DHPC Reserve Repack Saturday 4th February 10am - 2pm in Ilkley Grammar School
The DHPC Repack will be held on SATURDAY Feb 4, 2022 from 10:00am to 2pm at Ilkley Grammar School, LS29 8TR. It will be in B Hall which is in the Main School building. Access is through the main entrance off Cowpasture Road where there are some parking places. Enter by the front door of the school, then turn immediately right through the Drama Studio and the connecting corridor to 'B' hall.
Note: B Hall is not the Sports Hall (which is at the back of the school)
This is your chance to repack your reserve in time for the 2022 season. Guy Richardson (https://gingernomad.co.uk/), a BHPA licensed packer has kindly agreed to attend to help out. He will also bring some spares and a few new reserves for anyone who may be interested or trading in an older reserve.
The fee to pay for the hire of the hall and help cover Guy and his assistances expenses is £10. Please pay by cash to me, Clive Sury on the day.
Repack your reserve ...
The club is organising a repack where you come along with your harness and reserve and repack it under the supervision of licensed BHPA packers. This is a great opportunity for you to become more familiar with your equipment, learn how to repack your own reserve and to make sure your reserve system will operate correctly.
| When | SATURDAY 4th Feb, 2022 10:00am until 2pm | |
| Where | Ilkley Grammar School, Cowpasture Rd, Ilkley LS29 8TR |
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| http://www.ilkleygrammarschool.com/ |
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| Contact | Clive Sury | |
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| Price | £10 | |
| Other Info | Guy Richardson (https://gingernomad.co.uk/), a licensed BHPA packer, will be with us to help out and provide guidance. However, he is not here to repack your reserve - you will learn to do this yourself. | |
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Let me know the make/model of reserve(s) you are bringing as it helps to have a list of what to expect and if there are any reserves that will require a little extra attention - N.B. NO REGALLOS OR BEAMERS will be offered any assistance as these are too complicated and time-consuming to support on the day. |
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| Bring your harness with the reserve attached. This will allow you to practice pulling it and also to have it replaced in the harness after being repacked. |
What is a repack session and what should I bring?
The annual reserve repack is an opportunity for you to repack your own reserve and fit it back into your harness with a licensed BHPA parachute packer on hand to provide advice and support. To this end you should bring the following:
- Your reserve and harness.
- Your reserve repacking instructions. You may have received this when you bought your reserve or if not then you should be able to download from the manufacturers website.
- a bit of string, paracord or something suitable for the packing loops on your reserve (if appropriate to your model) and also a bit of paraglider line or strimmer cord to assist with the pins when putting it in the harness
Suitable rubber bands to pack the lines.
- Every year I am asked where to get suitable rubber bands as they are surprisingly difficult to find. The best option is to source the same rubber bands used by the manufacturer of your rescue chute - perhaps drop the manufacturer an email to see if they can point you in the right direction. Failing that, you could search the internet for size 8 rubber bands (not elastic bands). They should have as high a rubber content as possible - over 80% is good. The best I have found are available from UK Airsports though they are a little expensive. (note: I am not affiliated in any way with UK Airsports).
- Warm clothing - the sports hall will be cold.
Why bother repacking?
A properly packed and fitted reserve can open within 30 - 50m of being thrown. Most manufacturers recommend repacking every six months (some as frequently as 90 days). There are several reasons for this:
- Once the reserve is packed, it can absorb moisture from being left in damp air conditions, not just wet from rain. The moisture will not get back out again easily and can cause damage to the strength of fabric and lines as well as causing the fabric of the canopy to stick together.
- The reserve packed in the harness gets squashed, especially if the harness is the type that the pilot is likely to sit on it whilst waiting for a launch or having their sandwiches. The effect of this is to almost iron creases into the reserve which have been shown to make the deployment slower, as the airstream takes longer to get between the leaves of the canopy to allow it to open.
- After about a year, the rubber bands that hold everything together long enough to deploy properly, can decay and need checking.
- Any velcro in the system needs to be checked because if left for a long time the it can get “welded” together, and it takes great strength to pull the reserve out. It has also happened that the velcro on the side holders for the bridle on the harness did not open.
- A reserve can also be difficult or sometimes impossible to throw due to incorrect fitting to the harness.
Or perhaps you’re the type of person who prefers a visual argument. I did a quick search on YouTube for a few clips to show the difference between a slow reserve inflation and a fast inflation. See for yourself …
Slow Inflation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4nFokxbVNY
At about 0:15 seconds the reserve is thrown but it is slow to inflate. This then leads to complications with the reserve twisting up with the main canopy – the pilot was lucky the wing re-inflated by itself in the end.
see also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yByGAiMd4EM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9HnsmSZaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_PQAtBd1Q (around 30 seconds in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLlFJ8_Oq28 (around 25 seconds in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9HnsmSZaM
There are a number of reserve throws in this video and all of them inflate significantly faster than in the first video.
When your reserve falls out…
Can you refit your reserve when it accidentally falls out after a quick drag over Wether Fell? It really is simple once you know how. If you cannot refit it safely then at best you could lose a day’s flying and at worst…