Plane collides with parachuter

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Why were you taking off when people were jumping? Didnt the pilot make the call "jumpers away!" ??

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I was already in the pattern doing touch and go's, never heard a "jumpers away" and they are always doing jumps at that airport and I know where the landing zone is, which is oposite of the right traffic pattern, that's why I was looking out for jumpers, saw them, took action by turning early just to be safe.
 
To me, I'd rather be at another airport if jumpers are landing all over the place....But hey, nothing happened, so good job.
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I guess I don't know enough about skydiving to understand this.

How did the plane thet he jumped from hit him. If they jumped at 13,000 feet, wouldn't the airplane have to turn around and descend all while this guy is free falling? What altitude do they open their chutes? Is that what happened here? Was his chute open and the plane just didn't see him?

Very sad!
 
Deland is a very busy airport for skydiving ops. The Twin Otter can descend at 6000 FPM and beat the jumpers to the ground. By the time many of the jumpers from the last jump are touching down the T'wotter pilots will be packing in a full load on the ramp.
 
Depends on what they're doing in freefall and under canopy. Speeds vary. Normally about 45-55 seconds of freefall exiting at 13,500 (typical at DeLand). People deploy between 2500' AGL and 5500' AGL, depending on experience, and...well...balls and stupidity. Under canopy can be a couple minutes, or a hella lot less if you're doing riser dives and hook turns. I jumped a lot at DeLand, and was often landing around the same time as the Twotter if I deployed around 3500'. Normally the only people the Twotter seriously beats down are the tandems and students. They exit last, fall slow, open high, and have big canopies that take awhile to get down. There's no way the plane is going to beat a freeflier down who's jumping on a small canopy and throws low. Anyways, my point is, whether the plane beats the jumpers down depends on a lot of factors, but it certainly isn't uncommon.
 
I remember seeing a video taken of a skydiver and his airplane. The pilot had put the plane into a graceful spin and was keeping pace with the skydiver until the guy pulled his shoot. I was really cool to see but the pilot was also a very experienced jumper. He also was in a STOL plane that I can't remember the name of at the moment, so it is quite possible.
 
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