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A United States rigger discovered a harness junction unstitched late last year, according to a report in the June issue of Skydiving Magazine. The critical junction above one of the large harness rings was held together with only hot glue. Apparently the junction was never sewn down during the manufacturing process and the missed stitching was not discovered during the final inspection at the factory.

The good news is that the missed stitching was discovered during the initial assembly process by a rigger, so the container was never jumped. The rig manufacturer, who’s name was withheld in the article, was contacted and said the final inspector in charge of inspecting that rig “simply missed the construction error,” according to Skydiving. That inspector is no longer with the company.

This report only reinforces the fact that a reserve canopy assembly or reserve inspection and repack is not limited to hooking the canopy up correctly. Packing a reserve parachute and closing a container according to manufacturer instructions does not help the skydiver at 3000 feet when his harness fails because a rigger failed to notice missing stitching on a harness junction or see the abrasion and/or cut through a leg strap.

Repacking a reserve every 120 days includes a full inspection of the reserve, container and related components. The missing harness stitching is an important reminder of that inspection process. Just because a rig is new is no guarantee that the container and/or parachute was manufactured correctly and is airworthy. It is up to the rigger to make that determination each and every time the reserve is assembled or packed.