If you’re hangin’ out here in this crazy cold and snow, mark your calendar for our annual chute deployment and repack party, on Sunday, January 19 —face those rambunctious spring thermals with confidence inspired by a freshly packed rescue chute, and catch up on what everybody else has been up to since the last time we hung out in the sunshine on launch.

Thanks to hang pilot Cliff Schmitt, we’ve once again secured the big (heated!) garage at Eastside Fire & Rescue facility in Issaquah, at 175 Newport Way NW. It’s a huge facility, with plenty of parking. We’ll be huckin’ and packin’ from 9:30-4, and we encourage pilots to come early (especially if it might be flyable—you can see Tiger launch from the parking lot…)

For those who haven’t attended one of our deployment parties before, here’s what to expect: There’s no formal instruction at the clinic—you come (preferably early in the day) with your harness and chute and the packing manual for your chute, you put on your harness (and, ideally, the helmet and gloves you wear while flying) and get in line. When it’s your turn, the Turbulator reviews with you the sequence for deployment, you clip into the simulator while the Turbulator spins you around and eventually yells “throw!” You huck your reserve, hopefully according to the sequence you’ve just reviewed. You have an opportunity to discuss any problems or uncertainties you had about your deployment, then you gather up all your stuff and take it to one of the tables where the packing assistants will help you repack your chute and get it back into your harness. It’s not a bad idea to bring lunch or a snack, just in case you arrive at a busy time when the lines are long.

Cost is $40 as always, to be divided between the packing assistants and the Saddle Mt. fund. If you’re a tandem or a biwingual pilot and have more than one chute to repack, it’s $20 for the additional chute. It’d be helpful if you could bring a check made out to CBCC, or exact change.

Please re-post on whatever social media site you use to share your flying info, and encourage your flying buddies to come join the party.

The fine print: None of us who repack our own reserves and help others repack theirs are experts in the field, and cannot be held responsible for being such. The packing assistants are comfortable in repacking their own chutes, and they will help you do yours. Our parachute deployment clinics are designed to provide you the opportunity to work out the best way to get your reserve out and inflated—before you actually find yourself in need of it. Packing assistants do not provide “legitimate” instruction in repacking your reserve; if you want instruction and/or a repack by qualified experts, this is not the place to be. If you feel reasonably comfortable repacking your own chute, but you need a hand interpreting your owner’s manual or would appreciate a reminder or some encouragement, this event can offer all of that. If you want to toss your reserve and then take it to a “legitimate” packer to be repacked, you’re welcome to show up at the party and do a practice deployment in the simulator (and toss $20 into the pot for use of the facility and to support our sites…).