Hi Last year, I got addicted to skydiving. I bought my very first rig (Light cayenne 170 main, second hand and fully inspected by firebird itself) and was pretty proud on it. Untill I pulled my pilot chute out. A hard opening.. The first of many. I packed it every way a parachute can be packed. I've let instructors pack him, even a guy who packs parachutes daily in the army. But nothing helped. The openings were some times a little bit slower, but still too hard. Then I had to get my first repack. "Ok, just pull it now" my rigger said. So -luckely- on the ground, i pulled my cutaway handle and got into a little mental shock. "Did you really pull already" he asked. Yes... that reserve parachute didn't came out by itself. It only did with help from my riggers hands. Sended a mail to firebird but didn't get any reaction. Sended it again, and now they started answering and they said ok, that's a human error. Now last week i did two jumps on thuesday. The first one went open so hard.. really unbelievable. But i didn't had any pain anywhere so.. no problem i guessed. I went to my AFF instructor from last year and asked him to pack it, that it would open very, very, very slow. Gave him five bucks, he packed it pretty clean. next jump, I throw my PC out, it bangs open, could not even think about controlling my parachute, because i was just hanging there and cursing the pain away. I am 22 years old, never had any health complaint, and now have to get a back scan, because I can't do shit anymore or my lower back hurts like hell.. After hearing other peoples stories about Firebird, I strongly recommand, when buying gear, don't think about buying cayennes. I am not buying any firebird again.
