Madison 0
RiggerLee 61
I used to work for Wag at quincy so I've got some good ones from all around the country and the world.
An old SOS hooked up with one riser group looped through the others. Later that same canopy blew up on him.
Reserve breaklines not sewn at the upper cascade. The same guy had just had a ride on this canopy do to a slink breaking under canopy a 800 ft.
Canopies built with no bartacks at the nose.
cutting the harness stiching to replace the velcro on a vector leg strap.
Useing epoxy to glue velcro to leg straps. It had soaked half way through the webbing and was cracking breaking the webbing along with it.
Cat piss on container. Soaked in and big patches blew out of the reserve on opening.
Barbaque sauce on a new stileto back when they were the shit. They tryed to clean t up but big patches of the rig were tearing like tissue.
Canopies and rigs packed on the bear floor of a hanger at a boogie where the parked and charged the start cart. Holes from acid on both canopies and containors.
Reflex packed with a fixed type three loop tied in a loop, two inches two long.
A pin that snaped like a twig. This was pre SB.
A reserve tray tear almost compleatly lose from the rig on main deployment. Riser got under it. It was flapping from the top stich line.
Leg stap rolls cut off by a pilot. He didn't like all that extra webbing so he cut most of it off.
Rigger that cut most of he webbing off the legstraps rolled them and resewed with three passes of E thread.
Patches sewn on reserves with cotton home threadat 1000 stiches per inch.
apexes stuffed under springs on pilot riggs where it wore holes in the fabric and even wore the tape.
a Softy diaper that had compleatly rotted away. Did you know those were a cotton blend? 120 days my ass. It got wet and all those lines just held the water till the dieper was totally gone just a big ball of green fuz that crumbled at your touch.
The little lines on a vector pilot chute unsewn.
Lines crossed and sewen a the factory.
A Jav pilot chute packed by the factory. They twisted the fabric and mesh up as tight as they could and when I pulled the pin the PC just didn't launch. It bent 90 deg and that was it. grabbed it by the bridal and jerked it back and fourth as hard as I could and could never get it to inflate or even get the spring to extend.
Of course there has been the whole gambit of canopies that just tore like tissue. Continors closed in totally creative ways. Loops way too long, by several inches, not jokeing. Lines all screwed up and out of order. And of course tools left in.
And the cremdela crem. Jeff actually found a no shit moller strap. It was wrapped around the base of a C-9 in a PEP. I didn't get to see that one. I wasn't in the loft at the time but he told me about it the next weekend. So that's really his story not mine.
All the other I eather found or I was there working beside the guy that found it or I was the one that wound up repareing it. There's been other stuff but those are the highlights that come to mind.
Lee
An old SOS hooked up with one riser group looped through the others. Later that same canopy blew up on him.
Reserve breaklines not sewn at the upper cascade. The same guy had just had a ride on this canopy do to a slink breaking under canopy a 800 ft.
Canopies built with no bartacks at the nose.
cutting the harness stiching to replace the velcro on a vector leg strap.
Useing epoxy to glue velcro to leg straps. It had soaked half way through the webbing and was cracking breaking the webbing along with it.
Cat piss on container. Soaked in and big patches blew out of the reserve on opening.
Barbaque sauce on a new stileto back when they were the shit. They tryed to clean t up but big patches of the rig were tearing like tissue.
Canopies and rigs packed on the bear floor of a hanger at a boogie where the parked and charged the start cart. Holes from acid on both canopies and containors.
Reflex packed with a fixed type three loop tied in a loop, two inches two long.
A pin that snaped like a twig. This was pre SB.
A reserve tray tear almost compleatly lose from the rig on main deployment. Riser got under it. It was flapping from the top stich line.
Leg stap rolls cut off by a pilot. He didn't like all that extra webbing so he cut most of it off.
Rigger that cut most of he webbing off the legstraps rolled them and resewed with three passes of E thread.
Patches sewn on reserves with cotton home threadat 1000 stiches per inch.
apexes stuffed under springs on pilot riggs where it wore holes in the fabric and even wore the tape.
a Softy diaper that had compleatly rotted away. Did you know those were a cotton blend? 120 days my ass. It got wet and all those lines just held the water till the dieper was totally gone just a big ball of green fuz that crumbled at your touch.
The little lines on a vector pilot chute unsewn.
Lines crossed and sewen a the factory.
A Jav pilot chute packed by the factory. They twisted the fabric and mesh up as tight as they could and when I pulled the pin the PC just didn't launch. It bent 90 deg and that was it. grabbed it by the bridal and jerked it back and fourth as hard as I could and could never get it to inflate or even get the spring to extend.
Of course there has been the whole gambit of canopies that just tore like tissue. Continors closed in totally creative ways. Loops way too long, by several inches, not jokeing. Lines all screwed up and out of order. And of course tools left in.
And the cremdela crem. Jeff actually found a no shit moller strap. It was wrapped around the base of a C-9 in a PEP. I didn't get to see that one. I wasn't in the loft at the time but he told me about it the next weekend. So that's really his story not mine.
All the other I eather found or I was there working beside the guy that found it or I was the one that wound up repareing it. There's been other stuff but those are the highlights that come to mind.
Lee
bofh 0
QuoteQuote
Three years ago someone in Sweden had bought new gear, picked it up already packed from the factory and jumped with it in the USA. Due to some stupid Swedish rules, he had to repack it before he could use it in Sweden and as they opened up the container they noticed that the reserve was not hooked up to the risers...
I'm no rigger, but how does that happen?
I don't know, but one idea I had was that there was some misunderstanding about why it was packed; the rigger could have thought it should look used when it was going through customs if the new owner forgot to pay customs and VAT...
irishrigger 31
i come across 3 death rigs in my time,and quiet a few other issues,that could have resulted in a nasty outcome.
one was a reserve bridle that was tacked down after the reserve was packed.i have 2 photo attached,pic2-3.i normally get the owner to pop the reserve infront of me so that they can practise there reserve drills and also gives me a chance to have a look at the launch of the rpc.she pulls the handle,pop and rpc comes out a 1 foot and stays there.i thought that was a bit unusual and had a look and found teh bridle tacked down.the lady owner was in shock,as she had jumped the previous day and nearly chopped because she had severe line twists.i havent seen her since.![[:/]](/uploads/emoticons/dry.png "[:/]"){kind=small}
another one was incorrect assembly and hook up of reserve slinks.they would have seperated on opening if the reserve was used.showed it to the owner who went white as a ghost.it was a new rig,only just previously assembled.he asked me to install a cypres,so when i lifted the freebag out i discoverd that fuck up.
another was misrouted reserve bridle on a tear drop,that clamped the reserve tray shut.i never actually managed to figure out,how the previous rigger managed to do that.
the reserve loop not going through a cypres cutter.would not have been an issue unless the owner was knocked out and depended on his cypres.
another one,was a reline done at a factory,pic attached.it was a main canopy,and i inspected after the owner got it back.he send it back to the factory initially,because he didnt think i could do the work,and never asked me.his face was priceless when i showed him the result.and he bought me a few beers
i did a gear check on a guy who was just boarding a plane,and when i checked his reserve loop it was hanging on by threads.he was severly pissed off when i binned them of the load,after i did the jump i brought him up the loft,i gave the side of the container a riggers punch and the reserve loop broke when i did that.he had to buy a few beers when he admitted to checking the reserve loop himself when he put the rig on,and said the famous last words, ahh it be alright for one more jump!!!!
and one other crazy incident that i witnessed was when i was visiting a DZ in florida.a guy had a mal but no cutaway,i went out on the DZ truck to pick him up.i asked what had happend,and he said he had a bag lock.i thought that was strange as the main was cleary still in the container.upon closer inspection,it was found that a cable-tie was looped around the main pin.asked how that came about,he sheeplishy said that he had done it himself,as he checked the rig in through an airline and was worried that securtiy might pop the main by accident.yet he manage to board the plane,with a gear check and no one copt it. needless to say a lot of beer had to be bought for that stupid mistake.
by the pic 1 that i posted was just a very sloppy reserve packjob that i found.one of the suspension lines was wraped arond the cutter.it was a javelin container,and it probably would have slipped of if the reserve was deployed.
cherrio
rodger
piisfish 135
it was all for now.. Decided to open that packjob and redo it... And decided to do a pull test. The pull force to start moving the reserve pin was 32lbs. Didn't open it. Will be checking tomorrow with another rigger, much more experienced than I am.Quote
Besides that, I recently had a bad customer experience with a loft at a major US DZ. Ugly as hell packjob, reserve pud not properly velcroed, and data card shoved in the pocket worse than an old hankerchief. Will repack it myself hoping I can get a better result.
That's all for now
As I am a junior senior rigger, I will enjoy having help on that one.... And will be glad if the explanation is that my technique for the pull test was incorrect.
Otherwise I guess I will ask the rigging loft who did that a full refund.
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM
Gary73 8
Back in the days when the harness and container were two separate items, the DZ rigger loaned me his Green Star conventional harness for the weekend. We hooked everything up, I jumped, and upon deployment the main lift webbing came out of the adapter on the left side. The canopy went into a violent spin, but I was able to get it under enough control to perform a landing that I was able to walk away from. Turned out that Green Star used the wrong size quick-fit adapter and even with a proper turnback on the webbing, it went right through the adapter.
More recently I found a reserve that was packed (by a DPRE) with a complete backflip in the lines. Same guy repacked a couple of rigs with expired CYPRESes.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
More recently I found a reserve that was packed (by a DPRE) with a complete backflip in the lines. Same guy repacked a couple of rigs with expired CYPRESes.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
fcajump 153
Quoteone was a reserve bridle that was tacked down after the reserve was packed.
That looks like someone retacked the housing after the repack... Didn't we loose a nationally known jumper a few years back because he tacked his wingsuit to the (still packed) main container and caught a few lines in the tackings?
Unfortunately we keep having to relearn old lessons.
JW
Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...
Davemon 0
With a bunch of us admiring the new rig, the owner having jumped it thru a repack cycle,she pulled the chest reserve and we pulled it out on the table for the inspection to find the canopy had never been hooked to the risers. Talk about some shocked folks.Certainly made an impression on this young rigger.
piisfish 135
soooo... we did the pull test, got 18kg... which is a couple ounces short of 40 pounds.QuoteAnd decided to do a pull test. The pull force to start moving the reserve pin was 32lbs. Didn't open it. Will be checking tomorrow with another rigger, much more experienced than I am.
As I am a junior senior rigger, I will enjoy having help on that one.... And will be glad if the explanation is that my technique for the pull test was incorrect.
Otherwise I guess I will ask the rigging loft who did that a full refund.
Will be sending a message to the loft.
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM
councilman24 36
To echo what Jim said above....
What the fuck!!!
Are baby riggers no longer told not to sew on a packed reserve? I hope someone slapped this one up side the head and told them to get a clue.
This photo goes into a course outline.
I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE
fcajump 153
I've opened factory pack jobs on brand new PEP's that deployed at 28-38 lbs (multiple brands).
Determined that one manufacturer's stock closing loop works for his older gear just fine, but a change to the gear several years ago causes a hard pull ~30lbs when using a new factory made loop.
Found one factory packed rig that would not open at 50-lbs. Determined that there was an old SB (unpublished) that had never been applied to this rig. Turned out that while the mfg had been quick to get the word out when the problem was new, this particular rig had not been repacked in the 16+ years since being assembled.
JW
PS - this last one is a reason that some of us are leaning toward the 20 year limit on what we will service... old "known" issues that are forgotten by the industry over time and are not part of the "current" common knowledge...
Determined that one manufacturer's stock closing loop works for his older gear just fine, but a change to the gear several years ago causes a hard pull ~30lbs when using a new factory made loop.
Found one factory packed rig that would not open at 50-lbs. Determined that there was an old SB (unpublished) that had never been applied to this rig. Turned out that while the mfg had been quick to get the word out when the problem was new, this particular rig had not been repacked in the 16+ years since being assembled.
JW
PS - this last one is a reason that some of us are leaning toward the 20 year limit on what we will service... old "known" issues that are forgotten by the industry over time and are not part of the "current" common knowledge...
Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...
champu 1
QuoteQuoteone was a reserve bridle that was tacked down after the reserve was packed.
That looks like someone retacked the housing after the repack... Didn't we loose a nationally known jumper a few years back because he tacked his wingsuit to the (still packed) main container and caught a few lines in the tackings?
Unfortunately we keep having to relearn old lessons.
JW
IIRC it was a removable wind deflector that attached to the bottom of the container using a Lolon cable and loops similar to the system used to attach the wings to the body of the suit.
"Maybe the rigger did a "test pack" to determine if the volume was compatible and accidentally shipped it.
That might happen to an over-worked rigger.
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Sickening. Hope that poor over-worked rigger has a f*cking day job, because it's time to give up the ticket. Pathetic and inexcusable.
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