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bloody_trauma

Packing

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Well I know I will be totally flamed for this.... but I really don't care...

After 5 years in the sport, I just packed my first rig yesterday. :o

I was told during AFF, that I was cute and would never need to pack, at which time the rigger signed off on the packing part of my A card. At the time, I didn't know any better and thought it was cute.

I am so glad that I know how, and becuase of the awesome rigger I had showing me, it was very easy, and felt like a huge accomplishment. However, I will continue to pay a packer for the simple reason that for most of them, that is thier job and I don't mind helping out my fellow skydivers (when I do get to jump):P.



5 years or 77 jumps ?

In other words if you had five times the jumps do you think it would still take you 5 years to learn how to pack ? Or if you racked up 77 jumps within the last month, woudl that be the point when you learned how to pack ?

this is not mean as a ridicule - I am just honestly wondering if one or the other had any effect, or if it was just an unrelated event that somebody has now taught you how to pack ?

On note with others, it was an A license requirement to pack your own parachute. I am not an instructor, but I was under impression that it is still mandatory for USPA A card ???

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On note with others, it was an A license requirement to pack your own parachute. I am not an instructor, but I was under impression that it is still mandatory for USPA A card ???



So is accuracy but I challenge you to go to almost any DZ and find a new A licence holder that can land in the same area on 5 jumps.

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In my opinion being a licensed skydiver, but not knowing how to pack is like being a licensed driver, but not knowing how to fill the vehicle up.



I think it's funny you say that. I have a friend who's boyfriend doesn't know how to put gas in his car. From what I was told he grew up in New Jersey where it's illegal to put gas in your own car (correct if I'm wrong that's what I was told as the reason). :S:S So when they drive anywhere outside of the state she has to put the gas in the car. [:/]


Not to highjack the thread but it would take someone 2 min. to learn to pump gas. He is lazy.


Seriously, I figured out how to change the head on a car without being told how; did have a book though.
I keep telling my friends skydiving will fix all your problems, Im a fibber you just let go a minute at a time. Choose what to do with it.

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Ohh and jump 10. Only took me like an hour or so. Didnt deploy till for 4 but stoped maneuvers at 6.

Really long time not doing ANYTHING except watching my altimeter thinking "Gee I really hope I did that right."

Think Ill keep packing cause A: I dont make 60 bucks an hour (5 min pack once proficient.) B: I like to know what all the gear is about.

I guess this could all change once Ive been in the sport longer.
I keep telling my friends skydiving will fix all your problems, Im a fibber you just let go a minute at a time. Choose what to do with it.

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Always pack my own



as do I. i hate it when other people pack my canopy cos ya never know what way it might end up. my classic example is when one of my fellow jumpers packed my kit so perfectly it snivelled for far longer than i would have liked to the point where i was about to get off the thing. nearly every one of my pack jobs opens the same and thats how i like it.
Dudeist Skydiver #170
You do not need a parachute to skydive, you only need one to skydive again

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mostly i pack my own.....though i have also used a packer if we are at a boogie and jumping a bunch...just varies.
DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

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I do agree that some may have physical issues preventing, or making it uncomfortable for them to pack (like a friend of mine with a fucked up back).



10-4 on that. I have had 3 knee surgeries, have osca schlattis (or however it is spelled - it's those bumps at the top of your shin right below the kneecap that are very sensitive), and moderate tearing in both ACL's. Crawling around on the packing floor in no fun at all. Nowadays, I suck it up and pack my own most of the time anyway.

I have a strange packing history. I was really stuck on flat-packing (started in '95) and was totally convinced it was the best way to ensure a good opening. For my first 500 jumps I flat-packed it myself half the time, and paid packers the other half.

Then I finally got Dustin The Packing Troll to teach me once and for all to pro-pack. Now I almost always pack my own and the pro-pack method cut the hands-n-knees time in half.
" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

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Been packing since jump 10, F1-11 rental gear under supervision. I pack my own rig now (only 5 jumps/5 packjobs so far),

Opened exactly the same all 5 times, soft/snivelly, end cells closed and off heading.

It's a Sabre2 with only 50 jumps on it, god it is absolutely terrible to pack... I push it, I lay on it, I try to get it into a nice shape, but it just hates me... it sits there laughing at me while I sweat and swear for 30 minutes bagging it up.

I don't want to jump it once it's packed up.

God it flies sooooo nice though, the flare nearly (I said nearly) makes it worth all the pain I suffer packing it.

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As a new jumper, learning to pack your own parachute well is of paramount importance.

Doing so will :
1) Teach you about your gear
2) Give you confidence in its reliability
3) Give you better awareness of the required maintenance.
4) Result in cheaper jumps
5) allow you to jump more when the packers are busy.

There are only a few things I fear more than new jumpers who aren't comfortable packing their own parachutes. For me, it's impossible to "take responsibility for the jump" if you're not packing the parachute yourself.

_AM
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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I started jumping rounds in 2001. But I never learned to pack those, just close the container. Then I watched A LOT of pack jobs, and learned piece by piece. I took a packing course, and then started my mandatory 10 packs. But when I was learning, I used to HATE it, when I'd get it to a certain point, in the sausage, in the bag, container closed. Then the instructor would pull it all out and say 'do it again'. I swear I did 20 or 30 partial packs before I did one start to finish and actually jumped it.

Then eventually people started getting ticked that I was taking up so much space flat packing. So I had to learn to pro pack, which I had to learn to do, myself, with one good hand. I spent a lot of time practicing with Tandem hooks. They make it easy not to have to hold the damn thing up forever.

Now I can actually pack reasonably well, except anything smaller than a 170 or elliptical, or brand new Z-P, lol. But I'm working on that. We pay 8 bucks a pack, so paying a packer 4 times, could buy you a jump from top floor, packing for yourself. Not much of a decision to make there.
PULL!! or DIE!!

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Not to highjack the thread but it would take someone 2 min. to learn to pump gas. He is lazy.



not necessarily,

he could either be the stupidest man alive or:

New Jersey doesn't require any level of competence or intelligence when issuing licenses or:

He could be a corpse:

He could be missing both hands and one foot:

He could be completely physically integrated into the body of the car - a human/car cyborg as it were:

see??, there could be a ton of other options than just lazy

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Before I had finished AFF I had learned to flat pack. It wasn't till I had around 70 or 80 jumps that I learned to PRO pack. I have only hired a packer maybe 20 times total. These days I always pack for myself. Although I may start paying a packer. This last weekend I did 22 jumps total and packed for myself. I wouldn't be so tired and sore today if I had paid a packer.

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When I started skydiving I pretty much did: Jump -> Land -> Pack -> Jump. That was my day, all day. Eat some food here or there. Now just a few short years later, it's: Jump -> do one of the millions of things expected of me as dropzone staff -> Jump again. No time for packing in there.

I don't use my staff money for anything other than skydiving and there are packers at the dropzone that need to be able to afford to jump as well. I am fully capable of packing (pretty quickly even) and will pack for myself if it means I can make the sunset load or on swoop training days.

I would just rather not do it if I don't have to. That said, I'm really picky about who packs my rig. I don't use new packers and if someone gives me too many hard openings or doesn't tuck my riser covers right (Micron) I wont keep using them.
~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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I've been packing my own since jump 5 and never have used a packer probably because I pack my rigs and pack tandems and sometime students for the DZ. I really only pack one other sport rig for a local jumper and I've done a couple for a demo jump once.

Sometimes I leave the DZ with my rigs unpacked but everything else is packed and closed and I'm ready to chew into some advil. I've done a bailout round with my rigger and watched a PC done and for the life of me can't imagine how you got more than one jump in per day back in the days of the round mains.

Personally, I hate flat packers. We don't have the room at our DZ to lay out a load of nylon so if you only flat pack, you may get the stink eye from everyone or you may have to hit the grass outside :ounless you are jumping the PC:)

It's called the Hillbilly Hop N Pop dude.
If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough.
That's fucked up. Watermelons do not grow on trees! ~Skymama

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Paying a packer is IMO a waste of money that can be put towards making that extra jump later on.

At my DZ students pack their own gear (except when time constraints apply) from jump #1, and IMO that's a good thing.
Personally, when packing speed became the limiting factor in the amount of jumps I made on a day, I started practicing on rainy sunday afternoons.

Now I conservatively reckon I have almost twice as many packjobs then I have jumps - and I'm not even a packer. Only one or two of those packjobs I got payed for.
I'll help any student pack if it means they can make an extra jump - but the lazy ones for whom packing is too much bother to learn, well. They can bloody well pay me.
"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

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I generally pack for myself... sometimes pack for my girlfriend... and of course my girlfriend sometimes packs for me...

My girlfriend and I paid packers when we were doing a CRW course jumping team rigs but generally we will pack for ourselves.

Scott
Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

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Been packing since jump #1.
It was required to pass the course together with the static line jumps for an A license.

In my 400 jumps I have maybe used a packer 10 times..
“The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.” - George Bernard Shaw
He who dies with the most toys, wins.....
dudeist skydiver # 19515
Buy quality and cry once!

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As a new jumper, learning to pack your own parachute well is of paramount importance.

Doing so will :
1) Teach you about your gear
2) Give you confidence in its reliability
3) Give you better awareness of the required maintenance.
4) Result in cheaper jumps
5) allow you to jump more when the packers are busy.

There are only a few things I fear more than new jumpers who aren't comfortable packing their own parachutes. For me, it's impossible to "take responsibility for the jump" if you're not packing the parachute yourself.

_AM



I'd have to agree with this post 100% !! As a climber it is necessary to be confident in you gear. I think that naturally carries over to skydiving for me. I like to know the ins and outs of every thing I do in a risky activity. Otherwize it's just blind faith. . .
"Well gee, I dunno what's in here but, everyone els's looks the same so mine should work"

I'm just a rookie (Just got My "A" yesterday) I've been packing since jump #16. Even packed for my 1st hop&pop and felt just a confident as if a packer had done it. To me it's just part of the game plus it gives you a minute to look over your gear, check for holes in the canopy, worn lines, twists, toggle stows, stows etc. . .

My .02B|
If your gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough.

Your mom goes HandHeld

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This last weekend I did 22 jumps total and packed for myself.



Damn beowulf, that's some hard core shit!

I haven't always packed for myself... when I first got re-current, I couldn't even remember how to flat pack, and hadn't learned the new school pro pack method, so I used packers. That worked until I went to a smaller DZ that didn't have them available, and I had to beg for someone to help me!

The final straw was an opening so bad it damaged the canopy, and very nearly ended up in a cutaway. I decided hell, I could do that bad, so I learned to pack and have been doing it myself every since, some 3 plus years and 400ish jumps ago. I actually prefer to pack for myself now, but I'll admit that in the middle of the Texas summer, it gets mighty tempting to just job it out!

I think the choice to use packers is personal, and I don't resent anyone for using them, but I think you should pack for yourself long enough that you at least know how, and are comfortable with the process...

"If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

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Started packing in my AFF class ( yes a pack job jump was required for my A license) Initially packing took what seemed an eternity! Now @jump 40 Im starting to feel more confident in my ability to pack my chute,but used either a packer to do the actuall pack job or watch me very closely to give me pointers and stop me from doing something potentially stupid! :P As far as my skydiving carreer... I'm still a newbie..so I can't really say whether I will use a packer or not.. but I imagine it will depend on time and money constraints. Im pretty frugal, so I imagine that most of the time I will try to pack it myself. Blue skies

If flying is piloting a plane.. then swimming is driving a boat. I know why birds sing.. I skydive.

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I pack always myself since #45 jump, so when a hard opening/mal occurs I can blame myself.
The only time when I used packers was when I had so hard opening causing a broken rib and whiplashed neck. After laying on the canopy first time I decided that for the rest of the day I use a packer.
For me is easy, packing myself I take full responsibility for the entire skydive as much as is possible and I think that most of the guys who aren't professionals (running from one jump to the other, AFF, Camera) on an intensive canopy course and big ways when debrief is needed are basically lazy or knowledge proof ;-). just simplifying.
But everyone has a free choice.

regards
Janusz
Back to Poland... back home.

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I wouldn't be so tired and sore today if I had paid a packer.



I feel like someone beat the hell out of me after a day of jumping, and I DON'T pack. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I spent my day doing both. Yes, I'm a wuss, and I'm sure you can throw lazy on me for that too. I'll own those descriptions happily since I don't really consider packing for myself an added value to my character. I do know myself well enough, that I get sloppy when I'm tired and frustrated. My boyfriend packs for me most of the time, and I trust him. He would never hurt me on purpose. Sure, accidents happen, but I'm accepting of that.
~Nikki
http://www.facebook.com/poe62

Irgity Dirgity

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