Skydiver's camera captures plane stall

Crazy video, as some skydivers are just getting off the aircraft, the aircraft stalls out and you can see the recovery. Some incident details at the end of the video Aircraft Stall Captured by Skydiver - YouTube

That’s not just a stall. That’s a stall, couple turns of spin, recovery, incipient spin in the other direction, and recovery. Damn.

Thought you’d enjoy (for values of enjoy) seeing that.

Apparently they pull back the left engine so the prop wash isn’t a problem for the jumpers. Was this purely a stall from low speed [or drag/weight of jumpers outside the plane] or perhaps something closer to a Vmc issue that cause the spin?

Copied from the video:

I think it’s mostly, “A long list of ways to kill yourself in a twin, done at altitude with room for recovery.”

It was, as far as I can tell, in no particular order:

  • A CG limit demonstration. Too many people, too far aft, for the control authority available.
  • Helped, unfortunately, by the reduced airflow on that side, plus the “blob of people” - the left elevator had to be very well blanked out by disrupted and slow air. The pilot mentioning hitting the elevator stop (nose down) would indicate that this was well outside design parameters…
  • A stall, putting them below Vmc, with asymmetric thrust, did the rest. That looked like a solid demonstration of a Vmc roll, transitioning into a spin.

Now, what the bleep he did on recovery, with what look like a couple more incipient spins… I’ve got some questions there.

The best coverage I saw was this: Pilot Says Too Many Jumpers Outside Led To King Air Spin - AVweb

The comments from other King Air pilots are particularly telling!

But no doubt; major pucker factor watching the video.