"John Galban" wrote in message
ups.com...

Jay Beckman wrote:

There's a "little bit of skydiving" gg going on out in here in the
desert
between Phoenix and Tucson but I don't think I've ever heard jump ops
talking on their airport's CTAF at the actual time of jumpers away.
They're
either talking to Albuqurque Center or Tucson Approach.

Hey Jay,

If you're referring to Eloy, I'm in that area quite often and they
usually do both. They talk to ALB center on one radio and make
periodic anouncements on the CTAF 122.8. After a close call a decade
ago (when they first moved the dropzone from Coolidge to Eloy), I
always monitor the CTAF AND avoid overflying the airport. CTAF
announcement are usually 3 min. to drop, 1 min. to drop and jumpers
away.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)


Hey! Hi John...

Yup, Eloy is the particular place I had in mind.

I may be guilty of over-avoidence but I will go out of my way to give E60 a
wide berth. If I'm headed to Tucson, I'll go straight south out of Stellar
over Phoenix Regional and then bend southeast for the really extended
straight in to 11L gg (I try to not go buzzing right through the practice
holds at TFD either.)

Usually I'm either already with ZAB or TUS Approach ... I'll make a mental
note to monitor 122.8 on Comm 2 after I get the ATIS at TUS next time I go
down that way.

So far, I've only seen jumpers under canopy once and it was on my first dual
XC as a student pilot ... a little un-nerving at first but it was a very
high overcast so they were easy to see and avoid.

Jay B