In article 97fa8971-07c4-4fc9-8394-926cc5f518a3
@g17g2000prg.googlegroups.com, says...
On Oct 21, 7:00*am, Mark Borgerson wrote:
In article 9870b6e3-029a-4701-9405-6919ed5d2cd0
@s1g2000prg.googlegroups.com, says...



On Oct 20, 9:59*pm, Mark Borgerson wrote:
In article ,
says...

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:59:09 -0700 (PDT), Jack Linthicum
wrote:

On Oct 20, 4:50*pm, Peter Skelton wrote:
On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:42:34 -0700 (PDT), BlackBeard

wrote:

Thanks Jack and Dumpst. *That link worked. *I don't believe it can
carry 12 passengers with all that equipment onboard. *I worked on
several projects where we loaded EO/IR sensors, trackers, and
targeting equipment onboard similar platforms we were using as test
beds. *Not much room left after all that gets shoehorned in..
re. OV-10. *I have a friend that was a USN test jumper who jumped
several times from the Bronco. *He claims they'd sit on the deck, nuts-
to-butts facing aft. *The Bronco would go into a steep climb and
they'd all slide out the back. *Crazy...

If the maximum payload load is 3500 lb as Cessna says, 12 kitted
soldiers are not going to fit.

Peter Skelton

specs for the Grand Caravan Super Cargomaster, listed at 14 passengers
plus two crew. Something like 3700-3800 pounds of cargo/people

Weights:
Empty Weight
1,746kg
Maximum Take-Off Weight
3,629kg
Maximum Load
1,900kg
Fuel Capacity
1,267l
Ramp Weight (Grand Caravan, Super Cargomaster)
3,985kg

http://www.aerospace-technology.com/...van/specs.html
http://www.aerospace-technology.com/...van/specs.html

Interesting. The Cessna website gives the maximum useful load
number I gave above. The Brochure downloadable from the site
gives 1862 kg. It also shows that, for a range of 100 nm, the
maximum payload, exclusive of 170 lb pilot and 45 min fuel
reserve is 1588 kg. to get 300 nm it's down to 1361 kg.

http://www.cessna.com/MungoBlobs/746...n_Brochure.pdf

12 kitted soldiers is too much weight.

The MC-5 and MP-360 canopies used by the Marine Corps
Force Recon troops can easily handle 400 pounds. *They
have been tested at weights up to 700 pounds. *I don't
think they regularly jump anywhere near that weight, but
400 pounds divided between the Marine and his separately-
suspended duffel is probably not uncommon.

http://atairaerospace.com/onyx/ul/

(been there, wrote the software, but DIDN'T jump out
of the airplane----I'm a 62-year old ex-squid, after
all!)

Mark Borgerson

Test jump site looks like Marana...

The test site with visible cactus, *known as "Area 52", *is about 15
miles East of Eloy, Arizona. * The dry lake bed is Red Lake, about
30 miles North of Kingman, Arizona.

Mark Borgerson

Thanks, I knew it had to be Az. but it didn't look like Yuma which was
my first thought. I didn't know about Area 52. Who runs it?

Area 52 is the local name for a few square miles of leased grazing
land East of Eloy. The owner of Skydive Arizona has negotiated
limited testing rights there. We do a lot of testing with them
because they have Short Skyvans----which have back ramps and can
handle up to about 4000 pounds per flight.


http://skydiveaz.com/_facilities_dat..._aircraft.html


Skydive Arizona does a lot of military training, particularly now
that they have a vertical wind tunnel. Walking into the bar
there can be quite an experience---you can run into long-haired semi-
hippie free-fall junkies exchanging stories with German special
forces soldiers. One time we arrived for a drop at dawn---when it's
only 70 degrees---and saw a blond guy in tight shorts with an all-over
tan jogging down the road dragging a tire behind.
The van driver turned to me and said "It looks like the Germans
are here."

I can see the attraction for the military---you can probably get
10 troops and gear to 12,000 feet for under $500. You can't
get a C-130 off the taxiway at Yuma for that. Skydive Arizona
also has spare aircraft. I've had whole days of drops canceled
at YPG when the Air Farce broke their airplane. Granted, when
things work out, the AF will take you to 17,500 feet, while
Skydive tops out at about 12K.


Mark Borgerson