Originally Posted by
jadmt
sort similar but different. I talked 3 buddies into skydiving. That was back before tandem jumping was a thing. we did the solo static line. we had to go through a class and during the class the instructor had a chute all laid out and proceeded to pack it in front of us while explaining the does and don't of packing a chute. all 4 of us watched him do what he said was a don't during the packing of it and when he was done he said one of you 4 will use this chute.
.....
None of us ever jumped again.
Yikes!
As beginners, our chutes were packed by the experienced folks. Not sure that worked out well for me!
My story dates back to around 1990, and I'm hoping things are a bit better regulated now. We certainly didn't have any automatic opening chutes. We did have emergency chutes that automatically released the primary chute, which I'm grateful for.
If nothing else, tandem jumps seem to be the norm for initial jumps, and that's probably an improvement.
In retrospect, I wish I would have had some sort of way to check on the history of the skydiving group.
Steve in Peoria