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SkyDaemon

Becoming a Rigger

By SkyDaemon, in Gear and Rigging

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SkyDaemon    0

SkyDaemon
I just earned my Senior Parachute Rigger Certificate with a back type rating! I'm pretty stoked about having achieved this goal and look forward to moving forward with it.

--Special Thanks Section--
I want to thank Rob Warner and Vic Napier for the wonderful training they provided, Lj for being supportive and helpful during the process, Dwain Weston for teaching me much of what I know about the gear I use most often, Urban and Whitney for my initlal training, and everyone who's ever taught me about gear and rigging.

--Becoming a Rigger--
HooknSwoop did a great job outlining the process of becoming a rigger in his post "So you want to be a Rigger?" http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=585697 which was very useful to me in my quest for my Rigger's Ticket. Without trying to repeat or paraphrase his post I wanted to describe the process I went through with the hope that it will be useful to others who wish to become riggers.

--My Experience--
I was first inspired to become a rigger the moment I got off student status and was packing my own parachute. The fact that the reserve container was a black box with a little lead seal and thread on it that I wasn't allowed to open fueled my desire to know what's going on in there. I met Vic Napier who has recently earned his Master Rigger rating and was willing to help train me in rigging. His interest in doing so increased dramatically when he broke his leg and had a lot of repacks to do. ;-)

--Before I Packed my First Rig--
I purchased Poynter's Parachute Manual, the Rigger Study Guide, and a Parachute Technician Logbook from paragear (www.paragear.com) (items listed below) before I began to pack. Vic gave me a few days warning before packing each rig so I could download the packing instructions, applicable Service Bulletins (SBs) and Airworthiness Directives (ADs). I would read them and then drive to Vic's place to pack the rigs.

--Packing Reserves--
I was working with a Master Parachute Rigger who wasn't packing for the first time, but rather for the 3000th. Having a newbie wannabe rigger around was a drain on his efficiency and therefore income. Under normal circumstances a newbie rigger would find a way to ensure the mentor doesn't lose income while having an apprentice. It was much slower for my mentor to show me how to pack something than to just do it himself.

After 7 repacks Vic, my mentor, moved to Arizona (smartest thing he did during those years) and I moved to Canada (smartest thing I did that year). So I found a new mentor (Rob Warner (RiggerRob)) through a friend (Jaap) and we began meeting at the dropzone to pack reserves.

(The dropzone was an hour away from my house, so each day was a two hour commute. Given gas prices in Canada (BC) it turned out to be a relatively expensive commute. Simply commuting to and from the airport cost about $500 USD in gasoline by the time I had completed my training.)

--Minor Repairs--
Many individuals who think of rigging think of 'packing 20 reserves' although canopy patches, hand tacking, assembling reserves onto reserve risers, main canopies onto containers, inspections, replacing ripcords, installing AADs, using a hot knife, fingertrapping, etc is also part of the requirements. Learning to sew canopy patches can be difficult and take significant time as well. Be aware of these items when planning to earn a Rigger's ticket. I was surprised at how much time it took to learn these things.

--Studying--
It's one thing to be able to pack a reserve so that it will work, and it's another thing to know the intricate details of the materials used, the laws regarding the canopies, containers, pins, and fabrics. An apprentice rigger must carefully study each manufacturer's manuals, check for SBs and ADs that are applicable to each part of the system. They must also know the laws in Part 65 and Part 105 and what the limits of their certificate are. The written test for the exam is 50 questions taken from a bank of around 300 questions. You can get the list of the -exact- questions that will be used on the test by purchasing the Rigger Study Guide. I -highly- recommend doing so.

Although being able to pass the written isn't enough, because during the oral exam questions will come straight from Poynter's Manual and an applicant must be familiar enough with it to a) answer the question or b) look it up efficiently.

When packing on the practical exam, it will become obvious to the Designated Parachute Rigger Examiner (DPRE) if you are competent or not. If you're handed a container you've never seen with a parachute you've never seen, that's okay, don't panic, but you should have a 'routine' down. You should know how to handle this situation and be comfortable in it.

--Testing--
When I finished 30 repacks (even though the minimum is 20) and basic minor repairs training I downloaded and printed out 2 copies of 8610-2 from http://forms.faa.gov/forms/faa8610-2.pdf. I made an appointment with the Flight Standard District Office (FSDO).
1601 Lind Avenue SW
Renton, WA 98055
(425) 227-2813

I also made an appointment with LaserGrade Testing to take the "Parachute Rigger Senior" from www.lasergrade.com or at 1-800-211-2754

I requested and received a letter of recommendation from my mentor and brought my letter of recommendation, photo ID, logbook and my 8610-2s to the FSDO in Renton, WA. The FAA Administrator signed my 8610-2s and I took them to the testing Center at:
Wings Aloft, Inc. - Seattle
8467 Perimeter Road South
Boeing Field

After I passed the written exam I took my test results, my 8610-2s, my logbook, my photo ID, to the DPRE (for me it was Geoff Farrington) in Kapowsin, WA. http://www.skydivekapowsin.com

I took my exams from Geoff and passed! (YAY!) Geoff issued me a FAA Form 8060-4, Temporary Airman Certificate, which is valid for 120 days. In theory the FAA will send me my real certificate soon.


--Commitment--
I think one of the things that drives Riggers crazy about newbie-wannabe riggers, is that many of them walk in with the attitude of wanting to become a rigger as though it's a simple or easy thing to do. While it's not rocket science, it's a lot of work. Many Riggers start training apprentices only to have the apprentices lose interest in the process and walk away without ever finishing. I think one of the things that makes Rigger Examiners sad is to issue a Rigger Certficate to someone who isn't going to use it. The commitment level on the part of the apprentice/new rigger is something that existing riggers will watch very closely and will naturally gravitate towards the enthusiastic apprentices who will invest the efforts required to become a successful rigger.

I tried to outline the costs and investments of becoming a rigger below with the intent of describing the commitment required to earn a rating. (I only earned my back type rating)


  • Costs:

    • Fees:

      • Rigger Mentoring (buy your mentor lunch? liquor? cash?)
      • $90 to laser grade testing (lasergrade.com)
      • $200 to the DPRE

    • Equipment (from paragear.com

      • $59.99 (S7330) 1 seal press
      • $7.00 (S7360) 1 pack of 100 lead seals
      • $4.00 (S7370) 1 spool of seal thread
      • $9.75 (S7290) 1 Parachute Rigger Logbook
      • $19.95 (B1877) 1 Parachute Rigger Study Guide
      • $49.99 (B1876) Poynter's Parachute Manual Volume I


  • Time:

    • 20 reserve repacks (50-60hrs)

      • ~30 minutes to locate/read manuals and SBs/ADs
      • ~1hr inspection
      • ~1hr packing
      • ~30 minutes if assembly is required

    • 12 canopy patches (2 hrs)

      • ~2 minutes to mark the material to be patched
      • ~3 minutes to measure and cut out the material that will be used for a patch
      • ~5 minutes to sew the patch

    • 6 Hand tacking jobs (1 hr)

      • ~10 minutes per hand tack job

    • Study (35hrs)

      • ~Read Part 65 (2hrs)
      • ~Read Part 105 (2hrs)
      • ~3 x Read the Rigger's Study Guide (3hrs per read/9hrs total)
      • ~Read applicable sectinos of Poynter's manual (12hrs)
      • ~Materials identification and knowledge (10hrs)

    • Testing (9hrs)

      • ~1hr making phone calls and appointments
      • ~1hr at the FAA FSDO to get the 8620-10s signed
      • ~1hr at a LaserGrade testing center to take the written exam
      • ~6hrs for the oral and practical exam


  • Totals:

    • 117hrs*
    • $440.68*


* Does not include cost of commuting to a rigging loft and testing centers, shipping and handling from paragear orders, costs of training from a mentor, of ownership of materials necessary to run a parachute loft (packing paddles, kneeboards, postive tension devices, pull up cords, sewing machines, etc.)

Without getting into revenue lost by being at the airport during business hours for almost a month (i.e. losing a month's income) I think my Rigger's Certificate probably ended up costing around $1500USD (costs of commuting, driving to testing centers, staying out of town, bribing my mentor into training me, repacks on my own rigs, etc.) and about a month and a half of my time. I did 30 repacks instead of the minimum 20 so it cost me a little more than it might someone else.

I hope this helps better describe what goes into being a Rigger. It should help to explain to newbies what the costs/commitments are, and if I'm lucky it will help explain to skydivers that at $40/repack I'll need about 38 repacks just to break even, and at 2hrs/repack it'll take 76hrs to get there as well. (not including cost of materials, commuting etc.)

Blue Skies!

-=Raistlin
find / -name jumpers -print; cat jumpers $USER > manifest; cd /dev/airplane; more altitude; make jump; cd /pub; more beer;



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peek    21

peek
Congratulations Sir, and I must say this is one of the best and most detailed posts of an experience I have ever seen on the internet anywhere!

Having trained via apprenticeship rather than via "rigger mill", you now know about a gazillion [how many zeros is that?] times more than most new riggers already, and I'm sure that with your great attitude and continuing hard work that you will know even more as you continue your rigging work.

Note to potential riggers: A rigger's rating doesn't have to cost a lot of money, as Raistlin has proven.

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JerryBaumchen    1,354

JerryBaumchen
First, congrats and welcome to the club. A fantastic write-up.

I was having lunch with Mike Truffer two months ago and we got talking about this and that and when it got around to riggers his comment was ". . . and then they buy a sewing machine and quit jumping."

Consider yourself forewarned.

Jerry

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marinho    0

marinho
Hi Raistlin,
Congratulations! What a big step!!!!
Here are a few recommendations for you:
-Be professional(also means always looking for more knowledge)
-Always use the word "I recommend"
-Never say bad things about other riggers(unless you are face to face)
-And finally, love what you do!
Cheers,
Gus Marinho

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