{"id":20930,"date":"2022-02-10T00:02:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T00:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=20930"},"modified":"2022-02-10T03:41:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T03:41:26","slug":"passion-and-experience-leads-skydiving-industry-veteran-to-focus-on-training-jump-pilots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/north-carolina\/passion-and-experience-leads-skydiving-industry-veteran-to-focus-on-training-jump-pilots\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Passion and Experience Leads Skydiving Industry Veteran to Focus on Training Jump Pilots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – Ed Scott stands next to a jump plane on the ramp at Cape Fear Regional Jetport in Southport, NC.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, three years after Ed Scott began\nworking for the United States Parachute Association (USPA) as the conduit\nbetween drop zone (DZ) owners and the FAA, the U.S. had one of the worst\nseasons for fatal jump plane accidents\u2014five fatal crashes that killed 26\npeople. The focus for USPA and Scott, then turned to addressing jump plane\nsafety through improved jump plane maintenance and jump pilot training.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
<\/em>Nathan Roppa, left, a 2021 Jumpers Away graduate with Ed Scott<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased to say we turned things around to\nthe point that the sport began to average just one fatal crash per year,\nearning a fatal crash rate that was better than general aviation\u2019s overall rate,\u201d\nsaid Scott. In fact, Scott shared that there have been no fatal jump plane\naccidents in the past two years\u20142020 and 2021. \u201cThrough that work it became my passion\nto help raise the level of jump pilot training, and so I started a jump pilot\nschool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jumpers Away<\/a>, opened in May of 2021, operates at the Cape Fear Regional Jetport\u2014KSUT\u2014located near Oak Island, along the Southeastern coast of North Carolina. \u201cWhat a great airport,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThe facilities and service are top-notch.\u201d There has been a drop zone\u2014Skydive Coastal Carolinas\u2014at the airport for 23 years and Scott says that all the local pilots, flight schools and air tours work hard to ensure the traffic pattern and operations are safe and seamless. \u201cAnd, being on the coast, you can\u2019t beat the view, especially from 12,000 feet,\u201d said Scott. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ed Scott with Abby McCain, a 2021 Jumpers Away graduate. <\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Scott first began skydiving with a college\nclub in his freshman year at Tennessee Tech University. He told the State\nAviation Journal that he was just going to try it once, but he enjoyed it so\nmuch that he decided to pursue it as a sport, including earning his jumpmaster\nrating. \u201cI enjoyed everything surrounding the sport,\u201d said Scott, \u201cthe\nairplanes, the pilots, and the airport.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after, Scott transferred into the\nAviation Management curriculum at Middle Tennessee State University. That\ndegree helped him get a job with AOPA two years after graduating. While working\nfor AOPA he earned his commercial certificate and began flying jumpers in a\nCessna 182 at a nearby drop zone, which really added to his flight time. \u201cI\nfound it to be challenging and fun,\u201d said Scott. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drop zones are becoming busier than ever, Together,\nsome 265 U.S. drop zones conduct over three million jumps a year, using nearly\n400 jump aircraft, from Cessna 182s up to multi-turbine airplanes. Scott noted\nthat jump pilots enjoy good pay and log lots of flight time, often quickly\nmoving up to a DZ\u2019s turbine jump plane. Being a jump pilot can be a fulfilling\ncareer, or a quick steppingstone to a flight department, charter or airline\njob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike any pilot job, awareness and preparation\nare key,\u201d said Scott, who focuses on the applicable regulations, the best\nprocedures and the many abnormal and emergency scenarios that can happen. \u201cI\nensure each pilot understands the huge responsibility for the lives and future\nof everyone on board.\u201d His mantra is that skydiving has risks but flying to\njump altitude shouldn\u2019t add to that risk. \u201cA good jump pilot has good\nstick-and-rudder skills, flies smoothly and precisely, and is ready to handle\nanything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott admitted that there have been challenges\nstarting a business during a pandemic. \u201cA number of people warned me that a\npandemic was the worst time to start a business, and they were right,\u201d said\nScott. \u201cThere have been huge challenges.\u201d But Scott says that unique times call\nfor unique approaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He feels like he can really help two groups. \u201cI\ncan help low-time commercial pilots get a paying job that will let them quickly\nbuild logged hours. And I can help drop zone owners by supplying trained and\nprepared jump pilots,\u201d said Scott. It is a high-turnover industry and DZs need\nnew jump pilots every year. Typically, the DZ owner has to train low-time\ncommercial pilots themselves, which takes time and takes the airplane away from\nskydiving use. Scott says he can provide a DZ with a trained jump pilot, ready\nto fly skydivers on Day 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jumpers Away program is approved by the\nlargest jump plane insurer, and they\u2019ve readily added his graduates, many with\nunder 300 hours, to DZ insurance policies. Jump pilots earn from $15 to $20 per\nload and a Cessna 182 jump pilot can easily fly 15 or more loads per day at a\nbusy DZ. It isn\u2019t uncommon for a jump pilot to log up to 400 or 500 hours in a\nyear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jumpers\nAway trained five pilots in 2021 who all quickly found jump pilot jobs. \u201cNow\nthat the word is getting out, more commercial pilots are making queries. So, I\u2019m\nexpecting more jump pilot candidates for 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PIA President Roberto Montanez, right, presents a PIA Distinguished Leadership Award to Ed Scott.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last\nyear Scott was presented the Parachute Industry Association’s 2020\nDistinguished Leadership Award at a joint PIA\/USPA board dinner. \u201cI was pleased\nto receive it on behalf of the USPA staff, who were instrumental in our success,\u201d\nsaid Scott.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PIA’s\nnews release said: “Ed\u2019s leadership over the years advanced the sport,\ngovernment interaction and industry relationships. While increasing the numbers\nof skydivers and drop zones he led the team that promoted safety awareness that\nsaw a decrease in fatalities and kept government intrusion in check.  In addition, Ed recognized the importance of\nthe USPA relationship with PIA and fostered that relationship.” PIA\nPresident Roberto Montanez presented the award to Scott. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nwas quite surprised and deeply honored when informed of PIA’s decision,\u201d said\nScott. \u201cIt was quite meaningful, knowing that PIA represents all facets of\nskydiving–drop zone owners, parachute and component manufacturers, and riggers\namong them. In my years at USPA, we worked very closely with PIA on issues\naffecting the sport of skydiving and I was grateful to receive their\nrecognition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – Ed Scott stands next to a jump plane on the ramp at Cape Fear Regional Jetport in Southport, NC. In 1999, three years after Ed Scott began working for the United States Parachute Association (USPA) as the conduit between drop zone (DZ) owners and the FAA, the U.S. had one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20210808_170133-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20930"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20939,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20930\/revisions\/20939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}