i finally packed my first pack job

[relyon 0]

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>Sorry, I will never have someone else pack my rig.

Are you a rigger? If not, what's your defense against a numb-nuts rigger packing you a reserve total?

Ouch! Great question though, regardless of who packs the main. Mine is usually packed by the rig manufacturer or the guy who actually built the rig.

Bob

[homer 0]

Let me rephrase it. I will be the only one to pack my main canopy. As for the reserve my rigger does that and if I could I would watch him as to see exactly how it is done but I can't because he takes it home to do it.

CSA #699 Muff #3804

[sweeney 0]

great job whodi

[JJohnson 0]

My first unsupervised pack job:
Didn't stow the r/h brake, on openin it started into line twists and spiraling.....this on jump number 21. I freaked, chopped it and followed my main into the corn field. This was not my first mal however. My first tandem was a chopper as well.
JJ

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[Zenister 0]

must be terrible to go thru life without trusting it to someone else from time to time...

besides in most cases that "numb nut" packer has packed more chutes already than you will ever even see in your entire life....

i never understand this attitude. particularly in a sport where currency is everything... do you trust some one who has done a task 100 times or 10000 times more?? if you want to pack your main fine, but you already trust your life to strangers in more ways than you know every single day.. that kind of attitude is just an excuse for not wanting to spend $5.

but hey its your life and your green pieces of paper..while your busy packing i'll wander around hang with my friends and STILL be able to make more jumps than you are likely to that day..

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[AggieDave 6]

The problem I have is that I'm a very careful packer, especially when packing for other people, but then I go to someplace like Eloy and at the end of the day sometimes have a packer pack for me, ending up with what I had: one of those pack jobs had a mis-routed bridle AND a totally uncocked pilot chute! That would have been a reserve ride, but thankfully I check my gear before I put it on. A different day, a different packer, the bag came off my back with line-twists, before the the bag was even nearing line stretch. That says to me the packer wasn't paying attention and turned the bag twice before putting in the container. I understand that linetwists just happen sometimes, but not like that, atleast not when I'm packing myself.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Zenister 0]

well i wont speak for all the packers at Eloy because there are only 3 (and usually only 1) that i let pack for me, and that one is a perfectionist about packing, always asks me how my opennings was, about how long it took on heading etc...and made a few changes when she first started packing for me..to get it 'just right'. ussually gives me shit about whatever screwy landing i just had too..

of course some packers have different rules about setting sliders, brakes etc and i know that has caused some issues in the past with people that expected her to do everything but didnt ask.

ps. arent line twists more often caused by body position? the only time ive really had them back i wasnt really stable when i pulled...after i really started paying attention to my shoulder/hip position i havent had any issues since..

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[AggieDave 6]

95% of the time yes, linetwists are caused by body position. This wasn't, it came out of the container with the linetwists there, the bag didn't bump the container or anything like that. They were packed there. It pissed me off since I almost had to chop that one.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[winsor 191]

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holy shit all i can say is packers don't get paid enough for this. Its taken me all afternoon, a lot of sweat, some blood, a hell of a lot of cursing and pounding my fists, but i've finally done it - although i doubt its good enough to jump, but atleast i got the damn thing in the bag!
Ok now to take it all out and start again...

It's like a lot of things - if it seems difficult, you're doing it wrong.

Unfortunately, not too many people understand how to get the canopy into the bag in a controlled, low-energy fashion. It doesn't take any more effort to pack a brand-new super slick canopy than a ragged-out F-111 7-cell if you know what you're doing.

Packing for yourself is advisable to maintain familiarity with your gear. Even doing it fast (I rarely take more than 6 minutes), something that is a problem is likely to stand out during inspecton ("hey, that's not right...").

In addition, if you play with the pack job you can dial in your openings. All canopies are not created equal, and the treatment of the nose, tail and lines that your canopy likes best might not be in accordance with a paid packer's routine.

I've also found that placement of the bag in the container is a variable that may affect openings greatly. Placed with the bridle attachment at the bottom it is subjected to pretty wild rotation when extracted, but placed with the bridle attachment facing out it extracts directly. This really helps on-heading openings, but a paid packer won't generally deviate from the norm.

If you want to learn to pack, watch people who seem to know what they're doing. There are a lot of little tricks that make it easy, and I have had useful suggestions made by all kinds of people over the years.

Get some practice, pay attention, and it can become a non-issue fast.


Blue skies,

Winsor

[rredman 0]

You need to be able to pack to get your A in Canada too ,it used to be for a B, but they just changed the rules.. anyway, I like to pack my own... I'll pack a buddies if he/she is busy with a student or something...