The Pitts Incident

So you think you’ve heard the story or at least heard about the story.  Well here are the pictures and the following is the description from the pilot flying when this happened.  First I want to thank Bob Rader of DZ Memories (www.dzmemories.com) for the pictures. Quite honestly if it weren’t for his photo work, this story wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic.  His photos were taken from almost ½ mile away and the detail is extraordinary.  I also want to thank Dean Baxter for his training.  I have been flying for my local dropzone in Taylorville , IL (MidAmerica Sport Parachute Club www.skydivetaylorville.org) for several years.  Pilot Dean Baxter who many of you know as the airboss at the World Freefall Convention taught me to fly skydivers and how to do it safely.  On numerous occasions we reviewed emergency procedures and maintaining vigilance for open containers and other issues in flight. Although both of us are extremely experienced pilots, Dean’s constant attention to detail and reminders of possible things that could happen instilled in me an attitude of never becoming complacent.  I will always believe his training is what made this a non-event.  My only comment on this incident regarding what happened is to remind smaller aircraft jump pilots (C172’s and C206’s) to always prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

 
In 2005 I was invited to Houston , TX (Skydive Spaceland www.skydivespaceland.com) for the annual Skyfest boogie (www.skyfestboogie.com).  On the first day of the boogie we got started with flying jumpers.  The first jump of the day was normal as usual.  The day was the usual south TX weather (105 in the shade and humid as hell).  We were setting up the second jump of the day and had put the jumper in the front spot of the airplane.  As I recall, we had some minor difficulty putting him in the airplane but nothing that seemed out of sort.  We took off to the southeast and climbed to our normal altitude for the jump.  The normal jump run was to the north about ¼ mile east of the dropzone to make sure we didn’t interfere with the other jump aircraft.  As we were lining up for the run, I gave the signal for the jumper to unbuckle his seatbelt and begin getting up and prepare for the roll.
 
As the jumper began to stand up, I observed the side flaps of his container appear to be loose.  The more he stood and the more his container came into view, I realized his container had opened in the airplane.  I knew once the freebag came above the ledge it would drop out and cause all sorts of problems.  As he continued to stand, I reached around the windshield and put my left hand infront of it to catch the freebag (and subsequently the main) and prevent it from going aft.  As the freebag came out I grabbed it and was able to pin it down against the windshield and the aircraft exterior.  While this was going on, the bridle spilled out of the container and began flapping in the breeze. (See picture one).  Unfortunately the jumper had no idea anything was going on and I was unsure how to signal him to get him back into the aircraft.  With my left knee, I was able to bump the trim lever to trim the aircraft to maintain level flight.  I then used the same knee to hold the airplane fairly stable.  With my left hand still holding the freebag, I let go of the control stick and reached through to the front seat with my right hand and tried to pull at his pant leg to get him to come back in the airplane.  The jumper still did realize there was a problem but attempted to sit back down.  The freebag however was hung on the ledge and would not allow him to re-enter the airplane.
 
I decided I needed to get rid of “the problem” and re-grabbed the flight control stick and rolled the airplane to the left.  As I did, I threw the freebag over my head and aft and hoped it would clear the tail.  A tap of the left rudder pedal reassured me the tail would stay clear.  As the airplane rolled, the jumper (still not aware of the problem) flipped inverted and was now hanging from the t-bar mounted on the top (now bottom) of the airplane with the freebag and now a horseshoe flapping behind him (see picture two).
 
As the jumper got near full extension below the airplane, the flapping and drag of the bridle in the wind pulled the pilot chute out and deployed the main, ripping the jumper off the t-bar (See picture three). 
 
The chute inflated nearly instantaneously but almost normal with a ¼ line twist which righted itself immediately (see picture four).  The jumper continued as normal and flew a normal landing at the dropzone.  I flew a normal approach and landing at the field.   Once on the ground, we got together and I explained to the jumper what had happened and we were pretty much uninterested although laughing about the whole thing as an odd jump until another jumper came over and told us about the “pictures” Bob had taken from the ground.