Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvia!kas
From: kas@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM (ken_scofield)
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
Subject: Re: Does the terror stop?
Message-ID: <42640010@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM>
Date: 24 May 91 19:31:14 GMT
References: <4541@bnr-rsc.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon
Lines: 38

From: dth@reef.cis.ufl.edu (David Hightower)
Message-ID: <28692@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>

>Anyhow, after a while my mind started wandering into areas that it
>shouldn't:  What if my parachute had been packed incorrectly? (when I go
>back to skydiving, the *first* thing I'm gonna do is learn to pack my own)

  Unless you have specific reason to believe your 'chutes are being packed
  wrong, don't worry about it.  And if you do have specific reason to worry,
  you should be jumping someplace else anyway!  Last I heard, student rigs
  were required to be packed by a licensed rigger, or at least someone working
  under the 'supervision' of a rigger.  Packing your own will not necessarily 
  decrease your chances of having a 'function, 

>They taught us how to do a tight loop by holding down on one of

  You mean a tight turn, not a loop.  But I digress...

>the brakes; I did this often until another thought came to mind:  How
>much stress can the stitching on my harness take?  What about the leg
>straps--have they begun to slip?  I had visions of myself at 800'
>holding on to the risers for dear life.

  Some simple logic should fix you right up:  The opening shock puts 
  several times more stress on the harness than anything you could do to
  it once opened.  If it didn't break on the opening, you can't break it
  afterwards.  And in ~20 years of jumping, I've never heard of any stories
  wherein a jumpers' straps slipped -- the buckles are quite secure. (I
  have, however, heard stories of jumpers who forgot to tighten their
  straps before jumping!)

                 Ken Scofield           C-9355  SSI #453890085
      ^          Hewlett-Packard, ICO   Phone:  (503)750-2426
|----/-\----|    1020 NE Circle Blvd.   (kas@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM)
|   Gone    |    Corvallis, OR  97330   (ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!kas)
| Divin' or |                          
|  Jumpin'  |	 Cute Disclaimer:  Nobody ever listened to me before,
|-----------|                      so why start now?