This tandem rig
was manufactured by Security Parachutes in California
USA. It was the first of the harness/container systems
to place the reserve parachute canopy on the jumper's back with the main
canopy. About a year later Pioneer Parachutes produced the
"Para-Twin" that gave the choice of unzipping the reserve and
mounting it on the back or front. This model was popular with
a few style jumpers that had perfected their style techniques wearing front
mounted reserves but preferred the reserve out of their vision on accuracy
jumps but it made no real impression on the sport market. Pioneer also offered a side by side version of the piggyback
but it never got off the ground.
Like the ram-air canopy, the piggyback
harness/container was accepted by both competition and fun jumpers very fast
and these two
pieces of equipment developed rapidly, bringing about an increase
in performance, bulk, and weight reduction. The need to
manufacture rigs to re-equip the whole skydiving population of the western
world also created a plethora of small manufacturers, many of which grew
into large enterprises and gave the jumpers of today the fabulous range of
equipment that there is to choose from when you buy a parachute rig. |