used rig question

[superstu 0]

i'm looking to get my first used rig and was wondering how many jumps is too many on the container, main, and reserve? thanks

Slip Stream Air Sports
Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

[PhreeZone 20]

Main - if its F111, anything over 800 jumps the canopy is probally better used as a car cover. ZP - The material can last in the 3000+ jump range. The lines of both canopies need to be checked for how close they are to factory trim specs and their condition too. Figure a reline is needed every 400-600 on microline and at different times for other materials like Dacron or vectran.

Container - Till it starts to show wear on critical parts like the Main lift web, the laterals, any companent or if a rigger will not pass it, what ever comes first. A well cared for container is worth little, but probally still airworthy after a few 1000 jumps still. Let an experienced rigger eval this before you jump/buy it.

Reserve - some reserves have to be inspected every so many repacks or jumps and others dont. Repacks can cause as much wear and tear as a jump on reserves. 40 repacks or 20 jumps s PD's standerd for factory inspection. Unless you are a blind, and have no ability to pack packer, a test jumper or a CRW dawg not many people ever max out the reserve rides on a canopy.. the repacks get them first.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[councilman24 37]

Quote

Reserve - some reserves have to be inspected every so many repacks or jumps and others dont. Repacks can cause as much wear and tear as a jump on reserves. 40 repacks or 20 jumps s PD's standerd for factory inspection. Unless you are a blind, and have no ability to pack packer, a test jumper or a CRW dawg not many people ever max out the reserve rides on a canopy.. the repacks get them first.

I agree with Eric. I pack some 10 to 12 year old reserves that are getting pretty limp. The older the reserve the less I'd push the performance max. susp. weights. You shouldn't exceed the strength max. susp. weight. There was one dude on one of the forums who was way overloading his reserves, said after two or three terminal openings he got a new one because they weren't landing like new anymore. This is a little extreme.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[riggerrob 643]

It is very difficult to wear out a reserve with normal usage.
Packing only wears out fabric slowly. I suspect that performance Designs limits on reserve canopy life were written by lawyers, not riggers. PD's service life limits were clearly written to limit PD's liability.

If someone tries to sell you a used reserve with more than three deployments, be deeply suspicious of how well they maintained the rest of their gear.
As for reserves wearing out from being packed too often .... that is a minor point. Reserves tend to fall out of fashion long before they wear out from packing. For example, there are plenty of air-worthy 5-cell Swift reserves still in use, but younger riggers are not learning how to stow their steering lines, so they will gradually fade from the skydiving scene.

One other factor that makes older reserve fabric look older is quality control. For example, different batches of Strong reserve fabric look so much different, you wonder if they were even woven to the same specification. The oldest Strong reserve in my fleet looks like 40 cfm military fabric, while the newest reserve has so many layers of coatings, that it looks like Zero porosity fabric at first glance.