Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 18; Flight Crew Total 2200; Flight Crew Type 212
Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
Flying a northerly course in the vicinity of Madras Muni (S33) at an altitude of 12;500 feet in clear conditions. Aviation white strobe and navigation lights were on. VFR flight following was cancelled by Seattle Center due to saturation in the Redmond sector. Seattle Center was being monitored on 128.15 (Redmond Sector; Squawk 1200 with mode C and ADS-B traffic monitored on portable device). During this time; 3 parachutists (passenger reported seeing 5 jumpers) were observed at 12 to 1 o'clock directly in front of and moving toward the aircraft. An aggressive turn to the left was initiated to avoid colliding with the parachutists. At the time the turn was initiated the silhouette of the parachutists and chute were clearly visible. None of the parachutists observed had position lights.Contributing factors to this situation were: 1) ATC inability to provide VFR separation services due to saturation;2) Contributing factor was ATC failure to advice of jumpers over frequency however; without position lights it was nearly impossible to visually identify and thus avoid parachutists.
GA pilot reported a NMAC with several jumpers near S33 at 12;500 feet that required evasive action.