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Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 1st 18, 02:54 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

OK, I understand the various interpretations of the "20 year life limit," but we don't have a rigger locally that will touch a 20 year old chute.

So, apparently there are riggers that WILL offer this service. Can you lucky folks who know who they are provide some contact information? I would be willing to pay shipping both ways and pay the repack fees to extend the usefulness (or potential usefulness) of my chute.

I have a Para-Phernalia "Softie," manufactured and purchased new in 2000 from Allen Silver, (who is actually a really nice guy that has provided a great deal of valuable guidance and service to the gliding community). I am not willing to knock him for what is probably intended as good advice but has to, unfortunately, encompass the entire range of customers who may not treat their vital piece of survival equipment properly.

You know, the guys who just leave their chute in a hot car trunk with the rubber stowage bands melting into the riser cords, the ones who leave the thing in a high-humidity environment and turn it into a Petri Dish suitable for mold cultivation and so on.

Any contact info would be welcomed by many on RAS, plus your rigger might be grateful enough for the added business that he might buy you a beer. However, having been in the company of jumpers, I realize that this is unlikely..
  #2  
Old June 1st 18, 03:03 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Roy B.
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

Dona Mayer at Pepperell MA wrote the article referenced below and has been repacking my Security 150 for over 30 years now. Every time he does he asks me if I want to sell it (so he can buy it).You can ship it to him and he will ship it back, I think.
ROY
See:http://www.parachuteshop.com/service_life_limits.htm
  #3  
Old June 1st 18, 03:09 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Roy B.
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

Don Mayer at Pepperell MA has been doing my Security 150 repack for over 30 years and wrote the article referenced below. I think you can send him the chute UPS and he will send it back same way (I drop off and pick up mine).. Very good service including repairs if needed.
ROY
http://www.parachuteshop.com/service_life_limits.htm
  #4  
Old June 1st 18, 10:58 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dave Nadler
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 10:09:45 PM UTC-4, Roy B. wrote:
Don Mayer at Pepperell MA has been doing my Security 150 repack
http://www.parachuteshop.com/service_life_limits.htm


Another happy customer of Don's here - just UPS your chute to him.
Best Regards, Dave
  #5  
Old June 2nd 18, 12:23 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

I was not aware of Para-Phernalia's 20-year life (which seems to check out based on quick research). I don't believe it's common knowledge. If I had known about it, I would not have bought mine. At age 67, saying I won't buy another one is probably not that threatening. But I won't.

You can talk all you want about the per-year cost over 20 years, but it's still $2,000+. Knowing it's a wasting asset regardless of how well you care for it is discouraging.

Chip Bearden




  #6  
Old June 2nd 18, 06:31 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Jonathan St. Cloud
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

On Friday, June 1, 2018 at 4:23:50 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I was not aware of Para-Phernalia's 20-year life (which seems to check out based on quick research). I don't believe it's common knowledge. If I had known about it, I would not have bought mine. At age 67, saying I won't buy another one is probably not that threatening. But I won't.

You can talk all you want about the per-year cost over 20 years, but it's still $2,000+. Knowing it's a wasting asset regardless of how well you care for it is discouraging.

Chip Bearden


I am on my third chute, would love to buy another in seventeen years, when this one times out. It is not a "wasting asset", it is a depreciating asset used as a/the safety device. I have never had a car for twenty years, a couch, a bed, a pillow, a climbing rope, boat.... Put aside $100 per year, or cut one Starbuck's trip a week for a year and you are move than covered (I assume you will invest your $100). It is really not a big burden if you plan for it. And it is your butt! I have had a few classes in material sciences. Anyone remember the acid wash thingy?
  #7  
Old June 2nd 18, 11:42 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 1:31:56 AM UTC-4, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Friday, June 1, 2018 at 4:23:50 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I was not aware of Para-Phernalia's 20-year life (which seems to check out based on quick research). I don't believe it's common knowledge. If I had known about it, I would not have bought mine. At age 67, saying I won't buy another one is probably not that threatening. But I won't.

You can talk all you want about the per-year cost over 20 years, but it's still $2,000+. Knowing it's a wasting asset regardless of how well you care for it is discouraging.

Chip Bearden


I am on my third chute, would love to buy another in seventeen years, when this one times out. It is not a "wasting asset", it is a depreciating asset used as a/the safety device. I have never had a car for twenty years, a couch, a bed, a pillow, a climbing rope, boat.... Put aside $100 per year, or cut one Starbuck's trip a week for a year and you are move than covered (I assume you will invest your $100). It is really not a big burden if you plan for it. And it is your butt! I have had a few classes in material sciences. Anyone remember the acid wash thingy?

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.
  #8  
Old June 2nd 18, 02:36 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bob Whelan[_3_]
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Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

On 6/1/2018 11:31 PM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Friday, June 1, 2018 at 4:23:50 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I was not aware of Para-Phernalia's 20-year life (which seems to check out based on quick research). I don't believe it's common knowledge. If I had known about it, I would not have bought mine. At age 67, saying I won't buy another one is probably not that threatening. But I won't.

You can talk all you want about the per-year cost over 20 years, but it's still $2,000+. Knowing it's a wasting asset regardless of how well you care for it is discouraging.

Chip Bearden


I am on my third chute, would love to buy another in seventeen years, when this one times out. It is not a "wasting asset", it is a depreciating asset used as a/the safety device. I have never had a car for twenty years, a couch, a bed, a pillow, a climbing rope, boat.... Put aside $100 per year, or cut one Starbuck's trip a week for a year and you are move than covered (I assume you will invest your $100). It is really not a big burden if you plan for it. And it is your butt! I have had a few classes in material sciences. Anyone remember the acid wash thingy?


Hmmm...

Everything has a lifespan, but 'humanly repurposed mechanical stuff' (e.g.
parachutes, gliders, cars) end-of-life condition is typically far less digital
than 'organic lives' (e.g. humans).

You don't have to have been an engineering major to have had a materials
science class or two (I was/did) but it may or may not be helpful. In any
event, it's already been noted 'the acid wash thingy' had zero to do with
'normal lifespan' and became apparent well before 'the magic 20 years' had
passed. I still have my original parachute (a 1953-ish round Navy canopy in an
older Army pack [or perhaps vice-versa - it's been a long time]); last (not
the first) time it was 'used in anger' was 1975; last time repacked was ~1995
(it tested just fine, in every respect).

When was the last 1-26 built? It surely woulda been fun to've attended the
2018 World 1-26 Champeenships recently completed.

How many 1st generation glass gliders have been found structurally kaput
'merely' because of age? The first C-172 still flies, in more or less original
- as in restoration not critically necessary - condition.

I sold my first glider tow vehicle for $500 after 37 years of glider towing
use; it had cost me ~$2600 new. Perhaps had I washed it more than a few times
the first year I owned it (and never thereafter), the unibody may not have
rusted so rapidly. It was registered, running and roadworthy the day I sold it
(the $500 was for its 3rd engine...which soon powered a 1961 Mercury Comet).
The only other vehicle I've ever purchased was made in 1990 and remains a
daily driver, albeit with only 245,000 miles on it to date and only the timing
belt (2X) and brake linings (1X) having required routine replacement; I
replaced spark plugs, once, out of curiosity - it wasn't necessary, based on
fuel mileage. A fully-independent-suspensioned vehicle, based on tire wear
patterns it has never had/needed a wheel alignment, nor has it required
anything more than occasionally rotating fronts-to-rears to maximize tire life
wear rates. Dangerously, neither vehicle ever had airbags or weighed more than
2600 lbs, fueled and oiled. Both vehicles took/continue-to-take wife and I on
tens of thousands of back road dirt miles, many of them of the 'seriously
dodgy' persuasion.

More power to those folks who have more 'time limited' views on 'useful age of
stuff.' But please don't indulge in FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) as the
approved method for playing Life-Safety Police for those who have differing
views. Not only is it misguided (if arguably well-intentioned), but it's also
a dollar-expensive manner of living - if that's of any importance- and (also
arguably) likely diminishes one's 'life adventure quotient.'

Bob W.

P.S. BTW, the number of times either of the above-mentioned vehicles ever
required attention of professional mechanics (as opposed to me, strictly a
dollar-sensitive, wrench turning, 'Murican who can read repair manuals), can
likely be counted without taking off my socks...and that includes exhaust
system repairs, which is where I draw my personal line. And, yes, I find the
balance between doing it myself and paying others to do it an easy trade to
make - I've never failed to obtain immediate, non-time/aggravation-wasting,
easy satisfaction if Joe Mechanic screws up!

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

  #9  
Old June 1st 18, 03:12 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Roy B.
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Posts: 304
Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

See:
http://www.parachuteshop.com/service_life_limits.htm

Don has been doing my Security 150 for over 30 years.

ROY
  #10  
Old June 1st 18, 03:18 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Michael Opitz
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Posts: 318
Default Rigger who will pack a 20 year old chute?

At 01:54 01 June 2018, wrote:
OK, I understand the various interpretations of the "20 year life

limit,"
b=
ut we don't have a rigger locally that will touch a 20 year old

chute.=20

So, apparently there are riggers that WILL offer this service. Can

you
luck=
y folks who know who they are provide some contact information?

I would be
=
willing to pay shipping both ways and pay the repack fees to

extend the
use=
fulness (or potential usefulness) of my chute.

I have a Para-Phernalia "Softie," manufactured and purchased new

in 2000
fr=
om Allen Silver, (who is actually a really nice guy that has provided

a
gre=
at deal of valuable guidance and service to the gliding community).

I am
no=
t willing to knock him for what is probably intended as good advice

but
has=
to, unfortunately, encompass the entire range of customers who

may not
tre=
at their vital piece of survival equipment properly.

You know, the guys who just leave their chute in a hot car trunk

with the
r=
ubber stowage bands melting into the riser cords, the ones who

leave the
th=
ing in a high-humidity environment and turn it into a Petri Dish

suitable
f=
or mold cultivation and so on.

Any contact info would be welcomed by many on RAS, plus your

rigger might
b=
e grateful enough for the added business that he might buy you a

beer.
Howe=
ver, having been in the company of jumpers, I realize that this is
unlikely=
..


I have a master rigger here in CT that has just repacked my 40 year
old Strong Para Cushion Back (which I bought new, so we know
where it's been all along). If nobody has one closer to NM, I can get
you his info.

RO

 




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