Re: [cssriggers] So, You Want to Be a Rigger?

[rjf98 0]

Quote

Many of the questions are rather ambiguous, in my opinion. Almost all of the questions on my test were rather antiquated and involved rounds, cones, tools I have never seen in real life, etc. Hint: make sure you understand round line continuity thoroughly, and how to field-dress a cone with a burr (the answer is NOT to use emery cloth, which I thought sounded perfectly logical.) My written test had exactly ONE question involving a square reserve.

[cssriggers 0]

... and here are some pertinent quotes from that thread:

Quote

I don't want to get into a USPA debate, but if you've ever gone through a TSO certification process, you'll get the idea that you don't want the FAA any more involved than they absolutely need to be.

and

Quote

USPA certainly has their own issues, but I stand by my claim that having the FAA in charge, without USPA as a buffer, would truly suck. Skydiving is out of their realm, so the FAA just does their best to cover their asses in the event of a law suit and leaves us alone...because USPA is supposed to be giving us some safety regulations so they don't have to!

I totally agree.
(Regarding the FAA Sr Rigger written test, Hooknswoop informed me that it was modernized/updated in June 2003.)

I'm not a pilot, and have only peripherally been involved with a few TSO processes.
I have met and worked with several FAA people. In my experience they take their job seriously and care about rules and regs, and airspace usage. They have been decent people who like for us to educate them about skydiving instruction and gear ... if they have any time to spare before returning to their desks and paperwork.

The discussion on unrated AFF-Is is interesting - let's compare this to rigging, which the FAA absolutely regulates.

There are currently four types of ratings issued by the FAA for senior riggers - back, seat, lap and chest. Lap-type rigs have not been manufactured since the 1940s. Most riggers you'll meet have never repacked a chest rig. Some pilots, including some of our customers, do have emergency seat-type rigs.

In order to obtain a Master Rigger rating, a rigger must have 100 repacks logged for two of the four possible types. Most use back (obviously) and chest - because earlier Racers and Vectors can be logged as chests (even though they're really backs.) ... although most of never see actual chests in real life, and seat ratings would be more practical. In actual practice, packing a back vs. a seat emergency rig are not very different. I'm not sure how many practicing riggers have lap ratings, but I'd be very interested to know!

Also, an aspiring rigger can pack 20 round reserves and obtain a ticket, with no ram-air reserve experience. This happens often with military riggers, who only have to pass a short written test about FAA regulations.

So if you can imagine taking these FAA rigging regulations and applying them to skydiving instruction, you can see why this would not be a good thing.

They don't care about skydiving methods, instruction or practices - their jobs just won't allow it. They do care about airspace use and regulations. In my opinion this is a good thing. The USPA may be far from perfect, but they seem to do a good job of allowing airport access, among other things.

Don't forget - we ARE the USPA!

[markbaur 0]

Quote

[E]arlier Racers and Vectors can be logged as chests (even though they're really backs.)

The SST pop-top started as a version of the Strong pop-top chest-mount reserve, and the manufacturer's instructions used to say that a chest rating was sufficient.

I do not recall anything in the original Wonderhog instructions, so I think it's unlikely that a Vector could be logged as a chest.

I agree, though, that the FAA rigging regulations are quite dated, and I'm grateful that the FAA leaves most of the regulation to us.

Mark

[riggerrob 630]

A couple of years ago the FAA decided that riggers could no longer log Racers and Vectors as "chest." They can only be logged as "back."

For comparison, I have repacked 2,500 back type parachutes, 297 seat and 48 chest type reserves. The only reason I have packed so many seat packs is because I used to work for Butler and Para-Phernalia who both manufacture seat-type PEPs.
And most of my chest pack jobs were done while working on a contract that Butler had with the US Coast Guard.