Above: Photo by Josh Reuck.
On April 24, Kirk Smith, who chairs the Rigging Committee of the Parachute Industry Association, submitted a long-awaited Petition for Exemption to the Federal Aviation Administration. The exemption requests that the FAA authorize Main Parachute Packers under a limited pilot program for evaluation.
Under the current rules in 14 Code of Federal Regulations 105.43 and 105.45, only a rigger or a person under direct FAA-rigger supervision may pack a main parachute for someone else to use. If the FAA approves, the MPP exemption would authorize packers evaluated by PIA-appointed FAA Master Parachute Riggers to pack main parachutes without further direct supervision by an FAA-certificated rigger. The PIA program proposes leaving all current rules in place with no intent to change them.
If the FAA grants the exemption, the PIA plans to initiate the program at certain sample drop zones throughout the United States for six months to a year. The end goal is to conduct the program nationwide at any drop zone that sees an advantage to the MPP program.
Abbie Mashaal, who operates several Cessna drop zones in the Northwest, brought the idea to PIA at its 2021 winter meeting. Smith then appointed him to chair the PIA MPP Subcommittee, a dedicated group of FAA riggers and DZ owners committed to developing a program acceptable to the industry and the FAA. They have met every three weeks since, usually including PIA President Roberto Montañez, and frequent representation by Michael Knight, USPA’s director of government relations and Ron Bell, USPA’s director of safety and training.
The Request for Exemption is available at regulations.gov under docket #lve-9ncu-s59d. It includes the proposed program’s qualifications, standards, training points, written and oral exam questions and practical test tasks.
The 90-day public comment period runs through July 23. FAA will then review the program and comments (on its own internal schedule) before deciding whether to grant PIA the exemption.
Kevin Gibson | D-6943 and FAA Designated Parachute Rigger Examiner
Rahlmo’s Rigging in Orange, Virginia