Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

I hated trading in my 42-year-old Pioneer Thin Pack, but following the
unfortunate experience of a local pilot (injuries on landing in high
winds), I decided I needed something better.Â* So I bought an Aviator
P-124 ram air emergency parachute.Â* I had the Air Force training in
round parachutes, but I took training in ram air at the local jump
club.Â* I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Yes, it was expensive at $2,700 for the rig and $1,000 for 7 solo jumps,
but I now have no concerns about leaving the aircraft or safely
maneuvering to the landing point of my choosing.

On 6/2/2018 9:35 AM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
I think the acid wash took 5 years to show up on my softie. Not sure what might have reared it's head later, as at 20 years, I though I had sweated enough on the chute and purchased a new one. With all due respect, your logic jump, that a glider made of petroleum products isn't limited to a 20 year usable lifespan then a petroleum base chute should be either. This jump is not based in fact, logic, nor science. Hell, even petroleum has a very limited life. How would you like to drive your new car on petro that is 5 years old let alone 20? I have a feeling it would not drive. The "we" in "we fly 50+ plus year old Schweizers, is singular, as I don't fly 50 plus year old Schweizers, this has been covered on other threads about the state of soaring in America. Having said that, I do have a fair amount of time in 75 + year old WWII aircraft, that had been lovingly rebuilt. I flew those aircraft wearing a chute that was less than 20 years old.
Twenty years is a lot of wear an tear. You should have seen me twenty years ago.


On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 3:42:33 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Acid mesh problem was a manufacturing error that took a lot less than 20 years to show up. Replacing parachutes every 20 years wouldn't have avoided anything. Do you throw out your glass gliders when they are 21 years old? Parachutes and glass gliders are both made out of petroleum if one can't be determined to be safe after 20 years neither can the other. It's funny we fly 50+ plus year old Schweizers that have spent their lives tied down outside yet some try to convince us that a parachute that spends most of its life in a bag stored in a closet is unairworthy at 21 years old.

--
Dan, 5J

Agreed on training. Learning on you way out the first time likely leads to broken body bits.
At a minimum, call a local jump school, maybe a bunch of local glider pilots can go through basic training without an actual jump (I have issues with height and leaving a perfectly good aircraft.....;-)).
This can be done for pretty cheap and at least you have a marginal clue.

Who knows, maybe you will do an actual jump?!?!
Better may be do an actual jump in your own chute YMMV.....

Reminds me of a known glider pilot at a contest. There was a midair within site of the home field. He was a sport jumper, bailed and sorta thought, "if I'm jumping, may as well as make it fun.....".
Did a delayed opening.
Last anyone on the field saw, he was freefalling.........argghhhhhh.
He was fine, call to glider insurance......

I was scared absolutely ****less on every flight, watching the
altimeter, knowing I'd have to jump.Â* Then, once outside and hanging off
the wing strut, all fear was gone.Â* The cool breeze in my face at
10,000' MSL made me impatient for the instructor's command, "Arch and
go!".Â* After that it was pure heaven maneuvering the canopy, entering
downwind, base, and final to the touchdown circle.

The injured pilot I mentioned earlier was an experienced
paratrooper/jump master with many jumps to his credit.Â* The winds were
high and terrain was rough.

On 6/2/2018 12:28 PM, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
Agreed on training. Learning on you way out the first time likely leads to broken body bits.
At a minimum, call a local jump school, maybe a bunch of local glider pilots can go through basic training without an actual jump (I have issues with height and leaving a perfectly good aircraft.....;-)).
This can be done for pretty cheap and at least you have a marginal clue.

Who knows, maybe you will do an actual jump?!?!
Better may be do an actual jump in your own chute YMMV.....

Reminds me of a known glider pilot at a contest. There was a midair within site of the home field. He was a sport jumper, bailed and sorta thought, "if I'm jumping, may as well as make it fun.....".
Did a delayed opening.
Last anyone on the field saw, he was freefalling.........argghhhhhh.
He was fine, call to glider insurance......

--
Dan, 5J

A wasting asset is one with a limited life, at the end of which it has no value or utility. For most assets, their depreciable lives--i.e., the interval over which the tax authorities allow expensing the acquisition cost--bear only a tenuous relationship to the actual service lives. So a car can be depreciated over 3 to 5 years, an aircraft over 5 to 7 years, and residential property over 5, 7, 15 or 27.5 years, or whatever the current regs say. Does anyone really think any of those assets are worthless and unserviceable at the end of their depreciable lives? Properly maintained, they can be used for many more years. But not a parachute with a 20 year life.

Hey,Jonathan, how about paying me $1,000 not to respond to your posts? That's less than $50 a year over my projected lifespan. What a deal! It's your quality of life, after all.

Seriously, I hate to pick on you but you lose me with arguments that default to safety as an absolute, rather than relative measure, or that cheerfully argue I should spend five thousand bucks because amortized over 50 years, it's less than my electric bill or a couple of tanks of gasoline or whatever.

Chip Bearden

Hey, if you are a bit short contact me off line, always willing to help out a fellow glider pilot.
And I thought you were using term of frustration, not a term of art. I am familiar with accounting principles.

Jon


On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 2:09:23 PM UTC-7, wrote:
A wasting asset is one with a limited life, at the end of which it has no value or utility. For most assets, their depreciable lives--i.e., the interval over which the tax authorities allow expensing the acquisition cost--bear only a tenuous relationship to the actual service lives. So a car can be depreciated over 3 to 5 years, an aircraft over 5 to 7 years, and residential property over 5, 7, 15 or 27.5 years, or whatever the current regs say.. Does anyone really think any of those assets are worthless and unserviceable at the end of their depreciable lives? Properly maintained, they can be used for many more years. But not a parachute with a 20 year life.

Hey,Jonathan, how about paying me $1,000 not to respond to your posts? That's less than $50 a year over my projected lifespan. What a deal! It's your quality of life, after all.

Chip Bearden

On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 1:20:44 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
I hated trading in my 42-year-old Pioneer Thin Pack, but following the
unfortunate experience of a local pilot (injuries on landing in high
winds), I decided I needed something better.Â* So I bought an Aviator
P-124 ram air emergency parachute.Â* I had the Air Force training in
round parachutes, but I took training in ram air at the local jump
club.Â* I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Yes, it was expensive at $2,700 for the rig and $1,000 for 7 solo jumps,
but I now have no concerns about leaving the aircraft or safely
maneuvering to the landing point of my choosing.

Smartest guy in the room right there. I had one of those and unfortunately sold it after selling my first glider. Now I sit on a round. No problem with jumping, I've done that thousands of times, but I really don't want to jump a round. If parachute safety is a goal follow Dan's lead. That will do way more for you than having a brand new parachute based on 300 year old parachute technology.