Aer Lingus in near miss with Parachutist

[trustno1]

I hear on the EI grapevine that an EI flt into LHR on Sat 23rd was involved in a near miss with a free fall parachutist near Reading. Can anyone confirm ?

[flybystring]

Possibly someone over for the interview for the Job of New CEO, decided to jump before the job was offered !!

[trustno1]

According to the grapevine the new CEO is the current Chief Financial Officer.

[gijoe]

One doing approx 250 mph in one direction, the other doing about 127 mph in another...imagine the energy there !

http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

[MarkD]

CFO is now interim CEO

http://www.flyaerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/Corporate/display_news.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1636612318.0993838575@@@@&BV_EngineID=dhallfkddhlfbedcfigcfcjg.0&NEWS_OID=536880414&P_OID= -8049&Category=0

[eyeinthesky]

Well presumably if the the EIN was in level flight the only bit which counts is the 127 mph downwards bit! Think it would give you a bit of a bruise either way.



------------------
"Take-off is optional, Landing is mandatory"

[anengineer]

Now you know I'm gonna challenge your physics on that one.. :)

[BigJETS]

Well if he opened his chute at precisely the right moment he could have settled softly on the back of the EI. If he could manuever himself over the wing area to avoid the tail, he's homefree, provided he swiftly cut the cords to his chute and held on tightly to, say a flap. Some good rubber soled shoes would be good here. The wake turbulence would tatter the chute a bit so he would want to purchase a new one after he landed. I think I saw it done in a Rambo movie or something. Anything to add to that anengineer?

[anengineer]

Hmmm.. dunno.. maybe, if he timed it right, he could've landed on the tail, hung on really tight, opened the chute, thus slowing the aircraft until it stalled, then slid off the back and safely on his way.

(well, you started it ! :) )

[turbo]

you forget one thing, anengineer, it was probably an airbus and it cannot stall! or so we are told!

[sweeper]

you really know nothing about the busses ,do you turbo...

[BigJETS]

Just another reason Boeings are better if youre ever unfortunate enough to find yourself freefalling onto a speeding civil aircraft and pressed into survival action as described above. Im sure there must be others.

[Over+Out]

The aircraft was near Weston on the Green (D129?),at least 5 miles away from it.I believe no evidence was seen on any radar reply .

[whats_it_doing_now?]

Either way, my money is on the EI flight winning this encounter. Several tonnage of M. L'airbus' finest would probably stand a better chance! It would smart a bit wouldn't it?

[BigJETS]

Dont think there would be any winners. Fortunate for everyone that they missed.

[henry crun]

I have a faint memory of reading a long time ago about a similar incident somewhere in UK.
A Dominie (the old one) was climbing out with a load of parachutists on board and the pob was suddenly increased by 1 when a stray free faller came through the roof of the cabin area. Can anyone else recall any more detail ?

[4Screwaircrew]

Henry I think that was at the airport formerly know as Halfpenny Green, large hole in top of aircraft and two broken ankles.

[moschops]

Is there an official CAA term for a parachutist-aircraft collision?

[airpoint]

Yeah i think its,
SPLAT ;)

airpoint

[theRolfe2]

This has happened twice in the US. In both cases a freefalling parachutist hit the tail breaking their ankle. None of the people on board the light aircraft involved survived.

Since the skydiver is less manouverable than the aircraft on paper they had right of way.

I myself have come within 200ft of a C172 while freefalling over Northern Caliifornia. The aircraft involved didn't hear the announcement on CTAF and crossed over the field at about 7500 just before we jumped out at 14000ft.

In theory you are supposed to spend two minutes with your head out the door 'spotting'. Thanks to the miracle of GPS what now happens is you open the lexan sliding door when the pilot lowers the flaps and leave.

I have since given up jumping and now have a PPL. I won't overfly a parachute symbol on the chart if I have a choice. The safe move is to divert your course so you are downwind of the Drop Zone. Most jump runs head upwind and start letting jumpers out as they pass over the upwind boundary of the drop zone, which is often an airfield. The jumpers will be blown downwind in freefall and while under canopy. Expect tandems from 5000ft down and other parachutes from 3000ft down.

theRolfe

[Davaar]

Just in the spirit of scientific inquiry...I suppose it would make a difference if he were frozen? I'm just thinking of that experiment (Farnborough?)with the chicken or whatever.