Editorial: Tighten skydiving operation rules

In the past decade, according to the U.S. Parachute Association, the estimated annual count of skydive jumps nationwide has ticked up and down, but has not dipped below the 3-million mark. Rated as an appealing drop zone is the North Shore’s Dillingham Airfield, which sees a steady flow of skydivers seeking a high-altitude panoramic plunge.

Here and elsewhere, many of these thrill-seekers — especially first-time skydivers — set their focus on managing proper parachute deployment and handling of landing gear. Less thought is given to matters such as aircraft condition or pilot training, as it’s often assumed that tough regulations are in place to minimize risk.

Not so, it turns out.

Disagreeing on whether they’re tough enough is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates air travel, and the independent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which conducts accident investigations and advocates for safety improvements.

Generally, commercial jets cruising at altitudes of 35,000 feet — 7 miles up in the air — are subject to more demanding requirements than smaller aircraft, such as tour and skydiving planes, which often fly at altitudes in the 10,000- to 12,000-feet range. In that grouping, skydiving planes rank among the most-loosely regulated.

The NTSB persuasively argues for moving to across-the-board operation standards for smaller aircraft. In a 2008 report, the agency detailed apparent widespread problems with parachute jump operations, after investigating 32 plane-related accidents that killed 172 parachuters and pilots between 1980 and 2008.

Dozens more fatalities have occurred since — among the latest being the tragic June 21 crash at Dillingham Airfield that killed all 11 aboard.

In response to the report, the FAA, in tandem with the Parachute Association, implemented several recommendations, such as requiring safety inspectors to conduct increased surveillance of parachute operations. However, the FAA has not moved forward on some key concerns about aircraft maintenance and pilot training and testing.

Hawaii Congressman Ed Case is on the right track in his ongoing effort to draft legislation that toughens regulations for all small carriers. In addition to the recent crash at Dillingham, his move has been spurred by a deadly April tour helicopter crash in Kailua and complaints about increased tour traffic over last summer’s Kilauea Volcano eruption.

In light of the Dillingham accident, it’s apparent that more vigilance is needed at the state level, too. At the time of the crash, the company involved had maintained a permit to conduct parachute rigging at the state airfield, but not skydiving operations.

This, of course, prompts alarming questions regarding how: the state Department of Transportation did not have a permit on file for the company, or an aircraft registration for its Beechcraft 65-A90, yet the plane was allowed to leave the ground.

In mid-April, DOT sent the company a cease-and-desist letter — issued in part because its skydiving operation, Oahu Parachute Center LCC, was not a registered tenant of the airfield. Such a letter should prompt swift state follow-up, in tandem with airfield management, to ensure compliance with crucial requirements.

In the aftermath of the crash in Mokuleia — the nation’s worst civilian air crash since 2011 — it’s clear that tighter coordination is in order for protocols guiding the issuing and enforcing of compliance with skydiving-related permits.

Case and others have pointed out that due to the current level of regulations, some shoestring operations have cut corners from a business regulatory standpoint as well as with safety. For safety’s sake, skydiving operations should be held to tougher standards — at state and federal levels.