NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Pilot reported a NMAC with a parachutist. The pilot states the controller was unaware there was a high altitude jumper released. The pilot was informed by the controller this was a failure on the part of the jump master.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
In the vicinity of Location A at approximately 5,500 ft. I leveled the nose off to cool the engine en-route to 9,500 ft. to my right and very close was a parachute in the descent. I would estimate 50-100 ft. off my wing. It was a square parachute in rainbow colors. I let the controller (ZZZ.TRACON) know what had happened. He was surprised because the jump master had released all jumpers much earlier and there were not supposed to be any jumpers in the air. After checking with the jump master the controller determined that they had released one high altitude jumper which they referred to as a canopy jumper without letting the controller know. This carelessness by the parachute company put both my life and the jumpers life in great danger. It was not the controller's fault as he was not given current up to date information.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Conflict
- Inflight Event / Encounter
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Environment - Non Weather Related · Human Factors
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.