Rigging qualifications

[fundgh 0]

I am wondering what the different rigging qualifications that are listed on the full profile page encompass. Lap, chest, back, seat?

...FUN FOR ALL!

[skybytch 273]

Those are types of parachute containers; for some reason back in the old days the FAA felt it was important that you have a specific rating for each one.

Back and chest are pretty obvious; all modern sport gear is back (although Racers can be logged as either back or chest) and the ones on those old timers bellies are chest. Seat packs are used a lot in warbird aircraft and occasionally by aerobatic pilots. I've never seen a lap container in real life... only in pictures.

[fundgh 0]

I thought those might be areas of the rig that you are qualified to work on. But that makes sense.

...FUN FOR ALL!

[aneblett 0]

I was meaning to ask that question from the time I first surfed DZ.com but forgot about it.

Thanks for the question... and the answer.

Age

S.E.X. party #2

..It is far worse to live with fear, than to die confronting it.

[masher 1]

Why can Racers be logged as chest or back?

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[ryoder 1,590]

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Why can Racers be logged as chest or back?

Because the Racer is a modified version of the SST, (Super Swooper Tandem). (Note this was from the days when *tandem* meant that both main & reserve were located on the back.)

The reserve container of the SST was copied from the PopTop chest-mounted reserve. Since the PopTop had already been TSO'd as a chest-mount, the SST was approved for packing by riggers with a chest rating.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[NightJumper 0]

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Why can Racers be logged as chest or back?

They can't. That option was removed by the powers to be.

[riggerrob 643]

The FAA originally listed four types of containers -back, chest, seat and lap - because you folded the canopy significantly differently to lay it in a back type container. Also the early seat type parachutes required some specific hand tacking on the risers and ripcord housings.
Other than that, packing old military pilot emergency parachutes was pretty much the same. Back in the good old days (pre 1970), you could buy a round parachute or you could buy a round parachute.

Racer repacks can now only be listed as "back." The FAA finally clued in that modern Racer Elites share no common parts with the original Pop-Top chest container.
The FAA also convinced Relative Workshop to stop logging Wonderhog/Vector/Micron/Sigma pack jobs as back or chest for the same reason.
Why modern skydiving gear and modern PEPs are both listed as "back" type is a mystery to me. The designs have diverged so much that the techniques for packing a Raven into a Javelin are completely different from packing a 26 foot round into a PEP.

As for why the FAA has not deleted "lap" from the regulations - seeing as how no one has built a lap type parachute since the 1930s - don't hold your breath! Parachutes are so low on the FAA's priority list ....

[riggerrob 643]

Other countries list rigger qualifications in different ways.
For example, the Canadian Sports Parachuting Association lists:
round reserves
square reserves
sport one-pin containers
sport two-pin containers
Pop-Top containers
Pilot emergency parachute containers

To earn a CSPA Rigger A rating, a candidate only has to get signed off one on class of canopy and one class of container.
This makes sense because round reserves have disappeared from many Canadian DZs and PEP are so specialized that the only people who remember how to pack PEP are old and grumpy and grow grey beards.