Emergency Aerial Drop Tube

 

The Aerial Drop tube could be filled with medication and delivered to a person on the ground that is isolated because of a natural disaster. This has been successfully used in other parts of the country. OPA was on standby with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Department to assist during that county’s recent flooding. Dropping in medical supplies would illustrate the value of General Aviation in times of need.

 

Aerial Drops will give OPA the opportunity to sharpen pilot skills that can be used to help people during a natural disaster. The tube should be dropped over a target with the aircraft altitude no lower than 200 feet above the nearest obstacle.  The aircraft should fly with no flaps, mixture - full rich, and at an airspeed normally used on downwind (when in an airport traffic pattern).

 

Comprehensive tests show the tubes basically drop straight down after release.

Problem: the pilot will loose sight of the target as the airplane gets close to the target.

Solution:  pick a release point abeam the target.