Frequent reserve rides.

[Airviking 0]

I'm coming back after over 20 years of being on the ground. It's really interesting to be able to observe the sport partly from an outsider's point of view, and partly from a viewpoint of experience. One of the things I think I'm picking up on, is the high frequency of reserve rides.

I have 285 jumps pre-layoff on Paracommanders, a Stratostar and a Pegasus without so much as a long snivel.

Am I reading this right? Is there a high frequency of reserve rides, or is it just that people tend to post about their reserve rides.

I believe you have my stapler.

[beowulf 1]

From my perspective, I am not seeing a high number of reserve rides.
I have just over 2000 jumps and only one reserve ride. I think the average is one in 500 maybe? Not sure about that. I know of others that have gone over 2000 jumps with out a reserve ride.

[Rstanley0312 0]

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From my perspective, I am not seeing a high number of reserve rides.
I have just over 2000 jumps and only one reserve ride. I think the average is one in 500 maybe? Not sure about that. I know of others that have gone over 2000 jumps with out a reserve ride.

I know a guy that had 4500 until he had his first.... and it happened at nationals on the team's first jump.

Life is all about ass....either you're kicking it, kissing it, working it off, or trying to get a piece of it.
Muff Brother #4382 Dudeist Skydiver #000
www.fundraiseadventure.com

[elias123 0]

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I know of others that have gone over 2000 jumps with out a reserve ride.

But there are also those that have 500-600 jumps and 4-5 reserve rides.

"In a mad world, only the mad are sane"

[councilman24 36]

I believe the malfunction rate is actually way down.

But people are quicker to open their reserve, the newbies call it 'pull silver' which I hate, than we used to be. It's not a bad thing to use your reserve but it seems lots of newbies don't recognize that their reserves can malfunction too.

I still think the reserve ride numbers are down for experienced folks. Tandems keep the total up there though.

Remember, in the old days you only knew about the ones at your DZ and maybe the DZ down the road. Now your reading posts from around the world.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[moggybean 0]

I think people tend to post about them more. Probably because of a few reasons, higher internet usage, lessons to be learned - that kind of thing.

But you also need to look at the number of jumps per year 20 years ago to the number of jumps now. It might seem that there are more reserve rides now, but average them out and the picture might be different.

Just my thoughts. Colin

[beowulf 1]

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I know of others that have gone over 2000 jumps with out a reserve ride.

But there are also those that have 500-600 jumps and 4-5 reserve rides.

Those are pretty small minority.

[airtwardo 6]

From your perspective it'll seem like a lot, but there are more jumpers making more jumps per day now...(thank you turbine god)

...and add to that the 'assembly line' procedure of paying someone else to pack ya a function, seems to keep the riggers a bit busier than 'back in the day'!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

Recently someone tried to get an estimate of the reserve ride rate here on DZ.com with a thread where folks posted their numbers. As I recollect the rate was about 1:750. I seem to remember seeing a similar number calculated from the USPA membership renewal surveys.

I would second the "volume" comment above. My DZ has two turbine A/C. On a busy summer day there might be ~400-500 jumps made. Thus even if we have reserve rides every few days, the RATE may not be that high.

I also second the observation that some folks go a LONG time before they have a malfunction... I know one jumper who had his first mal at ~4200 jumps, and another who went over 5000 without a mal.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[Airviking 0]

Yep, makes sense. And one in 750 sounds about what I'm used to.

I still can't get my head around "packers" packing people's mains. Back when, NOBODY touched my gear! (except for reserve re-packs.) And that's how most guys were. Packing was every bit as much a part of it as deploying.

I believe you have my stapler.

[Decodiver 0]

I have a pal with no rides in 7000+ jumps - I have 2 reserve rides in 1000+

Cheers,

Coops

[airtwardo 6]

I still can't get my head around "packers" packing people's mains. Back when, NOBODY touched my gear! (except for reserve re-packs.) And that's how most guys were. Packing was every bit as much a part of it as deploying.

SOME of us still play that way!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[firemedic 7]

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I'm coming back after over 20 years of being on the ground. It's really interesting to be able to observe the sport partly from an outsider's point of view, and partly from a viewpoint of experience. One of the things I think I'm picking up on, is the high frequency of reserve rides.

I have 285 jumps pre-layoff on Paracommanders, a Stratostar and a Pegasus without so much as a long snivel.

Am I reading this right? Is there a high frequency of reserve rides, or is it just that people tend to post about their reserve rides.

Welcome back. I took a 26 year layoff and came back in 2006. Statistically, the number of malfunctions per number of jumps has decreased. What has dramatically increased is the number of skydivers and the number of jumps those skydivers are making.

[irishrigger 32]

i would have thought that the no of reserve rides would have gone up since 20.especially witht he new extreme canopys and eliptical.normally if you have a line twist on those it results in a reserve ride and yes tandem i think also have a big percentage in that.
i can give you some of my percentage, i have almost 3000 reserve packs and 235 documented saves that i know of.
as for my self,i am rather embarresd by my jump/cutaway ratio.
7000 jumps,37 reserve rides,plus one cypres miss fire that open the reserve container and i managed to snag the rpc,before the reserve deployed.
and incase if any one thinks i am very trigger happy,i hate cutting away,and i will keep fighting it until i have no other choice.most of them are on tandems 25+ 3 broken steering lines,3 canopys blown up,10line overs and the rest tension knots.and i never have packed the main in any of them!!! i get teh impression that the packers just dont like me.
and here is to tempt fate,havent had a mal in 2.5 yrs and the last 1200 jumps

[firemedic 7]

steering lines,3 canopys blown up,10line overs and the rest tension knots.and i never have packed the main in any of them!!! i get teh impression that the packers just dont like me.
and here is to tempt fate,havent had a mal in 2.5 yrs and the last 1200 jumps

Im seeing an interesting similarity. I have just about the same percentage of saves to repacks.
Most of them are on elipticals. Some with Tandems.

[TheBachelor 5]

I thought the rate was about 1 for every 800 jumps. I myself have 1800 jumps without one yet. (Knock on wood.)

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[irishrigger 32]

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I thought the rate was about 1 for every 800 jumps. I myself have 1800 jumps without one yet. (Knock on wood.)

i hope you keep that record

[Bertt 0]

Keep in mind also that reserve rides are not completely random events. The guy that hurries to pack his highly elliptical canopy so he can make every load and never inspects his gear is a lot more likely to have some reserve rides than the guy who takes care packing a more docile canopy. When you hang around the dropzone and read these forums, it's the first guy you hear about.

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[fcajump 153]

For all that is said about this generation of jumpers (what's wrong with kids these day)...

I've got to say that many have embraced the idea of confession of sins being good not only for the soul, but also for keeping others from making the same mistake.

JW

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[zoobrothertom 5]

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I know of others that have gone over 2000 jumps with out a reserve ride.

But there are also those that have 500-600 jumps and 4-5 reserve rides.

Or 1350 with 10 reserve rides - O.K. 10 malfucntions and 9 reserve rides. BASE rigs don't come with a shiny handle. :)

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[captain1976 0]

I have over 3000 jumps (forget my profile, that only logged jumps).

last malfunction was in 1977 with a spinning strato star. The one before that was a canopy collision on a PC and a total (bent ripcord pin) on a mini-system.

I jump at a large DZ and rarely see reserve rides.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[erdnarob 1]

Frequency of the reserve rides seems to be decreasing for the past 20 years. I was at Skydive Chicago Summerfest 2010 for their 9 day boogie and saw or heard of only 2-3 reserve rides at all. I would say that about 5000 to 8000 jumps have been made.

Reasons are:
1) use of square parachutes less prone to malfunction than round ones
2) better knowledge of how to pack square parachute. Distinction being made between what is really important and cosmetic
3) the license requirement asking how to pack parachute
4) more parachute packing courses done by a rigger

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.