ATC TRACON CTLR RECOMMENDS REVIEW AND AMENDMENT OF THE LOA BTWN HIS FACILITY AND THE MAJOR SKYDIVING OPERATOR WITHIN THE FACILITY CLASS E AIRSPACE DUE TO REPEATED CLOSE INFLT ENCOUNTERS BTWN ACFT AND SKYDIVERS.

Date: 1999-11 · Aircraft: Twin Otter DHC-6 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

ATC TRACON CTLR RECOMMENDS REVIEW AND AMENDMENT OF THE LOA BTWN HIS FACILITY AND THE MAJOR SKYDIVING OPERATOR WITHIN THE FACILITY CLASS E AIRSPACE DUE TO REPEATED CLOSE INFLT ENCOUNTERS BTWN ACFT AND SKYDIVERS.

Narrative

THIS IS TO BRING ATTN TO A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SIT INVOLVING JUMP ACFT AND OTHER ACFT; INCLUDING IFR OVERFLTS; IN THE VICINITY OF THE ZPH ARPT. THIS ARPT LIES WITHIN THE LATERAL BOUNDARIES VICTOR 7; A FEDERAL AIRWAY THAT RUNS BTWN CROSS CITY (CTY) AND LAKELAND (LAL) VORS. OVERFLTS ARE ROUTED; BY LOA; VIA V7; FROM 3000 FT TO 12000 FT MSL. THE JUMP ACFT REMAIN CLR OF THE CLASS B AIRSPACE AT TPA APCH; ALSO BY LOA; AND CLB TO 13500 FT. THEN THEY GIVE APCH A 2 MIN WARNING BEFORE DROPPING THE JUMPERS. WE (TPA APCH) ISSUE ADVISORIES AND/OR SAFETY ALERTS TO THE JUMP ACFT; INCLUDING SUGGESTIONS TO 'HOLD JUMPERS UNTIL ADVISED FOR TFC.' SOMETIMES THE JUMP ACFT QUESTION OUR JUDGEMENT ON THE FREQ; OR WORSE YET; ADVISE US THEY ARE ALREADY IN THE PROCESS OF LEAVING THE ACFT. (THIS USUALLY HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH TFC THAT EITHER THE JUMP ACFT OR THE CTLR HAS MISSED A CALL). I THINK SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE TO AVERT POSSIBLE CONFLICTS; SUCH AS A NEW LOA SUCH AS: 1) APCH HAS MORE CTL OF THE JUMP ACFT; OR 2) RERTE TFC AWAY FROM THE JUMP ZONE. AGAIN; I BELIEVE THIS IS POTENTIALLY A VERY DANGEROUS SIT THAT I FEEL OBLIGED TO BRING TO SOMEONE'S ATTN.

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