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jacketsdb23

Check your pins before every jump!

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yoink

***I do check mine every jump.
Don't touch my gear.
;)




I kinda see this as a shortsighted solution but then I was brought up in the BPA system where getting gear checked is mandatory and was normal in my jumping career.

As I see it, checking your own gear has 2 sides to it.

Pro: You know nobody has messed up your gear while they were doing a check.

Con: You're not infallible. You may forget a check (even if you're sure you won't) or may miss something (even if you're sure you don't).


With someone else giving your gear a look over after you've done it, you mitigate the risk of the con above and can minimize the impact on the pro by proper training and constant repetition of gear checks.

I used to routinely ask newly licensed jumpers to check my gear, and would then get another check by a more experienced jumper who I trusted before I got on the plane. This has the dual benefit of teaching the beginner about gear, and giving them lots of confidence without endangering me. After a few dozen flight line checks they can be as good at it as anyone with a thousand jumps.

In effect you're teaching everyone to be as diligent about gear as you are.

That said, with the change of culture has to be the education of jumpers not to mess with stuff they don't understand, and a understanding that 'Gear Check' isn't synonymous with 'pull on everything'.
I used to refrain from doing checks on CRW jumpers because of all the funky shit they had going on - for specialist disciplines like that or WS I can see how it's best kept in the family, but for general jumping I think gear checks are a great thing if they're limited to a visual inspection of the 3 ring & harness routing, and then opening the main pin cover and visually inspecting the main pin seating & orientation and bridle routing, and then visually inspecting the reserve pin before closing the flaps back up.

At no point in a gear check performed by someone else would I expect any physical contact to be made with the pins, bridle or PC unless they identified a problem and told me first.




My flightline check for someone else used to go like this - front to back, bottom to top to bottom:
(Do it the same way everytime...)

1) Check legstraps. Are they twisted? Is the excess stowed? Any obvious issue with hardware routing. (no contact)

2) Check Cutaway and Reserve Handle position & seating - not tucked under, velcro is all done up. (no contact)

3) Check chest strap routing. (no contact)

4) Check 3 ring setup. (no contact unless you can't see the cable going through the white loop, and then ask if they want it checked)

5) Ask - AAD turned on and zeroed? (no contact)

6) Check reserve pin seating. (Open reserve flap. No contact on the pin. Close reserve flap)

7) Check main pin orientation (pointing up) and seating. (Open main flap. No contact with main pin unless you see an issue).

8) Check bridle routing - any obvious error that would lead to a PC in tow? (Close main flap.)

9) Check PC is all the way in. (no contact)

I was also brought up in the BPA system so when someone says "dont touch my gear" I respect it but am internally saddened by it.

"Dont touch my gear but Im about to go a zoo tracking/sit fly/head down/belly dive where we could possibly collide with one another at extremely high speeds, but dont pull my main flap down and make sure my pin is seated and my pilot chute cocked"

"Dont touch my gear, but hold on to my chest strap or main lift web for this awesome exit"

"Dont touch my gear, but this wingsuit rodeo is gonna be gnar-gnar brah"

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Quote

I was also brought up in the BPA system so when someone says "dont touch my gear" I respect it but am internally saddened by it.

"Dont touch my gear but Im about to go a zoo tracking/sit fly/head down/belly dive where we could possibly collide with one another at extremely high speeds, but dont pull my main flap down and make sure my pin is seated and my pilot chute cocked"

"Dont touch my gear, but hold on to my chest strap or main lift web for this awesome exit"

"Dont touch my gear, but this wingsuit rodeo is gonna be gnar-gnar brah"



Haha! Excellent points! I always think that too. I don't get the whole, "don't touch my gear." My gear is not that special. I'll let anybody check it, jump it, use it for pillow.... whatever. It's not that delicate! A simple pin check is not hard to do and I'd welcome one from anybody with a license.

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many years ago I was on several loads with Airspeed (not jumping with, just on the plane)and they ALWAYS gave each other pin checks before jump run. From that day forward I have always asked for a pin check at 10k and even on hop and pops. If it's that important to world champions it damn well better be important to me.

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

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catfishhunter

many years ago I was on several loads with Airspeed (not jumping with, just on the plane)and they ALWAYS gave each other pin checks before jump run. From that day forward I have always asked for a pin check at 10k and even on hop and pops. If it's that important to world champions it damn well better be important to me.



and low time jumpers on any random load seeing the experienced people giving each other pin checks adds to the culture of safety we should all strive for
You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

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>It is common practice to ask another jumper to check your pins a couple of
>minutes before the door opens.

And to expand on this - do NOT do pin checks (beyond visual or touch checks) when the door is open! Pulling open pin covers exposes the pin to being hit, and even the act of prying open a reserve cover can cause a PC launch if the pin is already mostly out. And you do not want that to happen when the door is open.

(One of the reasons doors are important IMO.)

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billvon

>It is common practice to ask another jumper to check your pins a couple of
>minutes before the door opens.

And to expand on this - do NOT do pin checks (beyond visual or touch checks) when the door is open! Pulling open pin covers exposes the pin to being hit, and even the act of prying open a reserve cover can cause a PC launch if the pin is already mostly out. And you do not want that to happen when the door is open.

(One of the reasons doors are important IMO.)



Bill makes a very good and important point. I'll take that a step further. I make sure the people in my groups are in position at the door and staged for exit prior to opening the door. Every time a jumper moves, shuffles positions, etc. there is an opportunity for a handle to get pulled or something else to happen.

I want everyone already pin checked, shuffled, moved, and whatever long before jump run. Doing so not only makes things safer, it allows everyone to spend the last minute or so before the door opens focusing on the skydive instead of anything else.
Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

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chuckakers

I make sure the people in my groups are in position at the door and staged for exit prior to opening the door. Every time a jumper moves, shuffles positions, etc. there is an opportunity for a handle to get pulled or something else to happen.

I want everyone already pin checked, shuffled, moved, and whatever long before jump run. Doing so not only makes things safer, it allows everyone to spend the last minute or so before the door opens focusing on the skydive instead of anything else.



But, what about all the hand jive and the "Is my go-pro on?" hand signals? That's what I see going on just before exit. This ritual seems to have replaced last-minute gear checks and actually thinking about the coming dive.

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BobParker

***I make sure the people in my groups are in position at the door and staged for exit prior to opening the door. Every time a jumper moves, shuffles positions, etc. there is an opportunity for a handle to get pulled or something else to happen.

I want everyone already pin checked, shuffled, moved, and whatever long before jump run. Doing so not only makes things safer, it allows everyone to spend the last minute or so before the door opens focusing on the skydive instead of anything else.



But, what about all the hand jive and the "Is my go-pro on?" hand signals? That's what I see going on just before exit. This ritual seems to have replaced last-minute gear checks and actually thinking about the coming dive.

We still have all that silliness. We just do it earlier. Our last minute or two are spent with our minds on the jump.
Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

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chuckakers


We still have all that silliness. We just do it earlier. Our last minute or two are spent with our minds on the jump.

:D:D

Like to add that if you DO have to move around, covering your BOC handle with your right hand is a good idea. Take it from someone who had a premature deployment after climbing out front float. :o:D

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I've seen some people change the orientation of someone else's main pin when gear checking (from horizontal to vertical or smile to frown for example) which seems not cool to me. When I'm asked to pin check, the only thing I'm going to do is make sure their pins are fully seated in the jumper's chosen orientation.

Thoughts?

Yes, I check both my pins before every jump.

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danielcroft

I've seen some people change the orientation of someone else's main pin when gear checking (from horizontal to vertical or smile to frown for example) which seems not cool to me. When I'm asked to pin check, the only thing I'm going to do is make sure their pins are fully seated in the jumper's chosen orientation.

Thoughts?

Yes, I check both my pins before every jump.

If it was a student on rental gear, I'd change the orientation to our DZ's policy. Experienced people,I'd ask if it looked funky to me.


When you say "Yes, I check both my pins before every jump." do you mean you do it yourself or you have someone do it.

I admit I check pins before putting on the rig and do checks of 3 on the plane, but rarely get a pincheck.

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Who said they were anal about gear checks and pin checks? Whoa. You can't be too anal about safety in this sport. check, check, check, check, check until you're convinced everything is okay. Three times at least. On a recent jump at Raeford, I was settled on the floor in front of the bench when space opened up and I got a seat. As I backed in my pack scraped hard against the forward door mechanism (that juts out quite a lot on this particular PAC-750, a sardine of a plane if there ever was one). I was about to ask the young lady skydiver behind me to check my reserve pin....when she said, whoa, let me check that pin for you. It's gratifying to see that jumpers are looking out for one another.
SCR-442, SCS-202, CCR-870, SOS-1353

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I like the distinction about switching a student to match the DZ policy, I would guess that you'd talk to the student/packer as well?

I check both reserve and main pins before I put my rig on for every jump. I've also started having someone pin check my main on every jump before exit. I do checks of 3 but don't really want people messing with my reserve flap on the plane.

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