After Years On The Ground, The DC-9-21 Was Flying This Weekend For $150 A Drop

With a nearly mythical rep, the once silent Perris SkyDive DC-9 is ALIVE! 

Following an initial test flight and a few practice landings that were flown by a flight crew that had to be brought in all the way from Florida, the California DZ put the DC9 back in service and made at least three jump runs on Saturday, taking about 60 jumpers per jump run to about 15K'. 

For years, the grand old bird, which entered service in 2006, sat forlorn and engine-less as the folks at SkyDive Perris slowly brought it back to life on a facility that is not normally known for jetliner restoration. In years past, the bird served as a famous but limited jump plane before being grounded though it had an interesting service history prior to that change. 

The bird first flew again on May 7th but social media swiftly spread the word that jet jumps were back on the manifest... but in limited availability and first come/first served only. 

"Friday we’ll be sending one load and Saturday we’ll send multiple loads of licensed jumpers on the jet. There will be no observer seats and no tandems on these loads. This will be for licensed jumpers ONLY. Price is $150/slot, first come first served, and loads are expected to start going up around 9am. Get here early to manifest day of, manifest opens at 8am. Jump tickets may NOT be used. Jet jumps cannot be reserved ahead of time."  

The DC-9 is a rarity, though the occasional 727 has been put into service, as a jump plane... and mostly for the novelty because neither aircraft makes for all that great a drop vehicle... exits are small, exit speeds are high (at least 125 kts or so), the exit itself can be initially slightly violent, and the folks looking to do relative work formation jumps get spread out over a larger than usual area, requiring some to track hard to get to the formation if you happen to have been at the back of the line. 

Still... it's a rush (at least the 727 was... as I have no experience with the DC-9 -- ANN EIC)... which has no formal jump exit... just an open area in the bottom read of the aircraft that you literally run up to and drop through. 

It is unknown how often the DC-9 will be available, based on the fact that crews qualified for such operations are few and far between, and at 150 bucks a load, the novelty might wear off if the bird becomes too regular  a gig... we'll keep you up to date. 

FMI: https://skydiveperris.com/