PRO Pack

is the PRO in Pro Pack has any specific meaning ?

is it the short term for professional ? or is the acronym of something ?

Proper Ram-Air Orientation

To add, before the pro-pack, canopies were often flat packed where the canopy was laid on its side.  Hence why the focus of this packjob was that the canopy is kept facing forward the whole time. 

Then of course there is the psycho pack....

When it first came out of was also referred to as "Possible Reserve Opening". LOL

On 3/16/2021 at 8:07 AM, Travman said:

To add, before the pro-pack, canopies were often flat packed where the canopy was laid on its side.  Hence why the focus of this packjob was that the canopy is kept facing forward the whole time. 

Then of course there is the psycho pack....

The “factory pack” as it was called back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, could be done very much like a reserve is often packed, including the nose pointed forward like a propack.

The psycho pack has been working well for many years here, Precision Parachutes had it listed on their website along with instructions. It isn’t so different.

On 3/12/2021 at 11:42 AM, iranianjumper said:

Pro Pack

10 hours ago, Genego said:

When it first came out

The Pro Pack is basically a cleaned up version of the ancient 'Trash Pack'.

Do most students learn to Flat Pack first or do they generally go to PRO first. I learned to Flat Pack first and still prefer to see it laid out for a quick inspection.

25 minutes ago, danornan said:

Do most students learn to Flat Pack first or do they generally go to PRO first. I learned to Flat Pack first and still prefer to see it laid out for a quick inspection.

 

Flat pack, haven't seen a student taught that since the late 90's (That's me!)  I jumped for a couple years and took a ten year break. Returned and the only flat packers I've witnessed are dedicated accuracy jumpers (the parachute requires a flat pack).   

4 hours ago, danornan said:

Do most students learn to Flat Pack first or do they generally go to PRO first. I learned to Flat Pack first and still prefer to see it laid out for a quick inspection.

 

The only time I see flat packing is one or two places that pack tandems that way.

Even reserves are packed in a way I've heard called "Pro-Pack on the floor". 
It ends up looking exactly like a pro pack, but it starts on it's side on the floor. 

I agree that laying it on it's side is a very good way to do a quick inspection of the canopy & lines.

My wife, two friends, and I all started skydiving back in the year 2000. We all did AFF together and did a packing course at the end. We were all taught PRO packing and everyone at our dropzone (that I noticed) PRO packed. I had heard of flat packing, but never actually saw anyone do it until we took a skydiving vacation in Perris Valley. That was around 2004. 

I did see a few psycho pack jobs and even tried it myself. I didn't actually jump it though. Saw a fair amount of what I would call "trash packing". Line check, grab nose and in sweeping motion, swing out and then bring between legs, check that the lines were in the middle, then toss it to the ground, flatten it out, S fold it, get it in the bag, stow the lines, put in the container and call it a day. Any suggestions that they might have cut some corners was met with the reply, "It wants to open, don't sweat it.". 

Full transparency: I'm pretty anal about my pack jobs and can't help but be meticulous in my process. On my best days it takes me 30 minutes to pack. Sad thing is my openings (on heading, lack of line twists, soft....) is probably no better then the people I critique as being trash packers. If I take any shortcuts though, I freak out.

Related to that. I just recently picked up a spring scale and started measuring the pull force of the stows of the D-bag. Not good.......great, something else to obsess about. I'll start a thread on that soon.....

Landmissle, watch someone flat pack and you will be surprised how much sense it makes to see everything laid out as you fly it.  It just takes more room....

More room to flat pack but less bulk in your pack. can also PRO-Flat Pack. The WFPA organization is looking for new members young and old to start new chapters (Word Flat Packers Anonymous).

45 minutes ago, gunpaq said:

More room to flat pack but less bulk in your pack. can also PRO-Flat Pack. The WFPA organization is looking for new members young and old to start new chapters (Word Flat Packers Anonymous).

 

I flat packed a 290 Skymaster into a student rig in my basement a couple weeks ago. Send me a membership application.