Skydiving Mag Article - Packers are Leeches on the sport

[Hausse 0]

Are you aware about which DZO you are talking?!? B and C are most certainly not true...

[Andy9o8 0]

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and I cringe at people who remain ignorant of their own gear because they only use packers.

I mostly only use packers, but i am not ignorant about my gear. I mostly jump on fridays. While the packer is packing i conduct buis. calls. I also own 2 rigs so i can do back to back loads. I only have one day a week to jump. I have to make it count. What is wrong with that???

Uh...nothing.
I'm not saying people who mostly use packers are ignorant about their gear. If that's what you thought I said, re-read my post.

Sigh. OK. If it helps: "...people who, because the modern-day availability of packers allows them to never pack for themselves, ALSO use that as an excuse to never bother carefully educating themselves about the gear that they jump, as more specifically contrasted with:
(a) people "back in the day", when we always packed for ourselves, and therefore (and thereby) were forced to learn about our gear, and/or
(b) People who currently prefer to mostly use packers, but are still well-educated about their gear. "

Yes, that's better. Much more concise.

[bbarnhouse 0]

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Definitely more than one person think that way.

Perhaps they do, I was however commenting on that individual

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As for me...I think its the pilots that are leeching.
Imagine how much money the dzo would save if they didnt have to pay pilots

Bwahh! Auto pilot otter poopers!

[riggerrob 558]

Mike Truffer was playing devil's advocate ... it is a common journalistic ploy.

And I can agree with both sides of the argument.

In the end, I perceived that Truffer's biggest beef was with attitudes of burnt out professional packers: hogging the packing mat, swooping free beer, not fun-jumping any more, etc.

Many of those criticisms could be levelled at me. I rarely pack mains, because I am too busy hiding behind tandem students or sewing machines. I have all the instructor ratings and am the DZ's primary rigger, ergo, I rarely have time for fun jumps or beer drinking.
Yes, I would like to jump my wing suit on the sunset load, but there are six reserves awaiting my attention, three line kits and more canopy patches than I can count nagging at me from the loft.

[airtwardo 6]

Plus, in a pinch, their meat can be tenderized by being beaten with a crowbar.

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True, but the meat tastes a lot like a dirty ashtray full of Ramon Noodles.


Most of the packers I know are cool people...that being said, last week I made 8 jumps in about 6 hours, every other load...packing for myself.

That includes me having to fid, fingertrap & hand tack a cascaded line that was hanging on by a thread.

Doubt a packer would have caught it.


The more you pack your own gear the faster ya get, and the better able you are to keep up on simple maintenance that if ignored, can cost ya $ and a day of jumping...but what do i know, i'm just an old school artifact!

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

[mirage62 0]

I haven't pack in over two years.....maybe three. I don't like to pack. As long as I can I won't pack. If I can't afford to pay a packer I prob won't jump.

I hate packing, it's God's way of ruining a perfect sport.

Pet peev of packers:
1) You come in and say "Great opening" and they say something to the effect "I pack them all them all the same doesn't matter to me"
2) "Your canopy is SOOOOO big (175 TA) your pack jobs cost more" (I lower my tip amount by whatever they charged me per pack job)

If someone packs with a good positive attitude I FEEL better about the pack job - right or wrong. If I have a mal I don't blame it on the packer and I don't care what kind it was. I stow my brakes before I set it down and I tripple check my pin. At the end of the day provide my gear was ready and the attitude was good the packer can look for at least a 20% tip.

Since I go to the same dz's and I follow the above packer's seem to like me and I DAMN sure like them.

Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little

[rehmwa 2]

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Mike Truffer was playing devil's advocate ... it is a common journalistic ploy.

And I can agree with both sides of the argument.

In the end, I perceived that Truffer's biggest beef was with attitudes of burnt out professional packers: hogging the packing mat, swooping free beer, not fun-jumping any more, etc.

hey, someone read it

I read it as tongue in the cheek and also Devil's Advocate. Thought it was funny, really.

Though a few example points were true, some really off and based on goofy stereotypes (IMO) some of the conclusions have to be very specific to individual DZs and I wouldn't think of applying the concept to all DZs.

I thought it was for discussion too. Good toilet reading (that's where I found it).

...
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

[thepaintballguy 0]

I just got my mag today. What page is this on? I didn't see it.

Josh

BTW I am going to start packing out at my DZ to help fund my jumping habits. LOL

Q: Why would someone ever want to jump from a perfectly good airplane?

A: Why Not?

[yeyo 1]

My understanding is that hes talking about packers that dont do anything more in the sport. The ones that use all the DZ facilities, claim a spot in the packing area, drink the beer, etc... they make the most money and dont give anything back to the DZ ($$$).
I think hes not talking about jumpers that pack to fund their skydiving addiction or the packers that do the staff rigs.

Im not saying I agree with him, but thats what I understood.

HISPA #93
DS #419.5

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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I think hes not talking about jumpers that pack to fund their skydiving addiction or the packers that do the staff rigs.

OHHhhh. So the packers that pack his rigs are ok, it's just the packers that pack other people's rigs. I get it.
The other problem is that they hog the music selection and continuously listen to trance.

[Andy9o8 0]

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they make the most money and dont give anything back to the DZ ($$$).

...and that's the fallacy. In a number of ways they allow the DZ to make more money from the other jumpers.

[kelpdiver 2]

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My understanding is that hes talking about packers that dont do anything more in the sport. The ones that use all the DZ facilities, claim a spot in the packing area, drink the beer, etc... they make the most money and dont give anything back to the DZ ($$$).
I think hes not talking about jumpers that pack to fund their skydiving addiction or the packers that do the staff rigs.

Is the key element - 'make the most money?'

As for not doing anything more in the sport, many of the people that make the DZ work do just their work, and nothing more. It's called running a business. If packing was the funnest job in the world, everyone would be doing it.