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3mpire

Riggers: What is the weirdest thing you've found inside a parachute?

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I've heard stories of phones, bags of weed, sticks, rocks, etc.

Given the meteorite story, might be fun to have some folks who have been working on rigs for many years recount some of the things they've found during inspections B|

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One time at the WFFC, I found a couple of tears near the tail on the lower skin of my Sabre 1. I had it repaired on location within 2 hours. But when I came to pack it, I found a pair of scissors inside a cell.
It had happened already in the late 70s after a rib repair on my Crusair, again, a pair of scissors inside.
Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

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Back in the 90s I managed to pack my own size 12 Teva sandal into a tandem. We were flat packing them and I used it to keep the nose from blowing around in the wind. About 10 minutes after it was all packed, closed and ready to rock I realized my Teva was missing.







3mpire

I've heard stories of phones, bags of weed, sticks, rocks, etc.

Given the meteorite story, might be fun to have some folks who have been working on rigs for many years recount some of the things they've found during inspections B|

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A fellow left his gear for a repack and on the evening I did his reserve I found some interesting items. Inside one of the reserve cells were some ladies under garments and other intimate items that did not belong to his wife. :o I placed the suspect items in a zip lock bag and wrote "Danger Do Not Jump" on the bag with red magic marker.

www.geronimoskydiving.com

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Not including altis ,gloves , ring (wedding ?) and all the other junk in mains for repair .Urine ! yep ,urine .......Glider pilots rig .You don't 'see/smell' it you just know........4 years later ...I shit you not .......rigger calls me across the floor (Im just visiting this time )"you remember when I told you some of these guys get a bit feral on long x countries ?".....Same owner .......same rig .......

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Oh I just remembered a good one..

About 4 years ago, a gentleman had a rig he left in his basement during a flood. The rig was parapack, and because of the slick texture, he didn't think it got wet and continued jumping it until the next reserve repack. I popped I open and found a green reserve. The reserve should have been white. Covered in mold.
=========Shaun ==========


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Unstable

Oh I just remembered a good one..

About 4 years ago, a gentleman had a rig he left in his basement during a flood. The rig was parapack, and because of the slick texture, he didn't think it got wet and continued jumping it until the next reserve repack. I popped I open and found a green reserve. The reserve should have been white. Covered in mold.



........................................................................

That reminds me of a guy who brought me his rig a week after his basement flooded. The harness and reserve were easy to dry out, but the Cypres 1 was not in good shape. There were little burn marks inside the battery compartment. We mailed that Cypres 1 to SSK, but I told the customer not to hold his breath.
A few weeks later, he bought a second-hand Cypres.

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1. Big yellow shot bag in a pilot emergency rig. I still have it and use it.

2. Dog shit. ( I assume) Owner of reserve said the prev rigger had a small dog. Didn't have it repacked for over a year. When I hung it up, it fell out. Sport rig.

3. Packing data card from another pilot emergency rig in the canopy, about half way up.

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Not quite the same, but...
During the rigger's class I attended, it is emphasised tot he students that they need to maintain control of the rig under service, minimize distractions and repeat steps if distracted. To teach this, some of the instructors would attempt to present real-world type customer distractions and then mess with the rig you were working on to see if you noticed or went back to find what they had changed.
One candidate managed to have slipped into rigs he was packing (without his notice or correction) a wrench, packing weights, various other tools, his own rigging log book... to this day I am hoping that he doesn't allow ANYONE in the room while he's working on rigs.

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

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