The world's only large civil passenger jet ever certified for skydiving may be going back in service after an almost 10 year hiatus. Perris Valley Skydiving bought the ex-SAS, ex-Nordic Intl, ex-Spirit, ex-ValuJet, ex-Allegiant DC-9-21 for US$50,000 back in 2009 and used it until 2013 as a skydiving aircraft, operating from the 5100' (1554m) runway at Perris Valley ICAO code L65). The plane was grounded for lack of spares back in 2013.
However work has been started on restoring the jet to service, up to and including taxi tests. Perris Valley Skydiving is a very busy operation, operating a fleet of Twin Otters, a Shorts Skyvan and a DC-3, but the 40+ year old N127CK would draw crowds of skydivers and photographers from all over.
I've shot at Perris Valley several times, and as soon as I can figure out when the jet will be in the air I will gladly make the trip again. You can see in the photo in the linked story how close spectators can get to the runway.
https://airwaysmag.com/special-flights/ ... perations/
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