MAULE PLT PERFORMS EVASIVE MANEUVER WHEN SPOTTING SKYDIVER JUMPING FROM ACFT ABOVE.

Narrative

WHILE PRACTICING APCH TO LNDG STALLS W OF KOBELT (N45) IN A MAULE (HIGH WING) WE SAW A HIGH WING TWIN-ENG AIRPLANE AHEAD TO THE S; ABOUT 1 MI AND ABOUT 5000 FT ABOVE. OUR ALT WAS ABOUT 5000 FT MSL. THE PLANE WAS WBOUND; L TO R. RECOGNIZING THE PLANE AS A SKYDIVING PLATFORM; AND AWARE OF SKYDIVING ACTIVITY AT GARDNER; ABOUT 3 MI N; WE TURNED TO KEEP THE AIRPLANE IN SIGHT. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY WE SAW A SKYDIVER IN FREEFALL ABOUT 1/2 MI DISTANT. WE MADE AN IMMEDIATE 180 DEGS TO THE L; WITH FULL PWR; AND IN DSCNT; TO CLR THE AREA AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE. THE OWNER OF THE PLANE AND PNF HAD BRIEFED THE FLT WITH DUATS INCLUDING KOBELT (N45) AS A POSSIBLE DEST. HE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY BRIEFING OF PARACHUTE ACTIVITY AT KOBELT; INCLUDING NO NOTAM FOR GARDNER. THE NEW YORK APCH FREQ WAS NOT THE USUAL FREQ. IT HAD EITHER CHANGED RECENTLY OR TEMPORARILY. IN ANY CASE; WE WERE NOT MONITORING. WE WERE AWARE FROM THE DUTCHESS COUNTY (POU) ATIS THAT THE FREQ WAS DIFFERENT. EARLIER IN THE DAY THE PF; IN ANOTHER AIRPLANE; HAD RECEIVED A NEGATIVE XPONDER RPT FROM THE DUTCHESS TWR. WE HEARD ANOTHER AIRPLANE RECEIVING A SIMILAR RPT ON RETURN TO DUTCHESS. WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY SUCH RPT IN THE MAULE. THE MAULE IS EQUIPPED WITH MODE S XPONDER AND TIS ON GARMIN 530. IN HINDSIGHT; WINDS ALOFT WERE FROM THE S; AND IT IS POSSIBLE THAT: 1) WE WERE FURTHER N THAN WE THOUGHT; NEARER GARDNER; AND/OR 2) JUMPERS WERE LEAVING THE PLANE UPWIND; TO THE S OF GARDNER. ALSO; THIS IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO PRACTICE.