Jumped my own pack job today!

Busaman5000

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And im still alive to tell about it! Boy my sphincter was tight on the first jump, lol!

But the chute opened perfect, real soft and had a good landing!

The second jump I had a real hard opening though. It jared the hell out of me and kinda hurt.

But over all it was a success!

I know this thread is worthless with out pics but I just don't have any today. :(
:beerchug:
 
sorry the second one was so hard...maybe someone tightend the strings on you...did the wife take out a big ins policy on you recently? lol
 
Congrats! Yep, that's a milestone for sure! I remember well the first time I looked at that balled up pile of nylon and thought to myself, "How the hell am I going to do this without killing myself?"

What kind of canopy again? Flat, PRO or Psycho Pack? It may seem counter intuitive, but rolling/stuffing the nose, fully exposing the slider and making sure your stows are tight and the right length will SLOW your opening into something softer so you won't get whacked. Depends on which canopy; they all act differently to some degree. The thing is MADE to OPEN; the goal is to have it open consistently, softly, and ON HEADING. You will find the on heading part is usually the hardest, and alot of times has more to do with body position than packing acumen.

Advice: You will see a lot of jumpers either paying a packer, or just packing without much regard to doing it right. I've heard people actually BRAG about having 100 jumps and 5 reserve rides - nothing to be proud of. I wanted to be that guy that had 5000 jumps and Zero malfunctions - I wanted hospital corners when I packed...but jump 876 was my first one, and I haven't had another one since, BECAUSE I pack my own rig, every time, the same way, every time, and if I don't like it, I'm smart enough to pull it back out and start again. Too many people don't pay attention to the piece of equipment that will save their life..

Like I said, they are designed to OPEN. There are about 5-6 critical things than can really screw you up, if you get those right, then the rest of them will cause minor problems such as you experienced. Always pack under the supervision of a rigger or skydiver on the DZ you trust (and hopefully you pick the right person). I try to watch the students, and if I see them get into a bind I'll come over and help them. If your DZ is doing this right, you ARE being watched and coached. If you're not, then you gotta ASK. Most skydivers are glad to help a young jumper while they are waiting for another load.

Beautiful weekend for jumping for sure! I got three out of a C130 about 3 weeks ago (video is posted around here somewhere - search for "Fort Knox" and I think you'll get a hit) and haven't jumped since and I'm getting the itch. Can't go tomorrow so I'll have to take my chances with the weather for another week :banghead:
 
And im still alive to tell about it! Boy my sphincter was tight on the first jump, lol!

But the chute opened perfect, real soft and had a good landing!

The second jump I had a real hard opening though. It jared the hell out of me and kinda hurt.

But over all it was a success!

I know this thread is worthless with out pics but I just don't have any today. :(
:beerchug:

Congrats on your jump :thumbsup:
 
Thanks!

The canopy is a PD210 DOM is 1993 so its a older F111 canopy. I think im doing the PRO pack on it. My instructor only taught me one, I think thats what he said it was.

Fully exposing the slider? What do you mean? Do you mean having the slider fully exposed out of the cocoon before I fold it to put it into the D-bag?

Im thinking I didnt do a very good job rolling the nose on it on the last pack. I tried rolling it tighter when I packed it before I left, so we will see what happens next time. Both openings were on heading though so that was good.

Yeah I seen the C130 video, that was sweet!

Im going to be sore tomorrow, I can already feel it.:whistle:
 
Are you laying it out on the ground, and then folding it up (that's a flat pack) or are you holding it with the lines over your shoulder, doing some folding and then flopping it out on the ground to S-fold it into the D-bag (That's a PRO pack). You'll know the difference if you watch what other jumpers are doing you'll understand what I mean.

For F111, a flat pack is easier, more consistent, and allows you to see/make the proper adjustments. You can walk away from it for a few moments and come back. PROpack is harder to do AND to understand WHY you are doing it this way. However, a) when you start jumping zero P you will HAVE to PROpack, and b) alot of jumpers never learned how to flat pack. If you were on my dz, you'd be flat packing this parachute.

Your slider question also leads me to believe you are flat packing. No, I do not mean it should be outside the pack job, what I mean is that it should be evenly distributed between the a-d line groups. What that does is, in the opening sequence, acts as an air brake when the line groups separate and slows down the opening sequence. If it's balled up or something, then air gets past it into the main too fast and WHAM! Folding (hiding) the nose from the airstream during the initial opening sequence also slows the canopy (air doesn't enter the cells as fast).

Another tactic that works well is to look at your line stows. Specifically, how tight are the rubber bands? Rubber bands stretch over time; as they do, the line stows get looser and looser - BAD. I double wrap my rubber bands on the last 3 rows of stows - to give you an idea, I can hold my d-bag with canopy inside by the lines and they will not unstow unless I give them a good shake. Since I am not standing there to watch you pack (or pack/jump it myself to see how it performs), you should always seek the advice of a rigger, but I do think 2500+ jumps and one malfunction presents my bonafides. I admit I don't know squat about Hayabusas, but on THIS subject I'm fairly vested.

P.S. If you ARE propacking, I suspect you are having a hard time getting the canopy S-folded and into the D-bag without turning it into a mess. I've got a trick to doing that which I've been doing for 10 years that makes it a LOT easier.
 
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Ok yeah im doing a PRO pack then. I am getting the slider as evenly distributed as possible. I didnt think you meant outside the pack job because I was pretty sure that was a big no no. But just wanted to make sure lol.

Im thinking your right, the rubber bands may in fact be the culprit. They are no where near as tight as what yours are. They are getting pretty worn. I was thinking as long as they don't break then there fine. I'll pull it out later and put some new rubbers on it and repack it before I jump it again. I didnt think that would make that much difference, but I'll be sure to keep a eye on that in the future.

Yeah it is a total pain in the ass to get that thing in the D-bag. Its definatly not as perfect as it was by the time I get it in the bag. Not to say its bad but it does take a beating.
 
Rubber bands break during the opening sequence, it's a fact of life. but they need to be TIGHT, even double-wrapped if necessary. If this is an F111 Canopy, then it's also probably got Dacon lines (or are they Microline?) Reason I ask is the size of the stow also matters. The 'bite' that a Dacon line should have in a stow is about 2.5 inches, for a Microline stow, 1.5 inches is closer to the mark. I PROMISE you that, with everthing else being equal, good tight line stows will give you a more stable opening sequence.

One of these days I'll use my GoPro when I pack and I'll show you how to fold it to get it into the bag. I can actually get up and walk away from the fully open back with the canopy folded up in it, and it's would come out (betcha can't do that with S folds!)

You really want to get this down right before you start rasslin with Zero P...pack one of those wrong and it will rock your world.
 
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:rofl:

Have you ever heard the saying " If I told you to jump off a building would you do it "

if i had a parashout (however you spell it) or there was water HELL YEA push it to the limit and if your still alive push it just alittle harder :laugh:
 
i havent had the chance to jump yet but i would love to i wish you didnt have to jump with someone strapped to you the first time... congrats on your jump
 
i havent had the chance to jump yet but i would love to i wish you didnt have to jump with someone strapped to you the first time... congrats on your jump

Actually you don't. You can do AFF as your first jump.
 
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