Para Dropping in NZ
 

Does anyone have any info on parachute dropping in New Zealand and what typical experience is required? Cheers.

Nz skidive in Mercer
Sounds Air in South island
Taupo
Skydive ballastic blondes Whangarei

Pay is no good for first 6-12 months

Flying in dangerous if done in piston A/C.

The best way is to grab your log book , jump in the car and go and have a look and meet them face to face after an initial phone call.

I did it part time for 6 years in Australia , if you find a good operator it can be a lot of fun.

However like most things the clubs slowly become businesses and they will push you to break the law, we have all bent the rules but be prepared to walk when it gets out of control.

By out of control I mean 'IFR' parachute drops and really dodgy maintenance. I refused to fly once when they wanted to put an old leaky lead acid car battery in the C182 , I made them wait 3 hrs while they got a proper battery , and I copped a LOT of flack for that.

The jumpers won't jump when the wind gets over 15 to 20 knots but they will push the pilot to fly in all conditions. Pilots are a consumable commodity.

I got out when they started carrying tandem skydives which were basically members of the public rather than hard core skydivers.

The last flight I did I flew into what I thought was a thin layer of 8/8ths cirrus cloud at 9,500 ft which happen to have a CB hiding inside it. At 11,000 ft it was totally black and the turbulence unreal so I told the jumpmaster I was descending and dropping them at cloud base. The jumpmaster was also a pilot and gave a thumbs up. We broke out of cloud dropped them at 9,000ft and I got balled out by the 'club manager' and partial aircraft owner but not a pilot (Turbo Porter) for not taking them to 12,000ft , I told him what happened (the Jumpmaster was present) and this guy's response was a smart ass 'what cloud ?' ... I could see he couldn't care less about my licence if anything went wrong. I stopped flying skydivers there and then , I'd had enough.

Just remember YOU are PIC so when you break the rules it's you that has to answer.

Great flying , good people but when the operators start getting unreasonable it stops being fun.

PAradropping in NZ is completely different to AUs. in AUs it is considered a Private opperation but in Nz its Commercial operation. The pay is usualy salary in NZ but first 6 - 12 months can be casual @15 - 25 $ a load. And taupo usually require you to have at least 500hrs total time and prefer local pilots or flight instructors. the biggest challange is to get your foot into the door which may require you to hangaround and help them on the ground for free. The most keen pilot will get in. Wx in nz is often windy and cloudy so you will get pressurised to fly but ur the pic and have the final say. Aircraft maintainance is usually good in Nz since its a commercial opperation except in Nzskydive Mercer.

Hi YeloSub , what do you mean by this ?

Again , as long as the owner/operator maintain the engine and the pilots make sure the engine is sufficiently cooled prior to descent and power is kept at the bottom of the green arc during descent the aircraft there's no problem with piston engine aircraft in skydiving.

I had one total engine failure in a C182 which was a combination of an el cheapo rebuild and the wrong grade engine oil.

They reused the cylinder barrels and pistons from the old engine which had 1,300hrs of skydiving ops, the same club manager I had my argument with about weather couldn't see the value of spending $25,000 (in 1990) on a new remanufactured engine compared to $13,000 on getting an engine rebuild reusing as many of the old parts as possible that met the regulations.

The previous engine lasted 1,300hrs and was strong and reliable , the el cheapo rebuild was down on power from day 1 and lasted 300hrs

After the engine blew one of the other pilots owned up and said they had filled the engine up with Castrol GTX car oil as they were away from base doing a training camp and the engine had started burning oil and they didn't bring enough of the correct oil with them. Someone suggested car oil and the pilot went along with the suggestion. The aircraft arrived back at the field the day prior to my flight , nothing was said to me or to the other pilots (we had about 6 to 8 pilots on the roster) about the high oil consumption or the wrong grade oil being used.

I landed the aircraft on the runway without damage to the airframe (in the dark as it was right on last light) after I shut the engine down at 7,000 due to fuctuating oil pressure on descent from 12,000 ft but the engine had already started to sieze, it had split a piston and the pressure from the combustion chamber pumped the remaining oil overboard , it was all over the underside of the aircraft.

Most skydiving accidents/incidents are fuel or weather related, engine failures happen but are rare.

Okavango

Go to the NZ CAA and Aust ATSB accident databases and type in skydiving , it will give you a good feel for what situations to avoid when you are dropping meat bombs.

I haven't mentioned overweight take offs which is also common.

As I said it is great fun and challenging flying but do your homework also to see where other pilots have come unstuck and had an accident.

Good luck :ok:

Some of the info on here is debatable;
A few years ago I was flying PJE in a two year old turbine a/c that was maintained to a very high standard. The pilots were treated with respect and the decision to operate or not was theirs. I was working four days a week and taking home about $1000 after tax for my efforts. I joined the company with 500hrs total time. The operation was based in Taupo.
This may not be how it is anymore but I would certainly not be put off by the negative comments here, go out and find out for yourself.
Framer

Hi Framer ,

Not negative comments , I did it for 6 years so something must have been ok but the last 6 months wasn't much fun , it really depends on who the operator is , showing both sides of the story.

Good stuff Aseanearo,
I enjoyed your post and was not suggesting your comments were negative, I was talking about some of the other posts.
Cheers, Framer

Hmmm....I can see why you got caught out if you thought there was Cirrus cloud at 9500ft!!!!!!!! That would put the airfield elevation at about FL150 or above. Perhapes your lack of meteorology skills is why you ended up at 11000ft IMC.

Just stirring the pot:}

Hi tred ,

Oops ,,, correction alto stratus :rolleyes:

If you happen to be down in Queenstown, search out the NZONE pilot S.F. Top guy and will give you all the info you need.:ok:

unless you have the EDM installed in a piston A/C there is no guaranteed way of determining weather you are exceeding CHT on climb or having a dangerously high rate of cooling on decent. Therefore only a turbine aircraft like the Porter or the 750 XL is purpose built for skydiving,both from an engine and airframe point of view, anything else is a compromise to safety.

Rubbish.
Just fly the a/c sensibly and you won't exceed any limits (airframe or engine).

So a Caravan, otter, skyvan are all comprimises huh? I would rather be in an otter anyday over an XL.

Sorry if my question is a bit off topic however does anyone know an estimate of the cost in getting a Parachute drop rating?

I know there's a ground course and a few drops till a drop master is satasfied with your skills?

5-10 hrs in a 206 in whenuapai. 5- 10 hrs in a 172 in mercer.

WTF is a "drop master"?
Don't think we had them five years ago...?? Sounds like a DJ or something...

lol i think i ment a jump master ;p

all i knew was there's a ground course and then some flying time, just didn't know how much time it took.

Parachute drop course

Rule 61.651(a)(3)

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Competency demonstration

Rule 61.651(a)(4)

authorises the holder to conduct assessment for a parachute drop rating.

5-10 hrs for a drop rating ?? Gee thats a bit excessive isnt it ?? :eek: