Originally Posted by
pistnbroke_again
If a parachutist was hit by an aircraft, whose fault would it be? Not trying to start and argument, but would it be the pilot who could have been listening to another frequency and not heard them jump or the person controlling the canopy?
This was discussed at great depth at RAPAC (Vic) and CASA stated definitively that they 'could not restrict legal use of airspace'. Not that they haven't done so before of course but the onus was put on the parachute company to advise all other aircraft, an onerous task. Since the drop is from controlled airspace and then on down into OCTA in one of the most used transit corridors in Victoria there has to be coverage on 135.7, MB Tower, EN Tower, CTA broadcast, Yarra 132.1 and hope that everyone is listening and gets one of the calls.
I opined that leaving EN before a call there and then going onto 132.1 or 135.7 after a call had been made there, would leave me oblivious to a jump happening. And I believe it unreasonable to have to avoid an area (which many MB operators now do) because of the commercial operation causing risk to others.
There are a number of pilots around who will attest to coming close to drops without having heard a 'warning' broadcast beforehand.