Safety Check: Clouds From Both Sides
Safety Check
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Above: Photo by Raymond Adams.
What’s a cloud? The non-whimsical Federal Aviation Administration defines them this way in its very detailed and informative weather Advisory Circular 00-6B.13.1: “A cloud is a visible aggregate of minute water droplets and/or ice particles in the atmosphere above the Earth’s surface,” often shorthanded to “visible moisture.” Clearly, the person who wrote that never lay back in a field of green on a summer day to marvel at dancing ponies or alligators chasing top hats.
But the most beautiful things in nature are often the most dangerous. To us safety-minded and law-abiding skydivers, clouds spice up our visuals and adorn our jump videos. To jump pilots and drop zone operators, they’re a nuisance.
No, clouds don’t hurt. Jumpers in the USA can only imagine falling or flying through one: a sudden coolness, moisture forming on fingertips, total white-out. This experience may be had in countries like Australia, where it’s legal under certain circumstances to punch a cloud, but not here.
The downsides are several. Compared to the rest of the world, American aviators enjoy much freedom in our skies. However, that freedom means more aircraft not talking or listening to Air Traffic Control and paying little attention to the little parachute symbol on the map. So, to prevent skydivers colliding with planes, balloons, gliders, helicopters or anything else up there, the FAA publishes the following cloud clearance and visibility requirements that student skydivers get tested on before earning their USPA A License:
§ 105.17 Flight Visibility and Clearance from Cloud Requirements.
No person may conduct a parachute operation, and no pilot in command of an aircraft may allow a parachute operation to be conducted from that aircraft:
a| Into or through a cloud, or
b| When the flight visibility or the distance from any cloud is less than that prescribed in the following table:
The regs call for greater visibility and clearances above 10,000 feet MSL where speed limits increase from the 250 knot (about 288 mph) limit below 10,000 feet. It’s harder to maneuver to avoid an airplane or a skydiver as speed increases, so the rules above 10,000 feet provide more time and space—not that five seconds would give any fast mover many options to avoid a half mile or so line of jumpers that dropped from an overcast into its flight path.
The FAA might be less worried about skydivers running into each other while flying blind through a cloud or even less about people landing off-field because of a bad spot due to lack of visibility on jump run. But for us, these can be serious issues. Countless injuries and compromised neighbor relations start with exit-point errors even in perfectly clear weather. And in cases of nearby bodies of water, a bad spot risks drownings.
So, if nothing happens, who might care? This shouldn’t come as news to any skydiver, but not everyone sees what we do as awesome. The airport’s resident pilots, staff and neighbors may not recognize or care how skydiving contributes to the airport and local economy but instead see us as invading their peace and safety. Busting clouds only feeds them ammunition. People on the airport and miles around know the audio profile of the jump plane and can see when jumpers get too cozy with clouds. It makes local and visiting pilots especially nervous—just ask them. Don’t hand a crowbar to someone who wants to pry you off the airport.
Once the FAA gets a report about jumping through clouds, the agency’s protocol requires an investigation. The FAA regulation at 14 CFR 105.13.a.2.ii requires that during skydiving operations, the jump pilot must notify Air Traffic Control when jumpers leave the plane. All ATC communications get recorded, time stamped and saved. At the same time, the weather reporting station, often on the airport at or near the drop zone, records the sky conditions. If they support the complaint, someone will need to answer for it.
That someone would be the pilot and the jumpers on the manifest for that load, who the FAA holds jointly responsible, and fines can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, you could appeal. The pilot and all the jumpers on the load are subject to subpoena. So are any videos, and any posted online also can be used as evidence. Your odds in Federal Administrative Court typically favor the FAA about 90% of the time and run up legal fees 100% of the time—unless you happen to have a generous aviation attorney who happened also to be on the load. But more importantly in the grand scheme is the blemish on a budding pilot’s license.
So, get wise and stay wise. Enjoy your rows and flows of angel hair from the ground.
Kevin Gibson D-6943
AFF Instructor, pilot and FAA Designated Parachute Rigger Examiner in Orange, Virginia