Hi Pilots!

If you haven’t hucked and repacked your reserve recently, mark your calendar for our almost-annual chute deployment and repack party, on Sunday, February 24 —face those rambunctious spring thermals with confidence inspired by a freshly packed rescue chute.

Thanks to hang pilot Cliff Schmitt, we’ve once again secured the February 24 date at the Eastside Fire & Rescue facility in Issaquah, at 175 Newport Way NW. It’s a big facility, with plenty of parking. We’ll be huckin’ and packin’ from 9-4, and we encourage pilots to come early (especially if it’s 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.

C.J. Sturtevant