Wingsuit flying & Air traffic control

[Deniq 0]

Hi all,

could you please write here your experience concerning exit point and communication of DZs with air traffic control.

Situation in Germany: air traffic control restrict the exit point for skydivers with a cylinder with radius 2 miles and center in the landing area. For flocks it is Ok. But, if you will jump solo and fly with full performance, 2 miles is to few. You can't fly direct line (best performance with tailwind), your trajectory must be an arc because of small distance to the landing area...

[Balu 1]

Your question is very general, but I will try to give an adequate answer. If I don't answer your question please specifiy a bit closer.

I am an Air traffic controller in Germany, and within my airspace are the dropzones of Gießen, Breitscheid and Ailertchen. Our normal procedure is to separate all traffic for three minutes after termination of dropping, with a minimum of 2,5 nautical miles to the edge of the dropzone. That sums up to 4,5 nautical miles to center of the dropzone. Nevertheless most of my colleagues don't like going to the minimum and add either one or two miles extra, or just apply vertical separation 1000ft above the exit level. This is very sensible, because we do not only separate IFR traffic from the dropzone, but also from the jump plane, as long as it is in Airspace class C or D. Separation to a moving object always requires a bit more than separation to a static airspace. Even the slowest wingsuiters still do about 4000 feet per minute in descent, so you are not much slower than the descending jump plane.

In total that means that you are safe in respect of IFR traffic. Concerning VFR traffic, that is allowed not even to come close, but to cross a dropzone at any time, it is different. But that 's not ATCs business. We don't talk to VFR traffic as long as it is not in Airspace class C or D, or on a Flight Information frequency. I am not sure if it help's just making a dropzone bigger (e.g. 4 miles in diameter). I think it would prove better if the dropzones were highlighted in aeronautical charts (fat red or so) to attract more attention from the pilot.

1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

[Mazz 0]

Quote

Your question is very general, but I will try to give an adequate answer. If I don't answer your question please specifiy a bit closer.

I am an Air traffic controller in Germany, and within my airspace are the dropzones of Gießen, Breitscheid and Ailertchen. Our normal procedure is to separate all traffic for three minutes after termination of dropping, with a minimum of 2,5 nautical miles to the edge of the dropzone. That sums up to 4,5 nautical miles to center of the dropzone. Nevertheless most of my colleagues don't like going to the minimum and add either one or two miles extra, or just apply vertical separation 1000ft above the exit level. This is very sensible, because we do not only separate IFR traffic from the dropzone, but also from the jump plane, as long as it is in Airspace class C or D. Separation to a moving object always requires a bit more than separation to a static airspace. Even the slowest wingsuiters still do about 4000 feet per minute in descent, so you are not much slower than the descending jump plane.

In total that means that you are safe in respect of IFR traffic. Concerning VFR traffic, that is allowed not even to come close, but to cross a dropzone at any time, it is different. But that 's not ATCs business. We don't talk to VFR traffic as long as it is not in Airspace class C or D, or on a Flight Information frequency. I am not sure if it help's just making a dropzone bigger (e.g. 4 miles in diameter). I think it would prove better if the dropzones were highlighted in aeronautical charts (fat red or so) to attract more attention from the pilot.

Damn, Its pretty rare that you get the perfect person to give you the perfect answer.

Nice post.

In the Navy, you can't put your hands in your pockets but I was always told not to put my hands in my pockets by people with their hands in their pockets. Kinda funny huh?