Packing your chute was a major annoyance for skydivers. There was an old WW2 grass airfield about 15 miles outside of town where they jumped. My parents took me out there for my 13th birthday to watch them. I wanted to jump as well but I wasn't old enough. My parents figured that was the end of it. Instead, i started riding my bike out to that old country airfield every weekend and just sat there watching. Finally, one guy asked if I wanted to learn to pack his chute. I was all about it. He taught me to propack his old 9 cell racer. Soon I picked it up. He jumped a few times and didn't die. So some other people started having me pack theirs as well.

I never packed reserves or student rigs. Rigged for 5 years, never had one fail. The only difficult ones were the Zero-P canopies on humid days. Many others who didn't trust me had malfunctions but they all survived 🤣.

Weird summer job that i made for myself. It was fun but made very little money.