no different than the airlines… . . Condolences to the families of the deceased and speedy recovery to the injured. 3200 lbs divided by 16 is 200 lbs per occupant. Remove everything they can from the aircraft and it is hard to see getting another 400 lbs or so for fuel. Skydivers must be really skinny or someones weight scales need calibrated.
I have flown both Caravan models with skydivers. Those factory weight numbers are just generalizations. The operators I have flown for usually only 14 skydivers for the C208 and 16-17 skydivers for the C208B. It makes a big difference in empty weight if the plane was originally built as a passenger bird or cargo. The cargo planes are lighter. Also there are gross weight increase kits available that can increase gross takeoff weight by around 300lb or so. Then there are the models modified with more horsepower. 400-500lb fuel load is normal for flying two loads in a row. With the factory pt6-114a models climb performance at altitude drops off fast so some operators won’t take a full load to 13000ft agl when the dz is busy.
Condolences to those who perished and quick recovery to those injured.
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No details about the crash? hummm. Like - what happened? over
Thanks for that insight. Helpful
Yes. Typically in a 208 there are no seats and the skydivers sit on the floor between the knees of the person behind them. Or there will be two long narrow benches running most of the length of the fuselage. The skydivers can straddle the bench, like sitting on a horse, again tucked up to the person being you. It’s a rather cozy arrangement. At least, those are the configurations from my skydiving days.