JAMS1991

Davelepka and John, Thanks very much for your input. Its exactly this sort of insight that I hoped to generate. Your thoughts and feelings are excellent qualitative data that I can use during the project and it certainly adds to the mix, so thank you for your time. It might well be that there is no perfect solution and that I am indeed 'trying to reinvent the wheel', but the bonus of my project marking scheme is that equal weight is given to the process of researching, exploring ideas and thinking outside the box, not simply a final design. The intention is to develop something new and novel....who knows what the end result will be! Crazydiver, a really good point. But if a new design could eliminate all the time and sweat in the beginning, you could have people packing efficiently without having to have amassed 100s of jumps of experience? I certainly expect any potential solutions to have a focus on being environmentally friendly and reducing the waste of elastic. JAMS1991

Thanks Sundevil777, I didnt actually know that! It all adds to some interesting survey response analysis :)

Hi Southern_Man, Thanks for your reply. There are indeed a number of alternatives on the market already. However the question I will focus on at some point, is if they are really well designed/effective, then why aren't all student jumping centres using them at the moment? Perhaps they are too expensive, not long lasting enough etc but there must be a reason. Part of my research will be to investigate this! I understand the vast majority of people on this site will have their own kit so its a different issue but hopefully I can design something that will attract both the individual and jump centre markets... JAMS1991

Hi All, Firstly, allow me to briefly introduce myself! Im a 21 yo Engineering finalist student studying at Loughborough University in England. Im very new to the sport and have been on a couple of courses with the British Army (who are sponsoring me through University). Ive not quite got my A licence yet....but I'm getting there! Having completed a few jumps now, and having packed my own chute under supervision from the beginning, I noticed how time consuming and ineffective the parachute packing process is (specifically the bit where you stow the lines with rubber bands!). I got so frustrated with the process on my last few jumps that I decided to make a difference! As such, I've chosen to base my final year engineering project/dissertation on redesigning part of the system. In short, I'm trying to replace the use of rubber bands! Think LazyBag but more academically proven and more effective! I've been following the forums on here for a while now and have realised just how much knowledge you all possess...which is far more than me! I hope you'll consider supporting my research and contributing to a wide discussion on packing system redesign. To start with I need to get some base research so if any of you have got a spare 30 seconds (and I really mean only 30 seconds) please could you fill in this survey; http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X98F6BG It is intentionally simple and crude, so please dont feel I'm insulting your intelligence/knowledge with the lack of technical terms. It is just an initial survey and gives me some data to work with. In future I hope we can discuss some ideas you may have for later in the project. If any of you would like an information sheet on how your data will be used/stored etc or just more info on the project please contact me at j.a.m.staniford-10@student.lboro.ac.uk I hope I havent broken any forum rules in posting this...please let me know if I have! Thank you all in advance for you help :) JAMS1991