It’s interesting that most descriptions here seem to imply that people literally jumped out the plane door. That’s not how we did it. For beginners, anyway, the procedure was to climb out the plane door onto the landing wheel – which on a Cessna 172 was right by the doorway – holding on to the wing. (I heard that it could get interesting if the pilot forgot to engage the brakes, though I never saw that happen.) So there you’d be, standing outside a plane holding the wing as it was flying at 3000 ft – a bit of an interesting experience all by itself! I think the idea was that when you let go and went into free fall, you’d do so from a stable starting position. When the plane reached a designated point, the jumpmaster would give you the “go!” signal, and all you’d have to do is just let go, and the fierce air blast took care of the rest!
As I mentioned, I did once witness someone change his mind and refuse to climb out, but no one ever climbed out and then tried to come back in again. In any case, there was no possibility of “pushing someone out the door” because the process involved a fair amount of careful maneuvering to get yourself out there on the wheel.
It depends on what kind of airplane you’re jumping from. A 172 doesn’t have a lot of room and what you’re describing sounds like a static-line jump. MeanJoe said that his girlfriend was 2 or 3 jumpers behind him. His description sounds like a tandem jump so that would be 4 or 6 more people. He was probably jumping from a larger plane (I’m guessing a Twin Otter; a 172 won’t hold that many) with a large cargo door- large enough for two people to jump through.
Regarding the negligence/assault issue: negligence was only brought up when MeanJoe described his experience and mentioned the waiver he signed. Xema pointed out that a signed waiver will not cover gross negligence. Nor will it cover willful criminal acts such as assault & battery, as Northern Piper said.
But most skydiving incidents (they don’t all end in a fatality) aren’t the result of negligence or willful criminal acts. Skydiving is a risky endeavor- you can do everything right and still die. Waivers have shown that participants accept the risk and, barring negligence or willful criminal acts, are willing to accept the results.
You’re describing a static line exit, you wouldn’t tandem from 3K’ unless the plane were on fire or something. It was at that point, hanging from the wing strut, feet dangling in the air, thinking ‘ya know, I don’t think I can get back in the plane from here,’ that I really knew I was going to go. Good times.
Correct, those were static line jumps. The big boys who jumped competitively, and linked up in free fall and flew in formation and other nifty things went up much higher. The 3000 ft was a good compromise between high enough for a margin of safety but low enough that the newbies wouldn’t drift too far afield and end up in some other county, and could see the directions on the ground that helped them steer. With a static line of course the chute opened within seconds. Although on one occasion I had an unexpectedly long free fall when the pilot chute was fluttering around behind my back during a few moments of unusually stable airflow, and it was the only jump during which I distinctly remember actually doing the countdown to emergency reserve pull. The site didn’t use altitude sensors for that and I’m not sure if they were commonplace or even available then.
Reminds me of a joke I heard from I think Ron White.
Army Ranger in jump training was hesitating at the last minute in the door of the aircraft. Jumpmaster said to him, “you have 2 choices private, jump or I’m going to violate your back side in a very beastly manner.”
At leas the bungee jump I went to, made it very clear that once your went past the gate separating the jumping area from the rest of the line, they only way was down.
In any case, there was no possibility of “pushing someone out the door” because the process involved a fair amount of careful maneuvering to get yourself out there on the wheel.