RogerRamjet

Thanks Doug, but Bill is the real hero. I just take the spreadsheets he sends me and drop them into a format that can be bulk loaded to the datbase for the site. He, on the other hand, has to transcribe all the data from spiral bound notebooks into excel before he sends it to me. I'd much rather have my job The database stuff is easy for me and a small token of my appreciation for all Bill's hard work and also it's a way to give a little back to the sport I enjoyed so much. Based on your low numbers, you obviously didn't start 14 years ago. I did that at first also on here, but kept fielding questions like "How could you only have started jumping 7 years ago and be in the first 16 man diamond, or how can you have such a low SCR and only have started 7 years ago. So, once a skydiver, always a skydiver, I just count my years from my first jump. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I haven't made my last one... Bill has really picked up the pace lately, so I'm hoping we have a complete database pretty soon. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Latest updates to the Star Crest Awards databases. Bill is working hard to fill the remaining gaps: ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

In the bailout photo, the pilot survives though he was injured. English Lightning jet did not do so well... http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/301942-lightning-ejection.html ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Scotty and Tammi generally winter at Z-Hills, so I would expect them to be there. They were talking about retiring from all the travel though, so I don't know for sure. As of now, I have no particular Turkey plans, so I might be able to come up for that and see some old friends. I wonder if Hoop is planning a stateside visit anytime soon... it sure would be great to see him there again! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yeah... in the "old days" I would have just gone up high and made a 10 second delay and then rode the canopy for a while. These days, most dropzones really won't allow such things and after this long of a layoff, a rig and canopy I've never jumped, and only a couple of jumps on 3-ring equipped rigs, I think a re-cert is just fine. Carl is going to provide the training for free, Bob the rental rig for free... I'll cover the jump tickets for Carl and me and possibly a photographer. I'll also be bringing up a Tandem student. Anyway, I have no doubt's about myself and if I can handle it or not, but I'm also older and wiser than I once was and it seems prudent to brush up on EPs and have someone like Carl in the air with me for the first time back. He expects there will be no issues either and said we would probably go back up for some RW with some of his buddies after the AFF. I would also like to get a jump in with Bill Booth who I worked for building the first 100+ Wonderhogs but never got to jump with (he was not jumping during that period). He has said he is up for it as well. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I expect on a re-cert AFF jump after a 28 year layoff that the deployment altitude would be 5 grand or so though I didn't ask Carl about that when last we spoke. Anyway, point taken

I took my "woman" with me for one of my visits to the Keys Boogie at Marathon Key (the last two years they held them). She met Carl among others; he's not her type... besides, with Scotty Carbone there I had two reputations to watch out for I will be bringing some camera items for sure (one of my hobbies). Now if one of you could just tell me the furthest landing area from the handkerchief pilots so I can land whatever monster they put me under without being taken out... Really, the jump, EPs, landing, etc.; none of that scares me as much as what I've already seen in terms of disparate canopy speeds in the landing area. When I was active, all I worried about was getting a good canopy over my head and landing in a clear spot. All the squares of the time, Strato Star, 7 cell foil, etc. had roughly the same forward and decent speeds. I saw so many hot rod pilots swoop right down the middle of the landing area at the Keys Boogie and right through the middle of normally landing canopies that it scared me just watching... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Tuna, Please do look him up. At least get his email address or phone number. I'd very much like to catch up with him. I've exchanged emails with so many friends from those days through this site; I really appreciate that it exists! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Carl is at Deland and does "sequential bigway" organizing once a month. There is nothing I would love better than to have some of you old farts that are still jumping to come down and participate. Hell, even if you're not jumping, come down to visit. I would love to meet you guys. PS: Bring your knowledge, advice and stories.

Your memory seems fine to me (you remembered I was skiing in the Nationals). I skied well, though not quite to my seeding. Still, I'm happy to qualify for and ski in them. I seem to remember they had a circle of beer or some such thing. You went by yourself on the jump, maybe style or accuracy or just fun, can't remember (of course). I can tell you that I only remember three instructor/jumpmasters from my student days at Z-Hills, Jim Hooper, Dan Steiger, and you (in no particular order). All three of you influenced my early jumping and I'm certain helped keep my alive long enough to "get it." I believe starting at that particlular dropzone was a huge stroke of luck for me. To be surrounded by that kind of talent has got to be an edge. I know when I went on vacation with around 250 jumps, the places I jumped in Maryland (Downsville and Woodbine) treated me like a skygod even though most of them had a ton more jumps than me. I had already been in 10, 16, and 20 man stars and most of them had never seen that many people in freefall together before. Made me realize how lucky I was to have started with you guys... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Pat, good for you! I was trying to hook up with Hoop last year on a trip to London, but the trip fell apart. I'm still wanting to go back there again, so we may be planning a trip there soon. Both of you had an impact on my jumping and I still think fondly of those days at Z-Hills. I was in the plane I believe for your jump number 1000. Seems like they did something at the peas for you, but I my memory is a bit hazy about it. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yeah, the magic of the internet (and these forums). I have "hooked up" with so many friends from back then myself. Several of the members of that team were on the first ever 16 man diamond in 1974 in Deland. If you look through this forum, you can find my write up about it. That jump in 74 is part of why I made that team for 75. Same slot too, 16th (I'm in the bright yellow and black (Clawson) jumpsuit. Carl Daugherty was also on that team and is still jumping! He is participating in the POPS record attempts next week in Perris, CA. Last I spoke with him, he had nearly 17,000 jumps! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Ok, dz.com has still not approved my shots (or whatever they do), so I uploaded them to my Flickr account. Here they are: Diamond: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2887911050_2625b48daf_b.jpg Snowflake: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/2887910396_39bf5aa1f3_b.jpg I believe there were three jumps in the competition, these two and a round. We won all three rounds

Ok, now I guess I'll have to scan my shot of that very diamond and post it to my pictures on here. I have shots of the 16 man diamond and 16 man snowflake competition jumps from that year (taken by the late Carl Beonish). I'll try to scan both tomorrow and get them posted... that should bring back some memories for you

Ok, now I guess I'll have to scan my shot of that very diamond and post it to my pictures on here. I have shots of the 16 man diamond and 16 man snowflake competition jumps from that year (taken by the late Carl Beonish). I'll try to scan both tomorrow and get them posted... that should bring back some memories for you

I got this from Hoop a few minutes ago and this is how I remember them also: It was a great system for students. Reliable openings and as long as the spot was good, not too much they could do to hurt themselves. Bury a toggle and you're just turning when you hit at pretty much the same rate as going forward. I keep reading where students are pranging themselves under squares in the incidents forum. Maybe squares have been safer, but I don't know the stats on it... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Man are you taking me back in the way back machine! When I went to work for Jeff Searles, there were probably about that many T-10 static line rigs in service. They were all standard direct bag (just like the military setup). I didn't know it was a modification though, I thought that they were mil spec. I packed those things for two years and we never had a single mal on a static line drop (other than mine where the type 8 webbing around the pilot's seat in the 182 holding the D-Ring for the static lines broke and followed me out). I used to sleep neck deep in T-10's on Sunday night sometimes There was the 97-10, a double throw zigzag, and a double needle machine that needed attention. Though I liked the 97-10 ok, I later used a 731 which is way better for harness work IMO. I bought a 731 from Deland when I started making my own rigs. Gary Farnsworth was/is a great skydiver and certainly one of the good guys that came down from Canada for a few years. I had a big crush on Josie DeNatalie who used to come down with that group. I recently exchanged emails with both of them and both are doing well I'm happy to report

No, it was steerable, but I think it was cut into the canopy. Don't remember what the mod was though. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I actually did a return to currency through a bunch of jumps on larger canopies. 260s, 190s 170s before I started with the 136. 237 to 252 since the accident and you have "bunches" of jumps on 260s, 190s, 170s before the 136 (eliptical).... whatever... People with a lot more experience and insight than you have are trying to get through to you dude. The problem here is that you don't know what you don't know. I believe you're heading down the path to a much more severe accident. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I imagine it wasn't open for long. The roadbed of the old skyway bridge was only 155' from the water... I don't believe he was ever cought or even if anyone of authority knew the jump happened. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

An interesting bit of nostalgia for me would be that my one and only cutaway (other than two previous intentional cutaways with a third chute) from a mal was on the original Wonderhog with two plastic ripcords. Both worked as intended, but my cheapo decided to line-over and open some new modifications on this opening. Others around me seemed to be swirling and going up, but of course I was spiraling down and they were all yelling cutaway, cutaway! I pulled my one-shots down and in the same stroke went to the reserve ripcord. Others on the jump said my reserve pilot chute was no more than 3 feet from my main risers. 26' Navy Conical looked like crap playing out from the container but sure opened nice. Standup landing too! I moved on to a Strato-Star (kept my Navy con and one-shots), hand-deploy, and metal reserve ripcord for the remainder of my Wonderhog jumps. If I still had that rig, I'd not hesitate to jump it today. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yeah, I liked him too. He lent me his Papillon to try and his (I think it was his) Para Plane to try as well. I jumped every square on the DZ before the Strato-Star came out; Para Plane, Cloud, Para Foil, Para Sled and after the Strato-Star came out, the new 7 cell Para Foil. Still hard to believe students jump squares on their first jumps these days... He also had a T-Bow for a while. I used to watch him during decent pull the centerlines down until he had esentially a streamer and then let them go. Never saw it mal from that, but always thought it might... I believe Billy also has a static line (24' reserve in a T-10 direct deploy bag) jump off the old Skyway bridge. Talk about opening low!!! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I think Billy Revis was a low puller also. If the plane crash hadn't gotten him, a low pull or another stunt like cutting away a good canopy (which I witnessed more than once) for fun was bound to get him eventually. I remember him telling me that he wouldn't make his 25th birthday and I believe he didn't. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Actually, I think redneck does fit Glen. I remember one day he was harassing a turtle and Ed Moore (of Ed and Charlie [Charlene] Moore) took exception. Ed said that if Glen messed with the turtle one more time, they were going to get into it. Well, you know what happened then... If I recall correctly, Hoop broke up the fight which consisted mostly of rolling around in the dirt trying to get some punches in. Yeah, his wife was way better looking than he probably deserved I think the prettiest girl I ever saw at Z-Hills though had to be Kathy Embry... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519