Packing First Rig

[MJH 0]

Tomorrow I'll jump my first rig; until now, I've jumped student or rental gear packed by my DZ's riggers. After that first jump, I'll have to pack my main myself. I've walked through a pack job a couple of times with the riggers at my DZ, watched experienced skydivers pack, and watched Pack Like a Pro with Billy Weber a few times, so I have the basic idea of how to pack. My questions, for anybody who may have advice, are these. Does this seem like a firm enough foundation? How much of a background did you have when you packed on your own for the first time?

I ask because I want to avoid making a pest of myself by asking for more help than I really need, but I'd also like to avoid the embarrassment of a malfunctioning canopy.

[Brains 2]

First, congrats on getting your own gear!
But this:

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I ask because I want to avoid making a pest of myself by asking for more help than I really need,

and this:

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but I'd also like to avoid the embarrassment of a malfunctioning canopy.

You need to get over. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, EVER! We all had to learn how to pack. If your dz doesn't have a packing class for new jumpers, then ask the staff packers/rigger for advice and help. I haven't found one yet that won't help a newbie out. As for the second comment, don;t be embarrassed about chopping a malfunctioning main. Even professional packers have to do that stuff. A friend of mine called me yesterday from the WFFC saying she had to chop her main that she packed. She is a paid packer and has been for many years.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[aulbjerg 0]

In Denmark, you have to get a packing course before you start packing... Typical after 5 - 15 jumps... The course is 1 evening...
After that you pack 40 times with 4 checks under the packing... After the 40 packings you get 3 examination packings, with cutaway and filtered lines... After that you get Packing certificate...
Thats just the way we do it in Denmark...

---
BLUES - Jacob
D-601, Denmark

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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How much of a background did you have when you packed on your own for the first time?

I had my seven AFF jumps, five more on student gear, and a packing class from Skratch Garison with the condition that I teach two more people how to pack.

Needed some help the first time, less help the next couple, and was packing for myself.

If you keep the lines in the middle, cock the pilot chute (assuming it's collapsible), and don't do something amazingly stupid closing the container it's going to open. Keep the slider at the stops and roll the nose/tail as appropriate and the opening will be comfortable too.

IOW, don't worry about it.

[FrogNog 1]

I kept asking for help until I was sure I could remember all the important details, and I felt comfortable I had packed it well enough that it would probably work. (Yeah, I was still scared, but I've always pretty much been scared the first couple times I did anything in skydiving.)

I found I couldn't remember more than half the packing steps until I started actually trying to pack. Then I would commit some of them to memory by doing, and I suffered many embarrasing memory lapses that I had to ask a packer to help me out of. After about 8 attempts to pack, I finally got it. I think the second successful pack job I got to jump. (The rigger pulled the first one apart to check it. )

You may be a pest for what seems like an eternity while you learn to pack, but once you get it you'll hopefully remember and do a LOT of pack jobs where you won't be a pest anymore. So it's all OK.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[jakee 1,489]

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After that you pack 40 times with 4 checks under the packing

Woah, forty practice pack jobs with 4 check stages each time for mains! That seems a tad excessive, its not rocket science.
Does Denmark generally have conservative rules like that?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[firstime 0]

yup>> been there, bought a new rig, did my pack job
at the DZ with some help. I then took it home to practice,I also had the "pack like a pro" video.
Vacumed the floor, put the dog outside and here I go, well after watching that blob of nylon jump out the the bag 3/4 of the way in I wanted to kill Billy
Weber and take a pair of scissors to my $1900.00
canopy and I had to dry it out from the 4 gallons of sweat from my forehead and voiced curse words
that I didnt know existed. It's pretty scary when one
curses a piece of nylon's mother, father,sisters bro's
etc... I wish I had a video of myself as I would have
sent it to Billy Weber.

Good Luck & try to be calm when that miserable piece of shit jumps out the D just when you think you got it. LMAO

[cvfd1399 0]

I was in a bland mood until i read that thanks

[FrogNog 1]

The first pack job ever put on my Hornet 190, made of Gelvenor, I got it in the bag pretty nice. And with only about 65 pack jobs under my belt.

Of course, I'm not sure whether it's the best-flying material. I can't really tell.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[aulbjerg 0]

Quote

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After that you pack 40 times with 4 checks under the packing

Woah, forty practice pack jobs with 4 check stages each time for mains! That seems a tad excessive, its not rocket science.
Does Denmark generally have conservative rules like that?

No its not Rocket Science, but its good that everybody have to ask for help in their packing, that way you wont get a bad pack job because someone i afraid to ask for help...

---
BLUES - Jacob
D-601, Denmark

[skytash 0]

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You need to get over. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, EVER! We all had to learn how to pack. If your dz doesn't have a packing class for new jumpers, then ask the staff packers/rigger for advice and help. I haven't found one yet that won't help a newbie out.

You'll keep asking until your comfortable and one day someone will ask you and you will answer and help them as much as they need because you remember what it was like!

tash

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

[MJH 0]

Thanks to all for the advice. The questions ended up being moot, because the staff and experienced skydivers at my DZ constantly looked over my shoulder, and helped me pack, without me having to ask for assistance. In fact, in six jumps this weekend, I didn't complete one pack job entirely on my own. But my level of competence increased with each pack. I think I'll get there soon.

I take a couple of points from this experience. First the people at my DZ, Great Lakes Skydivers, are fantastic. Everybody, from the DZ operators to the riggers, to the experienced jumpers, went above and beyond to help me. I can't begin to repay them for what they've taught me in such a short time -- except by helping newbies when I become experienced. I'll do that, of course, but by then most of these folks will be retired.

Second, I'd like the name and address of whoever developed Zero P material. I have a few words for this person. They're compound words, and they're very special, so I'll save them for the wonderful person who developed this material that refuses to go into the *&%^$*&^! deployment bag. If anybody knows the name of the person at Performance Designs who made Zero P even more slippery, I'd like that person's address as well. I also have some compound words for that person.

[masher 1]

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After that you pack 40 times with 4 checks under the packing

Woah, forty practice pack jobs with 4 check stages each time for mains! That seems a tad excessive, its not rocket science.
Does Denmark generally have conservative rules like that?

4 checks? How about these?

1 - lines are clear (check the brake lines)
2 - slider up and everthing is neat
3 - looks good in the bag
4 - looks good in the container

Doesn't sound that conservative to me... but I'm from Australia...

.

Sounds similar to our Packer B requirements. The examination is 10 supervised pack jobs on at least two different canopies. After which you can pack canopies for students.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[aulbjerg 0]

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4 checks? How about these?

1 - lines are clear (check the brake lines)
2 - slider up and everthing is neat
3 - looks good in the bag
4 - looks good in the container

Doesn't sound that conservative to me... but I'm from Australia...

.

Sounds similar to our Packer B requirements. The examination is 10 supervised pack jobs on at least two different canopies. After which you can pack canopies for students.

Its almost the same in Denmark...
I rembered wrong!!! SORRY!!
Is't only 20 supervised packings and 5 examination packings...
And the 4 checks is pretty much simular to the Australian ones...

---
BLUES - Jacob
D-601, Denmark

[lowie 0]

If anybody knows the name of the person at Performance Designs who made Zero P even more slippery, I'd like that person's address as well. I also have some compound words for that person.

[riggerrob 643]

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If anybody knows the name of the person at Performance Designs who made Zero P even more slippery, I'd like that person's address as well. I also have some compound words for that person.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Blame some Frenchman. Parachutes de France were the first company to introduce zero porosity fabric.
Performance Designs was the second company to make canopies out of ZP fabric.

[syntax 0]

dont feel too bad, Ive got an electra to pack!

------------------------------------skydiving...the grounds the limit!

[MJH 0]

I don't feel too bad. I got the parachute in the bag, with no physical help, four times on Saturday. Except for the first one (which was a nightmare), my pack jobs ranged from 25 to 45 minutes. As for the openings, well, there was, literally, a marked difference between my pack jobs and the pack jobs done by a rigger. I have the bruises from an off-heading opening to show for it. But I seemed to get a little more proficient with each pack job. I'll get there eventually.

[jazzabelle83 0]

I started packing at a pretty young age and i made some one watch me for what seemed like forever, until one day they said they weren't going to. That was a nervous pack job, but after it was jumped and opened, i gained a lot of confidence in knowing I did it on my own.

And I know how frustrating it can be getting in the bag at first, believe me it gets easier. My advice is to watch other people pack. You might pick up a few methods that will work better for you. For example it 's a lot easier if you start with the D lines and work you're way up ( pro-pack) the lines are already set out for you that way. Just a helpful hint that helped me.

[skr 1]

>Second, I'd like the name and address of whoever
>developed Zero P material.

:-) :-) :-)

Now *that's* funny ...

Welcome to skydiving ...

Skr