Early on, DZONE Skydiving recognized the importance of highly powered, mission specific, aircraft for the skydiving industry. The founder of DZONE is not only US National Gold Medalist, but spent a decade flying jets internationally and holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating. By seeing the big picture, DZONE has increased safety, reliability and efficiency by building a fleet of IO-550 powered Jump Ships tuned exactly for skydiving.

The Cessna 182, or ‘Skylane’, is ubiquitous in skydiving. This aircraft is one of the greatest utility aircraft ever built. But that does not mean every Cessna 182 make a great jump plane; it’s just the start! DZONE implements a three-part solution to increase safety and efficiency so we can maximize fun!

The Environment

To build the best skydiving aircraft, one first must understand the environment in which we operate.

• Payload – The Cessna 182 jump ship must carry one pilot, four jumpers, and the fuel required for the flight as well as safety reserves. The Cessna 182 was first designed with a maximum gross weight allowance of 2,550 lbs including the weight of the airplane itself.
• High Altitude – Naturally aspirated engines (non-turbo) lose power as they go up in altitude simply because the air gets thinner. This includes take-off power when operating from airports well above sea level.
• Ambient Temperature – The hotter the day gets, the less dense the air is, and for the same reason above, engines produce even less power when it’s warm outside; aviators call this “density altitude”. Well, skydiving happens to be a warm weather sport!
• Stability – We open the door in-flight and need to safely exit
• 20+ Flights per Day – We can only operate during the sunlight hours and when the weather allows and still need to get as many people in the air as we can safely. We want to do this while minimizing pilot fatigue.

Solution 1: IO-550 Engines

Experienced skydivers know that “the ride to altitude” can feel like it takes forever in a old and doggy O-470 engine. We want to get off the runway, and quickly get a few thousand feet off the ground for starters. When you are wearing a parachute, having altitude grants us one more option in the case of an emergency situation. With that thought aside, more power gets us to our final altitude quicker so that we can jump, and have time to jump some more! DZONE works with Air Plains Services to retrofit it’s fleet with 300 Horsepower IO-550 engines for this. As an added bonus, the “I” in “IO” stands for injected, meaning our aircraft are all fuel injected rather than the antiquated carburetor on the original production 182; carburetors can produce ice which stalls the engine, and fuel-injection eliminates that scenario.

Solution 2: WingXSTOL Wing Extensions

Wings are what make both airplanes and birds fly; and the more wing you have means the more lifting ability you have. Our fleet is equipped with the “Anti-Gravity” WingX-STOL wing extensions from Air Research Technology Inc. Because of their effectiveness, the FAA grants the users of this modification to increase the gross weight limit of the 182 from 2,550 to 2,950 lbs! This means that instead of only three jumpers in the aircraft, it is safe to carry at least four. Plus more lift means a faster climb rate to jump altitude!

Solution 3: Speed Brakes

Once jumpers leave the aircraft, the pilot has no business loitering around the sky. We want to get down and pick up our next load of passengers on “one-way airlines”. Some operators harshly spiral their airplane to get down faster. This creates high G-forces which strain the airplane, and strain the pilot. DZONE’s fleet uses Speed Brakes from Precise Flight instead. Pilots activate the brakes which allow a rapid descent of the airplane with no spiraling, no G-forces, and stable controlled flight path minimizing pilot fatigue and allowing them to more easily visually scan the air for traffic (including us jumpers).

Book Your Skydiving Experience at DZONE®

Reading about how to skydive is one thing—experiencing the jump is another! If you’re ready to get first-hand experience with skydiving equipment and best practices, don’t wait to book your appointment! While you’re here, you can get an even better sense of how skydiving works by watching videos of experienced jumpers who were once just like you!

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