Trust who to pack my chute?!?!?

[dkf1979 0]

Hello, i'm a rookie skydiver. I've only got 3 jumps under my belt. With only 3 jumps, i'm completely relying on a complete stranger to pack my chute for me. How difficult is packing a chute? Would any of you experienced divers let a stranger pack your chute? How do I know they are compentent enough to pack my life in that bag?!?!? When should I begin learning to pack my own chute?

http://bodypilot.bounceme.net

[pilotdave 0]

Hard at first. Gets less hard pretty quickly. Some tell me it gets easy later.
No reason you can't learn now... just ask someone to teach you or take a packing class. The people that do pack for you now are either FAA certified parachute riggers or, more likely, people being supervised by a rigger. Anyone can make a mistake so if you are only comfortable packing yourself, there's nothing wrong with that. The nice thing to know is that for the most part, parachute packing doesnt have to be done perfectly for the parachute to work.

I let a rigger borrow my rig once to teach some people how to pack. They thought I was nuts when I told them I'd jump it after the last one packed it. But I know he was supervised and as long as he didn't mess up on a couple steps, it'll open just fine.

Dave

[indyz 1]

Hey Dan,

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Would any of you experienced divers let a stranger pack your chute?

I started jumping at Archway and did most of my first 60 jumps there before moving away last winter. Everybody that packed at Archway when I was jumping there was extremely experienced. I would have no problem trusting my gear to any one of them.

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How difficult is packing a chute?

Packing a parachute isn't that difficult from a mental effort standpoint, although it can be a pretty decent workout (especially student gear). It only gets easier with practice.

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When should I begin learning to pack my own chute?

If they are still doing things the same way, there will be a sign up sheet at manifest for packing classes. I'd sign up for one as soon as possible, although you probably won't be allowed to jump your own packjob until you are off of the static line at the earliest.

[Nightingale 0]

learn when your instructors tell you to learn. At Perris, its pretty standard to learn once you finish AFF and are jumping rented gear, because pack jobs aren't included in the rental fee, and at $6 a pop, they can get expensive quick. 10 pack jobs = 3 jump tickets!

I was very worried about the chute packing thing til I talked one of the instructors into taking one apart and showing me the insides and how it all came together. I then looked up the science behind parachutes...

the thing is, a parachute WANTS to open. the way its built, the principles of physics make the parachute do what it does best...open. I've seen some people jump some REALLY sloppy pack jobs, heard of people having "speed packing" contests where even their buddies are looking at them going "you're actually gonna jump THAT?!" and seen them open fine... and I've seen people cutaway from what were probably excellent pack jobs. You can have the most perfect pack job and still have a problem, and you can have a sloppy pack job and have a great opening... although the better the pack job, the better the odds (or so it was explained to me).

From what I've observed, packing isn't difficult, just tedious and time consuming.

Student rigs must be packed by a rigger, a person under the direct supervision of a rigger, or the person intending to use the rig.

Think about it... if the DZ had incompetent people packing your chute, they wouldn't stay in business very long.

I have seven jumps now, and I would trust ANY of the perris valley skydiving school instructrs or riggers to pack my canopy. one of them said to me "I'd never hand a student a rig I wouldn't hand to my own mother."

[skydivingdutch 0]

Packing is actually pretty hard to screw up once you have the steps down

http://dropman.com

[tombuch 0]

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Student rigs must be packed by a rigger, a person under the direct supervision of a rigger, or the person intending to use the rig.

That is true of ALL rigs in the United States.

To the original poster: Talk with your instructor and ask who is a rigger, and who is providing supervision. As long as there is supervision on the field you should be able to trust anybody that has been approved to pack the student gear.

You should learn to pack as soon as possible. It will probably scare you at first, but once you have jumped a few of your own pack jobs you will be saving money and will have greater confidence in the equipment. Rainy or windy days are great times to learn packing, and there is no need to have a specific number of jumps first.

Tom Buchanan
Author JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[Ira 0]

Dan,
I jump at Archway every weekend. If you have questions, find anyone in a Staff T-shirt and they will gladly answer your questions. The Staff at Archway is great and always willing to help you. If you want to learn how to pack, there is a sign up sheet to the right of Manifest on the bulletin board.

As to if I trust the packers. I sure do. They did a great job for me while I was working on my license.

Have fun,

Ira

[phoenixlpr 0]

What else can you do? You should trust them if you dont know how to pack :).

[Eiley 0]

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I've seen some people jump some REALLY sloppy pack jobs, heard of people having "speed packing" contests where even their buddies are looking at them going "you're actually gonna jump THAT?!"

Heh. At our going-away party, our friends decided to prepare the three of us for our enforced 'togetherness' for the next year travelling in the US by tying our left wrists together. We had to spend the entire night doing everything together in this little circle. When that lost its entertainment value, they started setting us 'tasks'. One was to pack a rig (all tied together by our left wrists and several beers in each) that we would be prepared to jump the next day.

It was the longest, dodgiest packjob I've ever done, having to pass the canopy or lines over/under arms, squabbling about how best it should be done and taking frequent beer breaks.

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and seen them open fine...

Yep.

Eiley

nothing to see here

[cmnorris 0]

We teach our students how to pack after their second jump. It takes a little bit of practice to remember the sequence of things, but after about 6 or so supervised pack jobs you should be doing everything by yourself just fine.

Packing is not difficult and you should definitely learn as soon as possible. I'm like you...there are only 2 other people that I trust to pack my rig and both are friends. I don't trust packers since most seem to be very busy and they want to make a lot of money, but I may be a bit paranoid on that front. I am sure there are plenty of great packers, but I don't want to find out the hard way if they were good or not.

[towerrat 0]

It really doesn't matter who packs your main.I never count on a main canopy. I always judge wind and weather on my ability to land my reserve.As far as I'm concerned, my main is a bonus ( albeit a very good bonus).It's pretty hard to screw up a main. At the risk of getting flamed, I'll say that parachutes really want to open.If you are that worried about it,pack it yourself. You will still be relying on a canopy that someone else packed. Do you even know who packed the reserve in the rig you are jumping? my guess is probably not.------------------------

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[drenaline 0]

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How do I know they are compentent enough to pack my life in that bag?!?!?

The main is half your life, your real life is the reserve. Always remember you have a second chance.

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When should I begin learning to pack my own chute?

I took the packing course after my 7th jump.

HISPA 21
www.panamafreefall.com

[gulaz 1]

I started learning to pack the same day as my first jump. It seems more daunting than it actually is, but packing is just a series of steps, and most packers pack so many sets of gear, it pretty much turns into a routine. Get an instructor to show you how to pack, or at least watch someone do it who explains what they are doing, and it should make you feel a bit better.