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When a Lt. Commander of the U.K. Royal Navy ejected from a test flight on June 11, he became the 7,000th “save” for the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. According to an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal, the London company has built more than 70,000 ejection seats over the last 60 years, which makes it the largest ejection seat manufacturer in the world. Those 7,000 saves also indicate several thousand wrecked aircraft. Another way to look at it is that one in 10 seats manufactured is eventually used by a pilot. Yet it wasn’t always a welcome option for pilots in the early days as the company used a poster with the slogan “Don’t invite the undertaker — Initiate the Martin-Baker” in an attempt to quell fears of injury from ejection. Martin-Baker apparently was the first to use two or more smaller detonations for ejection, which protected the spine better than one large burst of power, according to the Journal. Furthermore, founder James Martin “created the first seat capable of ejecting on take-off or landing, not just in flight,” the Journal reported. “The breakthrough won him contracts from the U.S. Navy, which remains Martin-Baker’s biggest client.” And 7,000 saves later the company is still family-run by Martin’s twin sons, John and James. Pilots saved by ejection are given a blue tie “emblazoned with the warning sign found in all aircraft with ejection seats,” reported the Journal. One of the more interesting bits of information on the company is how the company packs its parachutes for ejection. According to the Journal, the company uses digitally controlled presses to compress the parachute and lines at approximately 5 tons of pressure over 7 days. Just imagine how much larger our reserve canopies could be or how small our reserve containers would be if riggers had access to that press! Many Kudos to Martin-Baker for its 7,000 saves. At Chuting Star Rigging Loft, we’ve recently topped 100 saves.

A July article in Parachutist magazine that gives a “behind-the-scenes” look at rigging not only shows all the work involved in an inspection and repack, but also demonstrates that not all riggers are created equal. Rigger Dean Schlemmer gives a step-by-step look at the inspection process of a reserve repack. But it’s the photos that speak volumes about the underside of the rigging industry. Items such as frayed closing loops, incorrectly assembled Cypres washers, bent reserve pins, incorrectly installed reserve static lines and worn out freebag loops are shown. As a full-time loft, we see this and much more come through our door. It’s amazing to me that more skydivers aren’t affected by shoddy rigging. I am just thankful that there is a repack cycle and that the gear is so forgiving to minor rigging errors. Just today I inspected and repacked a reserve for a skydiver who just moved here from San Diego. We discovered a severely bent reserve pin, a freebag loop that was halfway unstitched along with being more than two inches too long and a frayed reserve closing loop incorrectly assembled to the washer while also being one and a half inches too long. Over the last few years I have found Cypres loops wrapped around cutters, reserve flaps closed in the wrong order, rip-stop tape on a reserve canopy, a reserve pilot chute spring too weak to open the container flaps, mildew growing inside the container and on top of a reserve parachute, service bulletins ignored and Cypres units installed incorrectly. I hope the Parachutist article along with this “rant” will spur skydivers to pay closer attention to their rigger’s knowledge, continuing education and quality of work. Becoming and staying current as a FAA rigger is a big-time commitment and should not be taken lightly — there are a lot of bulletins, gear updates and industry standards to keep up with. At Chuting Star Rigging Loft our door is always open for those who want to see our riggers tending to their gear.