A skydiving pilot: Landing empty
- Kassia Skorzewska
- Apr 23, 2023
- 4 min read
The majority of pilots take off with a plane full of people and land with that plane full of people, but skydiving pilots land an empty plane.
Samuel Miville is a skydiving pilot who works out of Parachutisme Adrénaline in Saint-Jérôme.
On a nice weekend summer day, Miville can sometimes be seen making 20 loads into the sky. For a few days this past summer, he did 17 and 18 loads a day.
“This summer, I did 450 hours of flight. So, in six months, that’s a lot of flying time. So, I’m always in the sky,” said Miville.
The Saint-Jérôme location of Parachutisme Adrénaline is in close proximity to the Montreal Terminal, and due to that, Miville needs to get clearance from the control tower whenever he is taking a load up.
“I have a restricted zone, there’s an area just for us, just for Parachutisme Adrénaline, we have a zone that I can climb anywhere in that zone,” said Miville.
Getting ready to take off with a plane full of skydivers is meticulous. Miville needs to go over the manifest, which is a list about the plane and its passengers. It tells him the names of everyone on the load, the total weight of everybody, the total weight of the plane, and the total weight of its fuel.
“You have to look at the manifest and make sure that everything is okay. And then everyone boards the plane, and you have to count the people. If there’s an extra person, you risk exceeding the maximum takeoff weight,” said Miville.
In a skydiving plane, there is a green light and a red light. If the red light is on, it means the jumpers can open the door of the plane and start getting ready, and when the green light gets turned on, it means the jumpers are over the area where they can jump out of the plane.
“I determine that in the morning from the wind at the altitude. The force and the direction of the wind will tell me where I need to turn the green light on in the sky so the wind drifts you to the right place,” said Miville.
When the plane goes along the jump run, there is a four-minute window for the skydivers to jump out of the plane.
“I have to keep a speed of 80 knots. With the airplane, the position of the nose, it’s going to have an effect on your speed, so, if the nose goes down, you’re going to accelerate, and if the nose goes up, you’re going to decelerate,” said Miville.
“So, I have to play with the nose to keep the airspeed steady, but the thing is, people are running and jumping out of the plane so it’s always moving, so I have to control the plane to keep it steady at the right speed,” he added.
The speed has to be 80 knots because it’s slow enough so the skydivers don’t get blasted out the door when they jump, and fast enough so Miville doesn’t risk stalling the plane.
“I flash the lights, and everyone starts to get ready because they know they’ll jump in three minutes. And two minutes before the jump, I advise the control tower, so they check on the radar, and if there’s nothing in the zone, I can turn the green light on so people can jump safely. And then one minute before, I tell the girls with walkie talkies on the ground so they can count the number of parachutes compared to people on the manifest,” said Miville.
Once all the skydivers have jumped out of the plane, Miville then puts the plane into a dive in order to get back down to the ground faster than he went up. Sometimes, some jump pilots beat the skydivers back to the ground.
“It’s not just because we want to have a thrill. In the big Caravan, starting the engine is $150 in costs of fuel and maintenance, and after that, once the engine is running, it’s about $10 a minute. So every time the engine starts, the company is paying $10 a minute, so when you go up and everyone jumps out, you have to get down as soon as possible, so the company expenses are reduced,” said Miville.
Miville has been working at Parachutisme Adrénaline since 2019 and in his first year at the drop zone, he flew the Cessna 206, which is a 6-seater plane. The following season, Miville started flying the Cessna Caravan, which can hold 19 people on board.
Miville has gone skydiving four times, and before he went, he didn’t think he’d ever go, but now, he loves the environment at the drop zone.
“At first, it never crossed my mind, because it’s a crazy sport. But I’ve worked with these guys for three years and they make you fall in love with the sport,” said Miville.
Once, Miville flew a 96-year-old man going on his first tandem skydive.
“He was always afraid to do it, and he came one day, and was like, ‘you know what, I’m 96, my life was great’. He jumped, and the expression on his face when he landed was like, I should have done that earlier,” said Miville.
Through it all, Miville loves the peacefulness of flying alone in the plane once everyone has jumped.
“I never get tired of the view. The sky is always changing colours, and forms, and clouds, so it’s just the best view and during the sunset load, I’m all alone in the sky, and I’m like, my job is pretty amazing,” said Miville.
“You get the chance to observe the world like few people can. It’s really peaceful when you’re in the air, you have the best view, you get to travel, you get to see things that people don’t really see,” he added.
During the winter, when the drop zone is closed, Miville works for Propair, a company in Northern Quebec.
“We go really up north in Quebec and we see the northern lights, and polar bears, and it’s really, really nice,” said Miville.
As part of Propair, Miville flies three types of cargo.
“We bring food to people who live up north. We fly people, a lot of miners, and sometimes we fly judges and lawyers to northern communities. And we also medevac. So, we’re basically like an air ambulance,” said Miville.
With Propair, Miville flies a 10-seater Beechcraft King Air.
Looking forward to the future, Miville’s goal is to fly for an airline.
“I think my main goal is to go to Air Canada to fly bigger planes and travel the world. Because what I love about aviation is travelling.”
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