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CornishChris

Talon 2 Riggers

By CornishChris, in Gear and Rigging

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CornishChris    5

CornishChris
Recently a UK friend jumping a Teardrop in Sydney on holiday had his reserve popped after being dragged along the ground by some tw*t who swooped through his lines just after he landed (another story...). He had problems because no one out here in Aus was rated to repack his reserve on a Teardrop as they are so uncommon here. He sorted in the end as another UK jumper who was here was rated but it got me thinking...

I have a Talon & a Talon 2 that eventually I will be taking back to the UK. Having bought these in Australia will I have any issues when I get back to the UK in regards to riggers/repacks or are they common enough over there to overcome this...?

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

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PhreeZone    20

PhreeZone
Any rigger should have been able to repack the Teardrop provided that the owners manual for the reserve and the container were able to be produced by either the rigger or the owner.

Riggers have to be able to pack anything that comes to them, even things they have never seen before. That is where the instructions come in at... the rigger has to be able to follow the directions specifically in order to get their riggers rating.

At least thats how things are done here in the States. You get rated on type (Chest, Back, Seat) and you can pack any parachute as long as its that type.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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riggerrob    643

riggerrob
Talon 2 containers are easy to pack as long as you follow the manual - written by a handsome and clever fellow named riggerrob.

Seriously, the Canadian Sports Parachute Association rates riggers on 5 types of containers: 2-pin sport (Strong Tandem), 1-pin sport (Talon), semi Pop-Top (Javelin), full Pop-Top (Teardrop) and pilot emergency parachutes. An aspiring Canadian Rigger A only has to get signed off on one type of container to earn the rating.
Pop-Tops are indeed a special type, requiring special tools and special training. Ask 5 different riggers how to pack Pop-Tops and you will get 6 different responses!
Hee! Hee!

It only took me ten years to get good at packing Pop-Tops. I eventually solved that dilemma by scraping all my steel T-bodkins and developing a brand new tool.

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hookitt    1

hookitt
Nice response Rob.

Chris, the talon is a very straight forward and rigger friendly container. The Manual itself is very good and easily followed.

Pop Tops are a different story for some reason. Though it didn't take 10 years for me to figure them out. but I must admit that I've packed a rig 3 times in a row before I was satisfied enough to give it back to the owner. I also watched a good Rigger named Scott down in Perris pack up a Reflex one day and it cleared up the rest of the troubles.

Rob, I'm curious as to what tool you developed. Are you willing to share what it is? I have my methods of packing pop tops but I'm always willing to try other methods.
My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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ZigZag    0

ZigZag
:)The instructions that come with the Ozzie version of the Talon are especially good. They address issues in regards to packing a small reserve. Small reserves
have a short cord, so therefore you might end up with not enough "ear" in the molar free-bag, if you
do the conventional s-fold to begin with, contrary to rigs like the Vector and Mirage that require the wedge shape, in other words, less volume at the ears. Keep in mind that the packing instructions for the Talon II and Talon FS differ, by virtue of design differences in regards to the absence of the top cover flap in the Talon FS and Voodoo. The latter two rigs also do without the riser covers in the reserve packtray.
Are you sure no one was rated, or no one had the packing instructions? You can always see if they are on the web!;)

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riggerrob    643

riggerrob
Rob, I'm curious as to what tool you developed. Are you willing to share what it is? I have my methods of packing pop tops but I'm always willing to try other methods.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sure I will be glad to share my Pop-Top packing tool.
It is basically a temporary loop made of Cypres cord (2 to 10 inches long) tied to a lump of scrap iron (i.e. a ring off an old riser). I also finger-trapped and sewed a 1 yard ( 1 meter) pull-up cord to it - to reduce tool count.
To further reduce tool count, I tied two temporary loops together for packing Racers.
To use the temporary loop, start by installing the ring near the ripcord pin, then pull the temporary loop up through the pack tray, free-bag, side flaps, etc. so that most of the pack job is similar to a Vector.
Late in the process, you route the pull-up cord up through the closing loop and back down through the temporary loop. The last step involves pulling the whole mess through the container and pinning the closing loop.
There is also a fancier, adjustable version of the temporary loop.
One advantage of the adjustable loop is that you can tighten it early in the process to compress the side flaps and prevent canopy fabric from getting too close to the center-line. Alternately, you can leave it loose until late in the process, then use it to compress the pilotchute on a Teardrop (or Reflex)before flipping the rig over.

I developed the temporary loop after frustrating attempts at using all the other Pop-Top tools on the market. Yes, I can quote all the other methods - off the top of my head - but was never comfortable with any of them.
Maybe it is my ADD, but I was never comfortable with most existing T-bodkins and since most of them are not Cypres-compatible, I quit using them when Cypres was introduced.

A Master Rigger should know two or three methods for every job, but I only use one method (i.e. temporary loop) on a regular basis.

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PhreeZone    20

PhreeZone
Rob, is there any way you could post a picture of what you are describing? I think I have a mental picture of the tool, but I want to make sure I'm picturing the same thing. I don't want to be completly off :$

I seem to recall you also said that you are using your old molar strap and a B-12 connector as your leverage device, am I correct in that?
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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riggerrob    643

riggerrob
I seem to recall you also said that you are using your old molar strap and a B-12 connector as your leverage device, am I correct in that?



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes, however the B-12 snap and molar strap tool is not so much a "leverage device" as a "using a different set of muscles" device.
You could achieve the same effect by hanging the B-12 snap from the ceiling.
The main reason I prefer the B-12 snap is to leave all my fingers free for steering flaps, compressing pilotchutes, temp pins, etc.

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