PLT RPTS OF EXCESSIVE TFC AND FREQ CONGESTION AT A NON TWR FIELD. WHILE CARRYING SKYDIVERS THIS RPTR BECAME SANDWICHED IN-BTWN ARRIVING AND DEPARTING ACFT; AND OVERTOOK THE ACFT ON THE UPWIND. THE PLT OF THE UPWIND ACFT ACCUSED THE RPTR OF 'BUZZING' HIS ACFT.

1997-01 · NASA ASRS report 356983

Date: 1997-01 · Aircraft: Shorts SC7 Skyvan 3/3M · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|other-unspecified

Synopsis

PLT RPTS OF EXCESSIVE TFC AND FREQ CONGESTION AT A NON TWR FIELD. WHILE CARRYING SKYDIVERS THIS RPTR BECAME SANDWICHED IN-BTWN ARRIVING AND DEPARTING ACFT; AND OVERTOOK THE ACFT ON THE UPWIND. THE PLT OF THE UPWIND ACFT ACCUSED THE RPTR OF 'BUZZING' HIS ACFT.

Narrative

I AM SELF-EMPLOYED PLT UNDER CONTRACT WITH A SKYDIVING OP ON AN UNCTLED ARPT (DED) IN CENTRAL FL. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME A SIT LIKE THIS HAS OCCURRED AT THIS ARPT. DELAND ARPT IS USED BY NOT ONLY THIS VERY BUSY SKYDIVING OP; BUT USED HEAVILY BY A LCL FLT SCHOOL AND A LCL HELI OP AS WELL AS OTHER MISC GA ACFT. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR THE SKY OVER DELAND TO BE FULL OF PARACHUTES AND HAVE 6 OR 7 ACFT IN THE TFC PATTERN AT THE SAME TIME. THIS PARTICULAR SIT BEGAN AS I TAXIED MY ACFT FOR DEP ON RWY 30. I OBSERVED AS WELL AS HEARD THE RADIO CALL OF A CESSNA ON BASE LEG FOR RWY 30. AS I APCHED THE RWY; THAT TFC WAS ON SHORT FINAL. I ANNOUNCED MY INTENTIONS AND TOOK RWY 30 FOR DEP. UP TO THIS POINT; ONLY MYSELF; THE CESSNA LNDG; AND ANOTHER ACFT ON THE 45 DEG TO ENTER DOWNWIND; WERE TALKING ON UNICOM 122.8. AS I PULLED ONTO THE RWY; A 4TH ACFT ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS TURNING FINAL. (1ST RADIO CALL HEARD) THE CESSNA WAS STILL ON THE RWY; AND I ASSUMED; WOULD MAKE THE FIRST TURN OFF; BUT HE STARTED TO TAKE OFF. IT IS PUBLISHED THAT TOUCH AND GOES ARE NOT PERMITTED AT DED WITH 3 OR MORE IN THE PATTERN; SO I WAS QUITE SURPRISED TO SEE THE TOUCH AND GO. THE OTHER ACFT MADE ANOTHER FINAL APCH CALL -- ON SHORT FINAL -- WITH A TONE OF URGENCY IN HIS VOICE; SO I ACCESSED THE SIT AS TO WHETHER I COULD SAFELY MAKE MY TKOF AND DEP; AND BEGAN ROLLING DOWN THE RWY. THE TKOF WAS ACCOMPLISHED AS PLANNED. KEEPING THE DEPARTING CESSNA IN SIGHT; I OVERTOOK THAT ACFT TO THE R AND SLIGHTLY LOW. AT THIS POINT AN ARGUMENT ENSUED OVER UNICOM FREQ AS TO THE SAFETY OF MY DEP AND CLB SEGMENTS. THIS ARGUMENT ENDED WITH THE CESSNA THREATENING TO STOP BY MY OPS AND DEAL WITH THIS LATER. THE FACT THAT DED IS SO BUSY IS A FACTOR THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PROB. UNICOM FREQ 122.8 IS EXTREMELY CONGESTED. THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME ALL THAT CAN BE HEARD IS A LOUD SQUEALING OR MAYBE THE END OF A CALL. I THINK THAT AT SUCH A CONGESTED ARPT; A DIFFERENT UNICOM FREQ WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. EVEN A NEW UNICOM FREQ THAT COULD BE USED AT ALL SKYDIVING ARPTS WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT IDEA. 1) IT WOULD NOTIFY PLTS THAT IT IS AN ACTIVE PARACHUTE CTR; AND 2) THE FREQ WOULDN'T BE AS CONGESTED USING MORE DIFFERENT UNICOM FREQS. ALSO; I BELIEVE THAT A CTL TWR WOULD ELIMINATE ALMOST ALL THE PROBS ENCOUNTERED AT DED. SKYDIVING OPS; IN MY OPINION; COULD USE MORE SEPARATION FROM GA TFC. OR; EVEN IF THE GA TFC HAD MORE KNOWLEDGE OR HOW SKYDIVING OPS WORK. THE CTL TWR WOULD ELIMINATE SITS LIKE THIS ONE; AS WELL AS THE QUINCY ACCIDENT FROM OCCURRING. OUR OP DOES COMMUNICATE WITH DAB; ABOVE 4000 FT DAB DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB OF NOTIFYING US OF PATTERN TFC AND TFC THAT WOULD CONFLICT WITH THE SKYDIVING OP. HOWEVER; THAT DOES US; AS WELL AS THE GA TFC; NO GOOD WHEN BELOW 4000 FT. BASICALLY; THIS ARPT IS ONE OF THE MOST CONGESTED UNCTLED ARPTS THAT I HAVE EVER WORKED OR FLOWN IN AND OUT OF; AND AT TIMES CAN BE UNSAFE. THERE ARE JUST FAR TOO MANY ACFT DOING TOO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS AT ONE FIELD. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR BELIEVES THAT A CTAF WITHOUT INTERFERENCE FROM OTHER ARPTS ON THE SAME CTAF; WOULD BE AN IMMEDIATE IMPROVEMENT IN SAFETY. THIS RPTR BELIEVES THAT ATC IS ADEQUATE BECAUSE SHE GETS A GREAT DEAL OF SUPPORT FROM THE DAB TRACON; WHO CAN IDENT OTHER ACFT IN THE PATTERN. CURRENTLY; JUMPERS ARE DROPPED OVER THE APCH END OF RWY 30; AND ON WINDY DAYS; THEY ARE DROPPED NW OF THE RWYS. THE JUMPERS USUALLY FREE FALL ABOVE 2000 FT; AND BELOW THAT ALT; THE CHUTES ARE OPEN. THE RPTR STATES THAT THE OPEN CHUTES MAKE THE JUMPERS HIGHLY VISIBLE WHEN TFC IS IN THE PATTERN.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.