Stall+Yaw=SPIN! King Air Skydive Incident 

Note: due to Copyright by "Viral Hog" of original source video I'm unable to monetize this video. YT will kick me off the platform after 3 copyright strikes, I currently now have 2 (in 90 days) This is too important not to pass on...support Patreon.

I am most impressed with the cameraman's solid filming of the event.

The last exiting skydiver was probably thinking it's safer outside than inside!

The female jumper who came out last commented on the original source video. She said she didn't bail but had nothing to hold on to. Was thrown around and ended up on the floor by the door and when she tried to get up, she was thrown out. Bruised but OK and jumped the next day!

This happened to me on a jump load in FL in the 90s. I was last out of a Queen Air, in a 2 way, after a 5-6 way before us. One minute I was in the doorway, the next I did a face plant on the floor and couldn't get out of the damn a/c. I recognized the stall/spin as it was happening but just couldn't get out of the door (above me then below me than above me...) . Thankfully the pilot recovered and we went back up to altitude. I asked later "WTF?" and he said "traffic". Checked that one off my bucket list. Only 8 lives to go.

Shout out to the videographer, he kept focus on the subject quite well. Experienced

I know this is an old video, but I just saw it and it brought back memories of being in a C90 that stalled on approach at 2500’ AGL in IMC. We were a medivac coming back to our home field after a transport. ATC had kept us high due to being between two larger airports, and the PIC was angry with ATC because of this. He had the gear down, full flaps, and throttles at idle to slow down and attempt to lose altitude in order intercept the localizer. Problem is that when he did pickup the localizer he pulled back, lifting the nose and the IAS dropped to 70kt. Things got quiet, stall horn was screaming and the wings buffeted. Now we had issues with this pilot in the past, so luckily on this flight there was an observer pilot in the right seat who took the controls, nosed over hard, and firewalled the throttles. The recovery was quick, and we went missed, but landed safely on the next approach. The worst part is the PIC would not admit that he stalled the AC. He was terminated on the spot.

I am glad nobody died. But it is one of your funniest videos. You always say the ingredients for a spin, which is stall and yaw. I appreciate that you keep saying it. You want to save lives.

Juan, when you said "meat missles" I just about fell out of my chair laughing! I had never heard that term before. You are awesome.

I love how casually he described everything. "Nose up and here wo go. Stall. Spin. recover. Stall. Quarter turn, recover. Spit another one out..." lol

When I was working toward my ATP, I flew King Airs and Caravans for a skydiving school/club. Jumpers perpetually complained to the boss because we would not pull the left engine on the King Air to idle for exactly the reasons Juan discusses here. Lots of pilots love the KA but even it's most ardent admirers do NOT want to get it into a spin. Fortunately, the old man backed us up. After my time, he dumped the King Airs in favor of Caravans and a Kodiak. Not as fast but a whole lot more forgiving. They also give you a great way to get the floaters to stop hanging on the rail. It is usual to put your foot on the left wheel brake. This lets the forward jumper put their foot on it for stability. Those folks start dawdling around out there? Just release the brake. Bye bye.

"RECOVER!" lol...as a retired AF pilot (B-1 and B-52), I loved (or had an LSD flashback!) hearing your tone during the 'recover' commands at the beginning of the video. I understand you were a T-38 FAIP or instructor, and anyone who went through UPT can distinctly remember the 'recover' commands from the IP! Thanks for your great videos.

Juan, Keep teaching spin recovery. Saving lives !

My complements to the skydiver with the camera. He quickly realized that his attention needed to be on the aircraft not the other divers.

Excellent job by camera man!

The last jumper out was Jana Neimoller. She said she was was initially thrown around the aircraft with nothing to hold on to, and ended up flat on the floor near the door. Then was thrown out involuntarily.

Juan, I have been a non-pilot aviation enthusiast for three decades now, Military and civilian aviation. Your videos are credible and entertaining, the concern you show for everyone in the sky, and the science you include has improved my aviation education immensely! You can’t really measure what never happens, but undoubtedly your work has and will make aviation safer for all. Thank you for that.

Wow... just Wow! Hell of a report Juan! Those photos from the past at the end were a real treat! Keep it up bro!

Juan as a skydiver and a single engine prop pilot I can't thank you enough for the analysis. I'd imagine all the drag on the port side engine, while decreasing thrust on that engine would be a set up for disaster. While the pilot may have wanted to avoid the prop wash on the skydivers sitting outside the airframe, increasing the chances of a premature deployment and getting wrapped in the empennage (which would take everyone down) and I don't fly twins. Feels like a recipe for disaster if not performed correctly, the pitch up was an issue given asymmetric trust, I'm not an expert at Twins in any way and never trained in them. Your analysis is pretty spot on, I've been enjoying your channel for a while and appreciate this breakdown. I learn so much on your channel, I hope you keep it up and also break down these situations as well. Much appreciation for you.

Flying jumpers in a Twin Otter, yes, we would reduce power on the left engine to reduce prop blast, and use rudder to compensate. I wouldn’t go to idle, just reduce it some.. you don’t want the left prop be be a disk, you still want some air flowing through to help the jumpers “fly” their exit. Pretty normal. The jumpers also need to be aware about causing an AFT CG that could cause controllability problems. The Otter happens to be a more forgiving plane than the Kingair though. There was a similar incident in the PNW where one half of the Horizontal Stab came off in recovery. That plane got fixed, and eventually went to to get destroyed in the Hawaii accident.

I imagine the five (then four) skydivers left inside the aircraft during the spin(s) would've been flopping around the cabin. Lucky that at some point they didn't all crash into the cockpit! Great report Juan! Loved the the T stuffer at the end!

I agree. That procedure is insane. Don't fly with a coffee cup here.

Thanks Juan for taking the time to educate us non-jumper pilots about a very basic yet important topic here: basic airmanship! FLY THE AIRPLANE! I don't care if you have 100 or 30,000 hours, basic aerodynamics prevail over us all!

Awesome report Juan. He’s like a twin engine washing machine. Stall, spin-recover-rinse shorts-repeat.

This really illustrates the loss of altitude during a stall spin. That plane outran the skydivers like they were the ones with wings.

Hey Juan, king air 200 and 90 guy here. I’m kinda blown away by the way they have this procedure written. I think what I have to say about this incident is that people are reading “course pitch” what you should read is FEATHER. The reason it took one engine to “spool up” is cause the left engine with prop feathered needs more time for the prop to come OUT OF FEATHER and go into positive pitch. It takes time. Anybody that knows the king air or indeed the pt6 will tell you that it takes time to bring that prop from feather to full fine and ready to pull. And that would be reflected in the differential thrust described in the written article. BE90 speeds that are relevant VF 174 VFE130 VMC93 Something like that The 200 is better in every way. And the 300 is probably better than that and so on. Coming from a northern gravel king air guy.

With 20+ years in the sport I've always had the highest respect for our pilots. They operate under difficult and demanding conditions. Serving drop zones the world over every weekend without incident. It's a bit of a shame that the only time they hit the headlines it's usually negative press. More power to them I say, and blue skies! We are all learning every day :-) Thanks Juan, as always, brilliant content!

I am a skydiver. Many years ago I jumped out of a stalled King Air at a private dropzone near Wildwood, FL. The takeoff on that flight was also extremely dicey because the King Air barely missed the treetops on the west end of the runway. In skydiving circles, King Air has a notorious reputation for stalls on jump run.

"Recover...Recover" Yeah, recover the pilot's seat.

“Bring me a bucket of prop wash.” I’ve been around pilots of all stripes (some with stars) plus I have my PPC and I’ve never heard that one before. You’re a true gem, Juan.

Thank You Juan!!! You are... THE BEST, at breaking it down!!! YT's policies... SUCK!!!

Juan, in about 1986 I had a coworker who was a former military pilot, with huge hours (even worked on the Mercury splashdown recovery missions), explain the intimate details of a four-point roll. I was fascinated by how the rudder became your pitch control during "that" moment in the maneuver. If I ever finish my flight training and acquire a single-engine land certificate, and type out in an appropriate aircraft, I'll have to try that, lol. Thanks for your insight into yet another level of aviation! Love your generosity and knowledge. Cheers from Texas!

Former jump pilot with A90 and BE-99 experience: too many people got aft on this one, pilot would have had to fly so fast to keep that many people on the tail they would have blown off. Poor recovery after spin entry, but I blame the jumpers for loading up the tail too much. Not a lot of elevator authority at slow speeds and a narrow CG range in the Beech's, gotta fly 100-120kts to have big ways hangin on the tail with less flap

Wow! I can't seem to get enough of your input. Keep on keeping us safe up there. 👊

Juan . . . I always enjoy your analysis of aviation events, especially those where pilot input to controls plays an important role in the results. From a fellow member of the "Once a T-37 IP" association, I can usually see your Tweet IP background come through clearly. When I saw the Stall+Yaw=Spin title, I knew I was in for some more Tweet induced wisdom!

That’s was a young dashing, Juan Browne, at the end!

Somehow you don't ever miss much when it comes to safety and planes so thank you once again for this good information.

Must've been a wild ride for the skydivers left inside the plane. That last jumper finally had enough of these shenanigans and left :)

Hi Juan, nothing like a Pro to explain these things to us! George

Thank You for what you do Juan!

Recipe for a disaster (or such): - Put 16 people on board a King Air B-90 (the maximum certified number of pax for this model is 13, including pilot and co-pilot); - Slow down to 90 - 95 KIAS at high altitude (the "normal" Vref speed for a B-90 is ~100 KIAS on a stable straight flight approach); - Fly with no oxygen on a depressurized aircraft above 13,000 ft and "feel the joy"; - Totally neglect stall speed vs altitude range (the stall speed for landing configuration is 76 KIAS, but at ~5,000 feet and MLW, not at 16,000 AGL and who knows how heavy it was) - Fly with a crowd of "hi-drag" people holding onto a handrail OUTSIDE the aircraft, on the same side as the critical engine (left). - Do not read and throw all aircraft manuals out thru the window at the first opportunity you have, including that yellow "Beechcraft Safety Information" booklet which says a King Air should never be flown in a full stall condition as this is the ONLY guaranteed condition to avoid a spin on this aircraft type. The result, as far as I am concerned, was a real miracle, with its pilot trying to get out of a stall + spin pulling yoke back and sideways completely and oscillating wildly several times.🤦‍♂️ I honestly don't believe this aircraft is "undamaged", based on what we could see clearly: I've seen other King Air 90s in milder situations that suffered several bendings and warpings on wing and nacelles that could not be repaired (for unsuspecting future buyers: this is the 1968 Beechcraft B90 King Air S/N LJ-431 with registration number ZS-OHB which will probably be selling pretty cheap...). Considering the type of flight (skydiving) I can't say I'm "surprised" with such events... it seems that adrenalin is always required (and enjoyed) here.

My Son is a Skydiving Instructor at Yolo County Airport. I will be sending him this link. They use a Caravan out there, however he travels all around and many places use the King Air.

Been watching that video the past day over and over! That's about the best footage of a stall / spin and recovery I've ever seen! Crisp and clear, and the camera was on the aircraft the entire time, even climbing out from it! Must've been one hell of a ride for the skydivers!! Great info as always, Juan. I knew aft CG played into this, but I didn't even think of the guy's bodies all blocking the effectiveness of the elevator. Interesting! I also never knew they put one engine to idle. Even with my limited and fairly newfound aircraft knowledge, that sounds sketchy to me, too. The guys should be ready and expect prop blast when that door opens on a twin! Loved that training vid, too - MAN that looks like a wild ride!! I often wonder if I could keep it together long enough to save my life in that situation. Gotta love RU-vid. Strikes for EVERYTHING. :(

I have never seen a King Air spin before. I swallowed hard watching the plane enter the secondary stalls. Kudos to the pilot for recovering the plane.

Years ago I flew into an airport several times that had a King Air C-90 that flew skydivers several times a day. While in the pattern once he dropped out of the sky at a crazy amount of vertical speed, recovered and landed like he was landing on an aircraft carrier. Worst part about it is that he never talked on the radio. Stupid cowboy pilot. I was not happy about the incident at all.

Forty years ago a Lockheed Lodestar full of jumpers went in near Arlington, WA, under similar circumstances; a stall-spin. Only a few jumpers got out.

Great video Juan.... Thank you for sharing the clip from the past Best regards always......Rudy

I think "disking" of the prop means fully "fine" as a windmilling fine prop will act like a disk generating maximum drag which would exasperate the asymmetric configuration.

Almost hit some skydivers over Temecula. Was climbing out of John Wayne in a A320. The TCAS advised me to descend but I could see the guys jumping out so I chose to climb. Thank goodness for TCAS

I suppose I am not the only one to notice that it starts to 'go south' exactly when the last parachutist comes out (yellow helmet) and positions themselves further out from the fuselage than the others and thus blocking any remaining airflow to the port elevator.

Thanks Juan. I enjoy your videos and your level of professionalism during your analysis. I’m A&P, along with aspiring pilot and I feel that you are spot on with this one brother! Keep it up.

The only aircraft I intentionally spun was a Piper Tomahawk with my instructor. Neither of us knew at that time that the Traumahawk had that nasty habit of unrecoverable attitudes. We had a blast and survived - I learned how to recover from a spin and more importantly, how to avoid getting into one in the first place. I still think spin training in the right aircraft should be part of the curriculum for the private ticket. Medically grounded now so it really doesn't matter what I think ;-) Love the channel Juan!

Having flown the King Air and the De Havilland Twin Otter I can attest to the fact that the King Air is not really a good jump plane (for the reasons demonstrated in this video). The Otter is a great airplane for this activity because of its high wing and very low stall speed. The engine and prop configurations on both aircraft are the same, PT-6 Pratt and Whitney. When the power is reduced to idle, on either aircraft, it is like putting on the brakes. The deceleration is very pronounced. The way this guy was flying the aircraft he was just asking for a stall/spin.

You’re absolutely spot on! As a skydiver and former pilot, I’ve seen many times that jumpers pile up in the door and on the outside grips. Even with signs in the cabin “no more than x jumpers behind this line”. These guys are hyper focused on a well timed exit and ignore everything else.There is normally heavy buffeting due to the disturbed airflow over the tail with jumpers hanging outside which can mask a pre stall buffet. Due to substantial drag increase, its almost impossible to do this without a rate of descend or adding substantial amount of power. Doing a final jumprun this close to stall speed and below vmca is begging for it! I can not imagine that this has not happened a good number of times already, only this time is was caught on social media. In the skydiving centres in parts of the world I’ve been, the pilot lives in a bubble and formation jumpers do a exit dry run on a mock up with zero consideration for airplane controllability (“that’s the pilots job”). Briefing folks!!

The skydive video came up on my RU-vid feed and I immediately hoped for the blancolirio treatment. Thanks for not disappointing me, Juan! Hard to imagine a pilot with a chute on would be able to climb out of an aircraft when it's in such a dramatic spin.

The pilot appeared to be going way too slow on jump run; just for the ease of the jumpers. No need to slow down that much as the first jumper out would normally climb forward and block the wind for the others coming out. I recall climbing out of Mike Mullins' Super King Air at 21,000 ft at the World Free Fall Convention with no issues.

Well when we did parachute jumps at Sun N Fun for a few years in the 90’s that is basically what we did in the DC3. I asked another operator and they do the same thing. You have to pull the power on the side they jump from. We stayed 10% above VMC and were in a slight decent..

In all the operations I have flown in, we always reduced the power to minimize propwash and sacrificed altitude if we couldn't maintain enough stall margin. At least in the singles I fly (Pilatus PC-6, Cessna 182) the decent rate is not that excessive that the skydivers will notice the altitude loss from start of drop to finish. I usually just request the next 500ft higher flight level and drift down during the drop.

I spent many years teaching the King Air 200. You nailed it. Well done.

This is a great video Juan. Great explanation coupled with particularly good camera work by the sky diver.

I'll bet the guys inside were fighting to see who could get out the door first.

0:31 "meat missiles".....lol...good one Juan

Kudos to pilot for enabling recovery and no loss of life. Everyone’s an expert at I told you so!! That was one heck of a ride for the five remaining with a good amount of g and push back as they went down!! They had a ohh gosh this it it moment!

Thanks Juan. Brilliant explanation especially for a none pilot.. Like the bucket of prop wash. They tell me you can now get it in gallon cans.😂 All the best Mick

I just saw that video yesterday, the pilots view out the front window must’ve been a hell of a sight in a King Air.

T-2 for the Navy. We would do a coupled vertical entry to get an inverted flat spin. It would uncage your eyeballs but was a great confidence builder in spin recovery .

As always, Juan great content keep the great work up 👍👍

Great camera work from the jumper. Nice recovery from the pilot. Use to watch the tweet birds inflight training all day over west alabama. It was like a high altitude air show. Now its talons roaring over all day in fake combat. Awsum to watch....but it sure does let me know I'm old...lol. Keep it high Juan. Fly safe.👍

The last skydiver to jump might have been thinking that's enough of the spins why take a chance, I'm out.

This popped up on my stalkbook feed a few days ago, great camera work from the jumper with the camera. As you said, pulling the left engine along with the additional drag on the left side from the jumpers and then the aft CofG change was just a recipe for disaster..luckily they were able to walk away from it.

Thanks for this discussion JB. love the ch. always learning!!!!

Great video Juan!!! I knew when you got around to this one you would have an extraordinary great video of it and did not disappoint!!!

holly molly, I was afraid if the plane comes back on the divers and hit them!!

Thank you for your well done report. I thought the second engine only leads you to the scene of the crash.....

Fascinating! I'm totally not an aviator -- clueless, really. But I find your content engrossing. Thanks Juan. Stay safe. Stay free.

I don't have a lot of experience flying jumpers and what I do have is in a single engine, but the notion of putting the left prop to full flat pitch is insane. Glad to see I wasn't the only one to notice the two secondary accelerated stalls in the recovery. After posting a comment on another video I heard from someone who knows the pilot claiming he's very careful. After listening to your break down I'll stick with my original thoughts. I'd also say he was lucky he didn't try to cobb the power on the recovery. No two PT-6's spool at the same rate!

Good analysis Juan. That Pilot was outside the limits and nearly cleaned up skydiver and himself. The Cessna 310s and 402Bs in a flat spin are a death trap for the exact reason you specified. The mains tip tanks become sustaining spin weights.

Imagine the ride the 4 had inside the plane through the spin and stalls. That may have added to the recovery challenges.

I really enjoy your professionalism and your real emotions coming through. I'm not a pilot but have driven race cars. Really appreciate what you do. God Bless you!

As always another great video and explanation. Great filming by the jumper.

At 0:51 there are 8 skydivers visible - plus 1 with the camera, that makes 9 total in the initial exit.

Center of Gravity and airflow disruption has always been a factor in flying jumpers. Some jump pilots and some jumpers understand these effects and do a good job of compensating. Other pilots and jumpers are less knowledgeable and less safe. A particularly difficult jump plane that I jumped a few times back in my mis-spent youth was the Lockheed Loadstar. The exit door was quite far back. Too many jumpers near the door on exit could stall the aircraft...there were fatalities.

He was just in a hurry to get down and pick up another load.

Juan, awesome content as always. The footage is just breathtaking and rather interesting to see stall spin from that vantage point. It must have been one hell of a ride for the skydivers who remained in the King Air. Side note: I might need to use your "Recover Recover" at 12:25 as the new ring tone for my flight instructor...

Meat missiles-love it!!!

Great analysis Juan. These guys set themselves up for disaster. Also not exactly a stellar spin recovery. Glad everyone walked away from this one. Also good that the king air wasn't bent.

Props to the pilot for regaining control! My goodness that was scary!!

I must've started watching you right after this video cause I've never seen it but I've been a skydiver for a little over 2 years, good video!

WOW! Juan, when that stall broke I was half expecting at least one shy diver to be cut to ribbons. God had his hand on all participants.

I flew King Air's in sky dive ops before I went to the Airlines. It was the most dangerous job I ever had!.... sketchy ops, mx.. minimal training, beat up planes with questionable histories... I flew 90 kts on jump run.. always kept symmetrical thrust... I can't remember power setting.. I'm pretty sure I never put flaps in but it's a little grey to me these days. ... We allowed 4 on the tail.. and that scared the hell out of me. Once had 5 or 6 on the tail and I could feel the buffet and had zero elevator authority. I went bizerk on the ground and parked the aircraft that day... IMO the king air makes the worst skydive aircraft I flew. I flew them all I think... it gets up and down quick... but that rear exit and aft cg and horizontal stab combo... ughhh I don't even want to think about it.. Never happened to me but had heard stories of high angle of attack with the jumpers on the tail entering the stall and the jumpers striking the horizontal stab. The specific STC for the king air I flew did not require a chute but other aircraft I flew did. There would be no way to get out in the king air anyway. It was crazy dangerous flying but man I could spot land that aircraft in a dime... plus energy management and flight idle from T.O.D 14k to touchdown was a fun skill that you naturally developed over time.. I would bet some of the senior sky diver instructers I could touch down before them... it was fun. But after almost a decade of airline flying... I would never do that stuff again..

Always enjoy your videos, thanks!

Great breakdown Juan, great job! Completely agree with your assessment.

Holy cow, that was crazy

Man that series of stalls and recoveries is awesome. I'm going to add it to my aerobatic routine. Ha ha.

Juan, great descriptions and outro w/ the retro usaf spin-recovery film!

JUAN ... IMPRESSIVE as usual, thanks

Wow, If memory serves correctly there was a "floater limit" on almost every airplane I ever jumped.. first thing I said was "there's too many people out the door!" when I saw this.. idk about jump run power settings.. seems like a dumb idea to me too.. way back in the '80's tho when I was a JM.. maybe people just stopped caring..? things seem to be going downhill everywhere.. That last guy to get out cracked me up, I wanna buy him a beer! I woulda got out too after the second recovery attempt.. Great survival instinct. 🙂

Looks like there’s more than normal climbing out the door. That also means there are people moving back towards the door inside to follow the people outside moving cg way back. Last time I jumped a king that size, usually 4 out the door.

Enjoy watching your videos. Great info you provide to inform us.

Very cool analysis! Keeping everything symmetrical (re power and rudder) is the big key here to avoiding the stall. Good stuff!