MORON HITS PARACHUTE with RC PLANE

[Judge]

Just exactly what we do not need right now. Appears to have happened a few days ago in Orange County, VA. Anybody in that area know anything about it??

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Looks like a fairly large plane too. Can't wait to hear what the FAA thinks about it!!

[Oilsands]

Wow, some lucky jumpers. I bet they would have liked to get thier hands on the rc pilot of that plane. Very nice landing by them. I wonder why jumpers and rc pilots/planes were in the same area?

[madmax]

Good God. That's a mess. Lucky day for everyone involved.

[BTerry]

Incredibly careless of the pilot. Lucky the plane hit the very aft end of the chute. I hate to even think of what would have occurred had the plane tangled in the lines or torn a larger hole in the chute.

I have witnessed a similar event at slope soaring sites, when the sailplanes and paragliders decide to share the same space. The last time it happened it was just a Gentle Lady that smacked the paraglider in the thigh, but he was out for blood when he landed (he was on the wrong side of the slope). At the crowded slopes in SoCal the jellyfish are required to carry whistles and blow them when traversing the sailplane area.

[Judge]

Watch carefully and it appears that the plane struck one of the people as well. This is a simply stunning display of overt stupidity that borders on the criminal.

Looking at the map of the area the skydiving outfit is located on an airport (Orange County, VA) but I could not find an RC field in the immediate vicinity. I wonder if the RC pilot was flying at the airport or perhaps nearby.

Given the current rules under review by the FAA this really is a very bad thing to have happen, especially in their backyard!!

http://www.skydiveorange.com/?gclid=...FSUMDQodfFb3FQ

[bodywerks]

Yeah that was just plain STUPID!!!!! It is probably best that we never find the guy who was flying the plane, or someone might kick that dip$h!t's ass and end up in jail themselves. I don't even want to think about what COULD have happened...

[jongurley]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BTerry
	Incredibly careless of the pilot. Lucky the plane hit the very aft end of the chute. I hate to even think of what would have occurred had the plane tangled in the lines or torn a larger hole in the chute.

With two people ,, he would have to have done one quick ass cutaway at 900 foot

[JPHen]

Wow. That is close to where I live. I've driven by the airfield many times. Local papers don't have anything yet. Can't see the video (I'm at work) but here is another incident (not the same) that occurred at that field:

Skydiver injured, pilot charged

McClatchy-Tribune Information Service

Published: June 25, 2009
Sage McGirk was one of the last skydivers out of the plane in a jump a week ago to honor a deceased friend.
He remembers his parachute opening normally as he soared toward his landing spot on an Orange County field.
His next clear memory is of waking up at the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville, heading into a second surgery for a badly broken left arm.
McGirk, 32, a resident of the city of Fairfax, spoke by phone yesterday from his parents’ home in Vienna, where he’s recovering after being released from the hospital earlier in the week.
Though he doesn’t remember much of the incident, McGirk said his fellow skydivers have told him what happened June 13.
Most of the group had landed already, after jumping to pay tribute to their late friend Chris Santiago.
McGirk and another diver were still about 20 feet off the ground when a plane attempting a low flyover tangled the canopy and lines of McGirk’s chute in its propeller.
Friends told McGirk later that he was lifted several feet before he dropped to the ground. McGirk estimated that he fell about 30 feet.
He has been told he was out cold for several minutes as rescue workers placed him in an ambulance, and that he was semiconscious and combative on the ride to the hospital.
He doesn’t remember any of that—just that he awakened in the hospital and saw his mother, Mary Kendell, there.
“Everybody was in fear,“ he said.
His left arm had an open fracture, and he had already had one surgery to clean it. He was on his way in for a second surgery to repair the bone.
McGirk, who turned 32 in the hospital last Monday, said he has metal plates holding his arm together and expects to be in a cast for about 12 weeks. He’s also wearing a neck brace for a soft-tissue injury.
He has 12 years’ skydiving experience, and he said he has never had anything go wrong before.
“It was a normal weekend thing for me,“ McGirk said.
The pilot, 54-year-old Robert Mehl of Arlington, has been charged with reckless operation of an aircraft, according to Virginia State Police.
Attempts to reach him by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful yesterday.
</SPAN>

[JPHen]

By the way, I'm not aware of any RC chartered field at that location.

Joe

[rduley]

wow....

We have a parachute club with in 3/4 of a mile from our field, sometimes the wind may shift and they have to land close. Along with the chutes, we also have hot air ballons that launch from the same place as the jumpers. We are always on the lookout for them and will land if they get too close. We have even driven the jumpers back to their airport a couple of times, they tell us that they enjoy watching us. But still that plane shouldn't have been anywhere near that chute....very careless!

[AllBread]

Where I fly, our field neighbors the field that the parachuters use a landing zone. Honestly, I can see how something like that can happen - it's really hard to keep distance perspective between the two (which is why, of course, when they're coming in I fly on the other side of the field). Honestly, I feel bad for everyone involved.

[Dan_nO]

Everyone was very lucky ! I am not making excuses for anyone as that did look really stupid, maybe it was someone who knew better and shouldnt have been where they were to begin with and thought HEY, it would be cool to do this not thinking about having an accident or, maybe it was someone who didnt know any better and was flying at a place they shouldnt have been, it was an accident regardless and could have been very bad.

I am not saying this below to upset or make anyone mad as it isnt the intent but, for all of us to really think about what could happen at any given moment if there was an equipment failure and a plane was then beyond a pilots control, we never seem to think at the time when it seems so cool about all of the "what ifs", not untill its to late.

I would assume that there are a lot of people here that have seen videos posted that we have watched of people flying in parking lots at a shopping mall, riding in vehicles either following or flying behind the vehicle while driving down the road while passing other vehicles on the road, hovering 40% planes touching and hanging onto them while someone is underneath them, yea it looks cool and we think its neat at the time but,what if there was an accident and someone possibly got hurt doing the things listed above, how would that then be looked at and thought about ?

[jamesrxx951]

just throwing this out there but maybe it was a camera plane taking video's. i just can amagine that someone would be that stupid to fly that close to a parachuter. almost looked like he was aiming towards them.

[Judge]

	Quote: Originally Posted by AllBread
	Where I fly, our field neighbors the field that the parachuters use a landing zone. Honestly, I can see how something like that can happen - it's really hard to keep distance perspective between the two (which is why, of course, when they're coming in I fly on the other side of the field). Honestly, I feel bad for everyone involved.

Basically I feel that if you are that close then you should not be in the air when jumpers are. My field is in a large canyon area (nearly a mile wide) that is used for helicopter training at times. Our rule is that whenever a heli is in the canyon or could possibly come into our area from over a hill top, that we do not fly. Period. Sucks at times, but all it will take is one incident and we are done at that field.

One of the things the FAA is looking at with the new UAS regs is how to define model airplanes to minimize to eliminate the possibility of a conflict with full scale operations.

An incident like this will fuel the fires for those within the FAA that want to place extreme restrictions on us.

[Dan_nO]

	Quote: Originally Posted by jamesrxx951
	just throwing this out there but maybe it was a camera plane taking video's. i just can amagine that someone would be that stupid to fly that close to a parachuter. almost looked like he was aiming towards them.

Watched the vid several times and it didnt appear that the skydiver was upset after he landed so who knows.