The 179-Day Seat Reserve and a Back-Only Rating
You are a senior parachute rigger whose certificate carries only a back-type rating. A vintage-aircraft owner brings you a seat-type emergency parachute and asks you to repack it for a flight scheduled in 48 hours. The packing data card shows the last repack was 179 days ago. The canopy, harness, and container look clean, and the owner has the aircraft logbook showing the parachute is required equipment. You have no master rigger available to supervise, and the owner is pressuring you because the flight cannot go without a current reserve. The parachute serial number is legible, and the card has the previous rigger name and certificate number. You have a current senior certificate and a logbook ready. The owner asks you to just sign it off and says the 180-day rule is only a skydiving convention.
1. Can you legally pack and sign off this parachute? Explain the rating and the 180-day rule.
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Under 14 CFR part 65, a senior parachute rigger may pack, maintain, and alter only parachutes for which he or she is rated. A back-type rating does not cover a seat-type parachute. A master rigger could supervise, but none is available, so you cannot legally pack or sign off this parachute. The 180-day rule is not a skydiving convention: no person may pack an emergency parachute unless it has been packed within the preceding 180 days. The card shows 179 days today, but the flight is in 48 hours, which would be 181 days, so it would be expired for the flight even if you were rated. Packing it now would reset the clock only if you were authorized. Decline the pack.
2. What record entries would be required if a properly rated rigger packed it, and what should you do with the owner request?
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If a properly rated rigger packed it, the rigger would complete the packing data card and a rigger logbook entry showing the date, owner name and address, parachute type and serial number, type of work (repack), and the rigger certificate number, with a signature. The card should be attached to the parachute in the normal location. Because you are not rated for this seat parachute, you should not make any entry implying you packed it; return the parachute with a written explanation that a seat-rated senior or any master rigger must do the work. Do not alter or sign the existing card.