Riggers: what will you not repack

[mjosparky 3]

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Riggers: what type of gear will you not repack?


I have never trusted non-diapered round canopies and would prefer that all rounds from the acid mesh era rot in some else's closet.

Almost all of our fighter jets and most of the military air crew systems use a non-diapered round canopy and their qual tests are much more then TSO.
I believe there were less then a dozen canopies found with acid mesh. But then again I still check every one I pack.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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[sid 1]

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Y'know "sid" if you're going level an acusation at someome be an adult and back it up with some facts.

If I said " I heard that "sid" packed a couple of totals on some reserves he was working on" and published it in an open forum without any supporting data, my credibility not to mention my professional demenour would be in serious question.

In fact the Catapult is certified and has had several saves and no reported fatalities. The fatality in NJ (Denise Daddio) was the result of an out of sequence main deployment that ended with a bag lock. The main was never jettisoned prior to the reserve deployment resulting in a main/ reserve entanglement.

I deliberately never responded to any "justify yourself" or "explain yourself" comments for 2 reasons. Firstly the thread was "what won't you pack" not "let's get into a slanging match about systems" and secondly it was meant to be my opinion with a "joke" tacked on the end. The give away should have been the phrase "duck". However, my British sense of humor has got me into trouble before and probably will again.
I did, however, respond to everyone with a private message explaining myself and entered into a couple of very interesting and informative dialogues and I am (and always will be) perfectly willing to reconsider any opinion I hold. I apologized to Mick because I didn't mean to offend him and I'm posting that apology right here.....

Mick
the reason I have not "justified" my comment on that thread is that the thread was "what won't you pack" and, believe it or not, I was trying not to let it degenerate into any other discussion or name calling session. In retrospect a comment that I wrote intending to be a little humorous wasn't and I apologize for that fact.
However, I deliberately never put a product brand name on the thread, and won't, because I happen to think the Reflex is a well designed rig, and I'm a fan of pop-tops and like the pilot chute out there. However, I'm an East Coast rigger, and a fairly new rigger (7 years) and when first confronted with a secondary pilot chute system I asked the guy that I was apprenticing under about it and he refused to pack it. He sent me to visit with Bill Booth and I'm sure that you know his opinions (bearing in mind that's all I had to work with at the time), and I spoke also with a local DPRE who also said he wouldn't pack them.

Now, fast forward a couple of years, and I'm rigging for a living. I have one solid criteria that I will not compromise, when the lead goes round the thread I have to be confident that the system that I am declaring that I have "Aired, Inspected and Re-certified" is fully functional, airworthy and the best that it can be. If I have "ANY" doubt about what's inside it I owe it to my customer and myself not to put my seal on it, and I won't. Now, granted, my opinion may be tainted, or ill-informed, but it's all I have.
I have replied to everyone that posted a comment asking me to "justify" or "explain" myself personally and have entered into some very educational dialogues, especially with Ryan, and I am more than willing to do extra research (as soon as the start of the season rigging rush is over) and am also very willing to change my position once I am confident.
On the 3 occassions that I have been asked to pack a system with a catapult, I have politely declined and referred them to another rigger. My comment was always "Sorry, I don't know enough about this system to pack it, but ***** does, here's his phone number". I have never trashed or denigrated any product to an owner as that would be irresponsible and should they (for any unknown reason) take my comment to heart it could diminish their confidence in their system.

So, if the post was implied as denigrating a product that you designed, I apologize and am willing to post that, if it offended you, I'm sorry it was never meant to, and following some very interesting discussions with Ryan I am going to research your version of this system more thoroughly and am more than willing to change my policy, I am just not willing to compromise the standard that I promised I'd set.

Peter Draper
http://www.sidsrigging.com

Mick has accepted my apology and now, I'm going to pack a couple more reserves...I thank you

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[riggermick 6]

That's what I like about this forum; even with disagreements and differing opinions knowledge is passed on without it turning into mud slinging match. Unlike a certain public forum where not much of anything in the way of skydiving gets discussed.

Mick.