Jump Pilots: Check Those Jump Steps

A fatal skydiving accident last year involved a tandem pair and resulted in the death of the tandem instructor, while the tandem student landed under the reserve parachute with minor injuries. While no accident investigation report has yet been issued, it appears the chain of fatal events began with at least one of the tandem pair’s harnesses getting hung up on the Cessna 182’s right main gear leg during their exit. Operators and pilots should look closely at their jump step arrangement, and 182 jump pilots should review exit and “jumper-in-tow” procedures.

These days, nearly all jump 182s have a skydiver step installed on the right main gear leg to facilitate jumper exits. That wasn’t the case in the early days of skydiving, when many 182s were used without a jump door or step installed. (Yes, a 182 can be approved to fly with the passenger door removed.) Even so, the factory-installed footstep on the right main gear leg was recognized as a dangerous snag point and was always removed. Without a step covering the wheel, the pilot had to remember to apply brakes during climb out to stop the right wheel from spinning and becoming a treadmill for a jumper.

A 182 Factory Step

There are two main styles of 182 jump steps. One style is a simple horizontal plate bolted to the gear leg and suspended over the top of the wheel.

The other style is built with a 90-degree support that bolts onto the wheel hub as well as the gear leg. While they both make an excellent step for skydivers, the simple plate can allow loose material—a harness, jumpsuit fabric, a bridle, etc.—to slip between the wheel and the step, creating a snag. The step with the 90-degree angle closes off that gap and eliminates that particular snag potential. However, both kinds of steps can have sharp edges and other snag points, including the clamp-style arrangement that fastens the step onto the right gear leg. It appears that more than one tandem student harness “Y-strap” has snagged the front inboard corner—near the attach point to the gear leg—of both kinds of jump steps. DZOs and jump pilots are urged to look at your jump step and use an angle grinder to smooth out and round off corners and edges that can snag jumpsuits and parachute components. As always, gear checks before boarding and before exiting help, too.

All 182 jump planes should have a knife on board to cut loose any snagged material or parachute component and free a jumper-in tow. That’s a daunting task when no other skydivers are on board and the pilot must fly the plane while attempting to shed the towed jumper. If the snagged material can’t be cut, a pilot can try some “zero-G” maneuvers to float the snagged jumper and get them loose. Anything is worth a try since there are only two remaining options; both bad. The skydiver might deploy a parachute, which can involve a violent departure (very possibly with aircraft damage), or result in the aircraft and the skydivers descending under the parachute (it has happened). Or the pilot must land with the jumper-in-tow, as slowly and gently as possible on a grass runway or grass beside a runway (that has happened, too).