Container Lock/PC in Tow - Malfunction (pic)

[ScottishJohn 25]

Has anyone actually asked the "Packer" what she actually did when she was closing the container.
Did she lengthen the closing loop because she may have not have enough strength to pull it close prior to inserting the pin.
As you said it was your rig and you kept the loop short, in fact so short that even experienced packers grumbled.

if your going to use inexperienced packers then at least have enough sense to check their work. It only takes a minute to check a rig before putting it on your back. Don't rely on the packer doing everything right and don't rely on the person giving you the gear check to spot everything. They may be unfamiliar with your gear , they may assume that a potential problem is ok because they assume you packed it that way or at least you checked it and were happy the way it was closed or they don't no the gear or they may be afraid to ask a question because they don't want to look as if they don't have the experience or knowledge.

Even rushing for a load is no excuse for checking your gear.

John

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If you think my attitude stinks you should smell my fingers

[jmfreefly 0]

EXCEPT that I have to now keep track of the dang thing along with all the other piles of parts I have (anybody need used dbags and PCs??? I got a bunch).

The other bummer is that my W7 and W5 are different reserve sizes (and different pop tops), so the only thing I could use in the case for my W5 bag being lost is the PC.

Besides.. I bet I will chuck my handles and need new ones anyway... (positive thinking, right?) AND, SRI was -so- dang quick getting me my parts (had them shipped ground anyway, and still got them in 3 days), that I am not worrying about waiting.

Here is the pic of the damage. Not a great picture..

[jmfreefly 0]

Yes, I talked quite extensively with both the guy who jumped my rig, and his girlfriend, who packed it. Both say they didnt lengthen the loop. I am not sure whether to believe them, or to just assume they are trying to say the same story. Ultimately,
I will never know, and it really doesnt matter at this point.

And I said something earlier to him about packing the rig himself (that I wasn't real sure about her packing the rig, as she seemed not fully up to speed about packing in general).

I agree with everything you say about checking your own stuff after the packer. I am (unfairly) called out at our dz as the last one to the plane, but often it is because I am double checking my gear (do I have it and is it right).

[Casch 0]

It looks to my like that could have even ended up in a premature opening, the pin only looks to be 1/4 inch through the loop.

[hookitt 1]

That's how far the pin was extracted. It could bo no further. That is how it was found after the Pilot chute towed.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[TheMonkey 0]

Quote

I am (unfairly) called out at our dz as the last one to the plane, but often it is because I am double checking my gear (do I have it and is it right).

unfairly??? lmao....you are slower than molasses on a winter day in siberia! you getting ready reminds me in some way of driving miss daisy... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!

[psw097 0]

Slow does not even begin to explain Jonathan. You call that double checking your gear? More like the sex acts of a snail. Everyone else can check check gear in a reasonable time - then I end up on camera step burning DV tape while you turn on your still camera on jumprun anyway.

[jmfreefly 0]

Yes, sometimes I am late.

To Monkey:

Sometimes it is because I find it pointless to sit at the tarmac for 15 min waiting for the plane to land and taxi.

Sometimes it is making sure I dont do something stupid like -forgetting my goggles- or double checking my closing pin so I don't have a -premature in a sit-, like some primate I know.

But mostly it is because manfiest puts me on a load with a 5 minute call while I am still dubbing.


To Paul:

Ok, you got me with that pic. I took an extra 2 seconds to re-check the camera.

Cut me maybe 1 inch of slack. Double checking a camera setting on my first belly mount/still camera jump/tracking dive, while the others are climbing out is not such a big deal. I know holding on in that raging prop blast was tiring you out. All so you could look like a knucklehead on our Red White and Blue jump on the 4th.
But that is a funny pic.

[Rainmagnet 0]

Im just late to this thread after vacation, but it strikes me maybe you didnt try one thing;
You said

(cause was...)
2) pushing the pin through either on the plane, or on exit.

and the impact force would have had to have been at a 'perfect' angle to push the pin all the way through. The fact that the pins are curved, generally make the pin turn versus push further in.
We tried on the ground to replicate this possibility, but we couldnt do it (with the reserve out).

OK so you tried pushing the pin through the lopo, but did you try pulling the free end of the pin (the part that was through the loop) back on itself??

It sounds like something made your friend think he got snagged (is there anything outside the plane that would do this?), and this would normally mean a 'pulling' force, rather than a 'pushing' force..?

It seems to me that your friend somehow caught the end of the pin against something (or something got caught or looped under it) and it was pulled outwards and back 'over' the closing loop, and that this might allow the loop to ride up over the pin and onto the webbing?

Imaging if you were to put a pull-up or something similar under the free end of the pin next to the loop and pull (hard! like the weight of your friend) towards the webbing end of the pin... could this explain it?

Doesnt explain WHAT he got it caught on though, or why the flap didnt protect the pin from this happening?

just my $.02

MikeA