Getting Up There Jump Planes Through the Years Built for a One-Way Trip The airplane was invented only eight years before someone first used it for parachuting in 1911. (The first balloon jump had been made in 1797.) Over the past century, hundreds of airplane types have been put to use for altitude. While some of those airplanes seemed tailor-made for skydiving, they weren’t; they were all built for other purposes, such as pleasure-flying, cargohauling or as commercial passenger planes, and had been appropriated and modified for jumping. It wasn’t until Pacific Aerospace Corporation unveiled the PAC 750XL in 2004 that an airplane was purpose-built just for skydiving. PHIL ZIDEK he idea for the PAC 750XL, the first airplane custom designed and built specifically for jump operations, began in early 1999. But long before this could happen, two men had to meet, share knowledge and take each other’s measure in 1987. Ray Ferrell had been a skydiver since 1976 and a jump pilot, aircraft owner and DZO since almost as early. He and a partner opened SkyDance SkyDiving in 1987 near Davis, California. Phil Esdaile, a Kiwi from New Zealand, had been the owner of Davis Air Repair, a nearby maintenance shop for aircraft large and small. In due course, Davis Air Repair began servicing Ferrell’s jump planes, and over the years, Esdaile became intimately familiar with all the common jump ships—Caravans, King Airs, Twin Otters, etc.—each with their own drawbacks when it came to skydiving op

As the two men became close, they shared a common frustration with the compromises inherent in every airplane put to skydiving use, whether due to a lack of available horsepower, complex aircraft systems or high maintenance costs of older technology (the newest Twin Otter is 25 years old; some King Airs are 40). Ferrell had more personal reasons to find a more suitable jump plane—he'd lost several friends to airplane crashes over the years. GOING SOUTH FOR IDEAS In 1999, Ferrell learned from Esdaile about an amazing singleturbine airplane called the Cresco, built by New Zealand-based Pacific...

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES DZOs love a simple, efficient, load-hauling airplane. With its fast climb and descent rates, the PAC 750XL can fly as many jumpers per hour as a Super Otter. But the beauty is it can also fly light and still pay its own way. Many DZOs reportedly fly it with only five or six skydivers while still making money. The airplane is also simple to fly, with gentle stall characteristics and no nasty surprises for an unwary pilot. Skydivers love a quick ride to altitude, but they also like to see the plane loading often, and the PAC seems to satisfy. The door is bigger than a King Air’s,...