Jumpers not learing about gear?

[dqpacker 7]

everyone should know the basics and more about the rig before a license but a jumper who has a load of jumps should be able to use a packer at their despence but shouldn't expect the packer to check their rig for anything wrong but if i see something wrong i will fix it for them if i can but it is their responsablity before they get on the plane

[feuergnom 26]

just two weeks ago we spent an evening on gear maintenance with our rigger. not only did he show us what kind of inspections we can make (besides releasing 3rings and checking lines). what really took every one of our feet was what kind of "mistakes" he showed us, that came into the rigging loft and what could have easily killed the jumpers who made them
and although every one of us packs his own rig, and we do take great care about what we do we learned a lot this evening

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

...I want people around me that are heads-up enough to tap me on the shoulder and bring it to my attention if there is something about my gear that is questionable, not people who don't know the difference.

A lackadaisical attitude regarding safety issues is not acceptable

Right on!

I was very fortunate to have an S&TA/Master Rigger that insisted that we have not just the knowledge but also experience with our gear. Made us RTFM, showed us, took it apart, and made us do it several times until HE was satisfied that WE knew it and then followed up days later to re-check us on what we learned. That went for gear parts, packing, maintenance and EVERYthing.

To this day, I check/maintain it all myself and then have him verify my work. God bless his beautiful ass.

Anal? You betchya!

You bozos who depend on someone else for gear maintenance by throwing a few bucks at 'em....please get OUT of the sport before you cause an incident report that reflects badly on the rest of us.

Sorry, guys....this touched on a sore point here.....

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[freedom1 0]

It seems odd to me that there are so many people talking about how alot of jumpers don't know how to pack. I have not done any skydiving travelling, thus I only have been to my home DZ, where all the upjumpers know how to pack so that they can help pay for thier jumps by packing first timers gear. So when I first got into skydiving I just thought that it was mandatory to learn to pack; it seems like that would be the first step previous to one obtaining their own gear. Hrmmm.....

[kimemerson 7]

Much as I love this sport I have to say that it has become in the last 10-15 years or so a fairly consumerist sport. People pay for what they would rather not do themselves and so style, fashion & image are allowed to dictate far more than common sense and safety are. In that mental state one tends to feel as though they have a right to be served and serviced. Which can lead to expecting even your equipment to do your dirty work, i.e. Cypres covering your ass at pull time, audible altimeters covering your ass at pull time, RSL & Skyhook covering your ass at pull time. Basically, there's no excuse for not knowing your gear. You don't need to be a rigger to justify knowledge. And frankly, anyone who is so god damn cavalier as to expect others to know for them, so god damn lax about taking this sport full on by the horns and loving it and knowing all it offers, is just a pile of trouble waiting to hurt someone else. I have no problem with first trying to educate these people and if that fails then asking them to leave, or jump when I'm not around. You know, if this was tiddly-winks I suppose it would be ok to not have a clue as to how the little plastic discs are made. Fascinating, maybe, but not really appropriate to the game at hand. It just occurs to me that this, friends, ain't tiddly-winks.