This is a documentary style video of a skydive from a DC-9 commercial jet airliner at Skydive Perris in Perris, California on October 26, 2024 (for their "Jump The Jet" Halloween Boogie). The DC-9 went through a long journey to be re-certified (it flew jumpers for a while in the mid to late 2000s) as the only commercial airliner used in skydiving operations. I jumped it in 2006 at the World Free Fall Convention, but back then there weren't any Go-Pro cameras and HD video wasn't even main stream. The video starts with people jumping from a hot air balloon at day break, then the staging and briefing where 80 skydivers walk out on the tarmac and board the DC-9. The DC-9 is powered by two JT8D low-bypass turbofans producing up to 22,000 pounds of thrust. With fuel and 80 jumpers with gear, the climb to 14,000 feet (FL 150 above sea level) takes just over 4 minutes on a standard day. The inside of the plane looks like any commercial airliner, the only funny difference is that all the "passengers" are skydivers wearing parachutes and have all their gear on. One the plane quickly reaches the top of climb, jumpers run down the center aisle out the back "air stairs" with no separation. This is the famous "DB Cooper" exit, the same was hi-jacker DB Cooper exited a Boeing 727 (also has rear air stairs, just like the DC-9), after stealing cash and parachuted out of the plane over the Pacific Northwest. He was never found. Many such aircraft with the rear air stairs was fitted with a "Cooper vane", which locked the rear door while the plane was flying, and prevented it from being opened. The stairs and Cooper vane were removed on the skydive Perris DC-9 jet. Jumpers dash single-file out the narrow tail exit. The speed of the plane can only be slowed down to about 130 KIAS (this is about 155 to 160 MPH indicated), and at 15,000 MSL, that exceeds 200 MPH TAS over the ground. Once you reach the end of the tail-exit, you slam into the free-stream and quickly decelerate to 120 MPH (100 to 105 KIAS). Despite no separation between groups, all jumpers (up to 80 of them), are scattered across the sky, adequately separated. From there it's just a normal skydive, except that many people are landing under canopy. More cool shots show ground footage of the takeoff, jump run, and landing of the DC-9 jet (loud!). I am so happy Skydive Perris got this jet operational after so long.

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