thing, when you start taking passengers, are they going to get a parachute as well?
I know of 2 jump pilots having to deploy their ripstop material (both were flying Cessnas). The first on was Tapuo, NZ and he was so excited that he did the full jump course and on his official jump broke both ankles.
A far cry from his emergency egress.
The second was at Pakenham, Vic, OZ. Jumpers hanging on outside and one had his throwaway come out of the leg pocket. Did fatal damage to tailplane and the pilot managed to get out and initiated opening at approximately 400'. Jump run was at 4,500' (low cloud base). He was given a First Jump Certificate by the skydiving club and immediately grounded for opening too low.
Hope they both applied to the Caterpillar Club for membership.
I flew a PA32 and before the above incident I had estimated it would take me 5,500' to get out and deploy. I was pretty much on the money as it turned out (getting out of the seat had a complication). When it came time for the pilot's rig to have it's repack, I pulled the handle so I would know what to expect (in addition to the broken legs from a 22' round).
S3, I learnt as much as I could about skydiving without actually jumping. I also learned to pack the mains and in my several hundred repacks never had a failure or a line over. We did have one FRAP when the jumper had a line over and cutaway to late. She unfortunately impacted at "line stretch". If she had ridden it down it was estimated by experienced jumpers (1,000+ jumps) a broken leg at worst or a stand-up at best (depending on the part of the rotation at ground level). Given that, I do not consider myself a whuffo; rather an enthusiest. They loved jumping, I loved flying. Funny thing was that I was unable to get life insurance as a pilot because the company considered that it was too dangerous but if I was a skydiver then that insurance was available. Go figger.
thing, with the above info about altitude and bail outs, how would you manage this with 3 passengers and a single over the wing door? The thought of flying jump ops without a rig made me uncomfortable but I had not such feelings flying the same aeroplane with the back doors on. If you feel you need the reassurance of a parachute strapped on when flying then maybe flying is not for you. It will certainally not inspire confidence in your passengers if you walk out to the plane with a funny looking backpack that they don't have. Just jump in the plane and enjoy the thrill of flying and the challenge of improving your skill level with each flight. More pilots (and skydivers) are killed driving to and from the airport or DZ than flying or jumping.