airport. This is an accident waiting to happen; and it will happen!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.