XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Parachute Packing

I’m a leg, not a jumper. I understand a good bit of what’s going on in airborne operations, mostly from reading history, rather than any exposure to it. But some stuff is pretty alien to me. For instance, while I’ve always known that airborne Quartermaster companies provide parachute rigging and packing services to other airborne…

I’m a leg, not a jumper. I understand a good bit of what’s going on in airborne operations, mostly from reading history, rather than any exposure to it. But some stuff is pretty alien to me. For instance, while I’ve always known that airborne Quartermaster companies provide parachute rigging and packing services to other airborne units, I’ve never actually seen the process of packing a particular chute.

The only time I’ve seen an Army chute packed was when the Golden Knights jumped at an airshow I attended as a recruiter. The jumper, a young Corporal, landed about 3 feet away from the tape holding the crowd back. He invited a couple of kids maybe 12-13 to help pack his (commercial free fall) parachute.

I asked him if he was at all concerned about having them pack it. He assured me that unlike a conventional Army parachute, the kids could stuff it in the pack just about anyway, and it would deploy just fine. And danged if he didn’t jump that very chute later that afternoon.

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  1. ChrisP

    With a T-10, all you really need to do is check that the lines are straight (run your fingers up from the risers to the canopy to verify that the jumper has not stepped through the lines after landing and twisted them), pull the deployment bag over the canopy, and stow the lines.
    It’s quick and easy. I’ve done it many times, and jumped the results.
    With Squares, it’s a little more complex, but not much…

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  2. SFC Dunlap (Ret.) 173d RVN

    Chris speaks with a good familiarity of T-10’s and actually most all personnel canopies will open even if the canopy is “trash packed” in the deployment bag as long as there is “line integrity” (think pie sections shrinking to the center of the pie), and one hasn’t left any pack weights inside the packed parachute. ChrisP said very correctly that the lines being straight is preeminent and the technical term is a “4-line check”, you get that, you get opening. This of course does not address that given a trash pack one might incur a delayed opening or “snivel” and once one has a few hundred jumps one knows when the parachute should open given a consistent pack technique and even a second or two becomes noticeable and when one looks up and if altitude provides, addresses the inanimate with statements like “…so are you gonna open?”, or “c’mon bi*#& open!” and the ubiquitous “WTF.” In my incredibly long career as an Army 92R (PR is the term in the Navy), I had much philosophical differences with the way some Army packing was conducted, but as I used to say, “TM’s are technical and not guidance.” The T-11 Parachute System although new in fielding across the board is based on a design that eminated from a test program the USAF conducted utilizing the cruciform design made out of polyethelene so I love it when I hear people using “new” with a lot of parachuting gear, and components. The T-11 has a very slow rate of descent (without equipment like weapons, rucksack etc.) and the old “25 and go home” pack rate has fallen off as each rig apparently as of yet hasn’t broken the 45 minute mark. The old 25 and go system was when you pack 25 T-10 Main Canopies you got to go home…yup I had much philosophical difference with the US Army Quartermaster School. Generally only Army and Marine Parachute Riggers must be jump qualified as well where the USAF has no requirement and in the Navy one might find PR’s who jump and are on status in the Teams or in the now defunct US Navy Leap Frogs/Chuting Stars demo freefall teams, at least I believe both teams are defunct, may only be the Chuting Stars that is though.

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  3. xbradtc

    Looks like LeapFrogs belong to Navy Special Warfare, as opposed to your run-of-the-mill PR working in an aviation squadron somewhere.

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  4. SFC Dunlap (Ret.) 173d RVN

    The QM School has cadre from all services represented including CPO’s at Rigger School. I forgot to add that back in the “Blimp” days at Lakehurst, N.J. Navy personnel were accomplishing many parachuting events for the first time…long before the Army started its Airborne Course (Jump School) at the “Benning School for Boys.” BTW I watched the “packing film” after initial response…a few gigs: no second tension, Gore 15&16 radial tape exposed in the long fold, locking suspension line stows to long, regular line stows loose and uneven and never mind the loss of time in all the walking around he was doing at the canopy end of the table. I could go on and won’t. The unofficial Rigger saying “F*@k it, it’ll open.”

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  5. timactual

    “…even a second or two becomes noticeable”

    I got a good laugh at that. Nice understatement. It proves Einstein was right, time IS relative.

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