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Early last year I had a hard pull on my main pilot chute after making a hop and pop from a helicopter over Atlanta Skydiving Center. When the main pilot chute wouldn’t budge, I went to my reserve handle.

The hard pull occurred in part due to a BOC pouch tightened with a bartack inset too far in from the pouch trim tape. Instead of replacing the pouch, I tried to extend the life of the pilot chute pouch by shortening the mouth and pulling the slack between the bartack and the trim tape. While it seemed a good idea in theory, practically it turned out to cause hard pulls.

Sharing in the blame was the way I packed my main pilot chute. I literally would loop the main bridle against the mesh center, fold it in half and roll it up. There wasn’t anything neat about it. I didn’t think it was necessary. But after dealing with the hard pull malfunction, it was clear the way the pilot chute was packed was partly to blame. When I inspected the pouch and pilot chute on the ground, the pilot chute material and bridle had bunched up around the inside of the BOC pouch mouth and bartack.

Shortly thereafter, packer, and now rigger, Kenny Pugh showed me the following method for packing a main pilot chute. I have since used this method religiously. The photos below show how to pack a main pilot chute for a comfortable pull and throw as well as reliable pilot chute inflation on every jump.

A few keys to this method include:
• Make neat, flat S-folds of the bridle after folding the pilot chute in quarters,
• Fold (do not roll) the pilot chute in a width as wide as your BOC pouch,
• Slip (do not stuff) the pilot chute in the pouch, keeping the material flat.

Finally, inspect your pilot chute pouch for holes, tears and missing stitching. Inspect the tightness of the pouch opening. A pilot chute pouch that has become too stretched out at the opening or has other damage will need to be replaced immediately.