HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 39 May | June 2019 Conclusions In the first case, the culprit was clearly too long a period of time between inspections. Normal rubber bands will easily last more than a year in situ, so this pack was well in excess of that. Even without a full repack procedure, it is a simple matter to pop the reserve handle and extract the bag (for cleaning out sand for example), and then inspect the rubber bands and replace and reclose the container. Every pilot should be able to do this for their own system in case of a popped handle on launch. Having a couple of drawcords in a sack pocket will make this easier. It is also a good idea to place the reserve bag in a position where the pull on the handle does not place the weight of the reserve onto the open mouth of the bag. This often depends on where the handle attachment position is on the bag. In the second case, I have no clear idea how this situation arose. Just getting the unsecured bag into the space would be a very awkward job. One possibility, I believe, is that the bag was assembled correctly, but at some subsequent time was disarranged, leaving the shock cord and lines loose. It is hard to imagine how this could be done by anybody with even a superficial knowledge of packing parachutes without noticing the problem. Pilots need to take an active interest in their whole system with occasional inspections of the harness and reserve as well as the wing. Download the reserve packing instructions for your harness AND reserve and keep them on your phone. Keep the system in a safe space, keep it out of the sun as much as possible and be aware of what is happening around your rig at all times. Your life does depend on it. Heading up the Kiewa valley from Mystic, over Gundowering launch with Lake Hume ahead Photo: John Chapman End opening bag as used by Charly reserves Four leaf clover bag with a shockcord loop