Derrick Steed wrote:

I go on the recommendation of the people who repack mine - the parachute
club at Sibson: they recommend no long than four months between repacks

Thanks. That's the same interval used in the U.S. I
presume you are in the U.K. Is that interval a requirement,
or just a suggestion?
Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)

I've never seen a requirement from the BGA - but then maybe I'm not reading
the right things. It's not a suggestion I'm making, I was concerned that I
maintained my pack properly in the event I needed to use it.

The club I was at before the current one used to invite parachute
instructors down from Sibson for winter lectures on the care, feeding and
proper use of parachutes - my experience (although it doesn't seem to have
had any effect on the ability the parachute of those who have used them in
anger) is that most people in the gliding movement (here's where I get to
collect a lot of arrows, I bet) don't know what the proper deployment
procedure is. I hadn't been shown and didn't know until I went to Sibson and
was asked if I knew how to use it - I replied yes, of course, and was
promptly corrected and shown the correct and surefire method.

My own feeling is that there is not enough education available via the BGA
regarding parachutes, their care, use, and maintenance.

Rgds,

Derrick.