RogerRamjet

Yeah, that's his main ripcord, probably because he shoots with his right hand though maybe he's just left handed. Don't know for sure, but his reserve ripcord is the usual right-hand pull on the belly wart. If you've packed as many belly warts as I have, you may also note that there is no pilot chute bulge (kinda hard to see at this resolution, but on the full size image I can tell). This a probably a good thing considering the (shudder) two shot capewells. I only jumped two-shots for my static line jumps (T-10) where we were to hand deploy the reserve in case of a malfunction. I didn't like them even for that and we converted quite a number of those rigs to shot and a halfs over the couple of years I rigged there (I didn't like those much either and installed one-shots on my personal gear). This was not so the static-liners could cut away a mal, but so they could more easily cut away one side in a "being dragged" situation after landing. In the two years I worked at Z-Hills and the next three jumping there, they never had a static line malfunction with the T-10 system. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

So, I'm on vacation in Rome, Italy with my wife a couple of weeks ago... We go on the Vatican tour where we find ourselves standing in a 2 hour line. We strike up a conversation with the couple who had ridden over on the bus from the hotel with us and come to find out that the husband is an x skydiver. We are on almost all the same tours the rest of the week and he and I exchange many skydiving stories. I have attached a picture he (Bill Zuchelli) sent me from his skydiving days in the mid 60's. It really is a small world, isn't it? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I had a 20 man (way) patch sewn to the pop-top pilot chute cover on my pop-top. When I went on vacation, I stopped at a small dropzone in Maryland. When the ASO checked my packing card, he asked for my riggers license since I had packed it. Afterwards, he turned the reserve over to hand it back and his (and others around us) eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You've been in a 20 man???" I've been in several I replied, my home dropzone is Z-Hills. All of a sudden, the local group wanted me to organize their first 8 man attempt (using 2 Cessna's). I didn't know what to think, to me large formation jumps were normal, but I was getting a whole new appreciation for where I happened to start jumping. I asked how they had the 8 way organized and they had done just what I would have anyways. Since they only had 7, I went as number 8 and earned my SCS (I didn't tell them I had never been in later than 7th before...). I also had my SCR and SCS patches. Wish I had one of those Hinkley patches in the photo above. I jumped there with Roger and Carl Nelson, but never even saw one of those patches then (1975). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

My memory may be a little dim these days since it's 30 years later and I left Booth's shop before the tandom was actually jumped, but it seems to me the first 8 passengers were all under age. I believe that was the point of the new harness in the first place.... As for the original post, I would have handled it the same way (maybe not as quick witted though). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I've read through the fatality thread and now this one. What do all of you think of something like this modification to the AAD: 1) Add an interrupt button that the jumper can press after doing their controllability tests. 2) In the electronics, have a timer circuit that disables the firing circuit when the button is pressed (but nothing else) for X number of minutes. 3) When X minutes elapses, re-arm automatically. If I were a swooper attaining the speeds we are talking about but still wanted the usual AAD protection, this is an option I would like. X could = say 5 minutes, more than enough time to land, but the re-arm would take place before the next skydive without intervention from me. Perhaps X could be a tunable parameter. The rest of the device could remain as is. The only downside I see besides the already discussed added complexity is if you induce a mal after pressing the button and are slow on your EPs. A downside I could live with. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Glad I didn't read your post before actually doing just that.... I am not suggesting anyone change their EPs based on my posts. ANYTHING outside your practiced EPs is a waste of time because you have not practiced it before. However, in my situation, I knew I was high and had perhaps 10 seconds to "waste" on it. The original hand-deploy (called throw-out today) did not have a pin, the container was held closed with a bungee loop through the flap grommets and a bight of the PC bridle. With today's setup, very tight containers with pin closure, I would go with my usual EPs unless I knew I was deploying high and recognized that it was a PC in tow immediately. As allways, discuss with your instructors to make an informed decision about how [B] YOU [/B] will handle any given situation. Good observation. Generally speaking, the low porosity materials of the time were not as low as those in use today, so the answer to your question is yes. I think you can see from some of the other replies here that the current pilot chute materials offer increased drag over what we started with. Another piece if evidence is that the original production hand-deploy PC was 36 inches and the current diameter of Booth's standard PC's is smaller. I only wish we had such a wealth of information available as this forum provides in those days. I believe a number of fatalities might have been avoided just through education and exposure. I look at dropzone.com as a place where you can read about issues and causes and help to shape how you think about your gear and EPs. I personally would take this information, my instructor's teachings, and my own growing experiences to shape and modify my EPs as I went along. When Bobby and I were doing the first jumps on these things, we had no experience base at all to draw from and no large forum like this one to throw possibilities around. We were lucky to have some skydiving skills, some luck, and in particular, a man with the insight that Bill Booth had (and still has) guiding us down uncharted waters.... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Anyone know if this is the same Steve Sutton that was cutting holes in the bottom of ram-air canopies to improve how they flew back in the mid 70s? He was down to Z-Hills from Canada and did his work in the loft there (I was the site rigger at the time). I'd love to get in touch with him... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I could be wrong since it was 30 years ago, but I believe when I went to work for Bill Booth, he was driving a MGB at the time (and had been jumping rounds too). Jim Hooper at Z-Hills had a MGB also I believe and more recently had a Morgan. He is living in England so has his choice

If he's really this sick, I'd hate to be in the air with him when he decides I have a very nice cutaway handle or reserve handle.... On a more serious note, if someone is really a friend of this guy and also a skydiver, why would they not warn the community at large if you know he's going to a large meet? Now, everyone in the skydiving community will know, but it seems a much harder method than a warning might have been. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Gee, I bought my Canary Yellow jumpsuit BECAUSE it showed up on the pictures and videos so well. I guess it didn't occur to me that messing up would show just as well ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Hey, he liked mine Anyway, whatever the final letters, I think D should be one for (D)irect because it conjures up Direct Bag which is what his system is closest to (Direct Bag Static Line). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I had one of those rigs, not even a 3 ring yet, just tapewells. It was my first pig rig.

I couldn't agree more! I worked for Bill (building the first 100+ Wonderhogs), worked for the competition (Bill Buchman's Eagle rigs), and worked as the competition building my own rigs. I knew (and know) Bill through all of that and he has always been GENUINE and SINCERE. The facts that he is still at it after more than 30 years and spends some of his time hanging out on these forums sharing his insights speaks volumes about what kind of man Bill is... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Heck, you guys don't look a day over thirty. Or maybe it's just trick photography. You must have really lived a clean life to look that fit and chipper!....Steve1 Oh yeah baby, clean livin. Look at the picture again, behind them between the chairs ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I like that. I had been calling it a MARDe System...Main Assisted Reserve Deployment. Everyone likes a TLA better (Three Letter Acronyms). Use it, Skyhook it great, but a TLA is better

Back in the early 70s, a guy who jumped at Z-Hills had a large red warning label sewn on the pin protector flap of his Pioneer Pig Rig. It read "CAUTION * Explosive Cutters Installed" The label (not the reserve), was from a zero/zero ejection system. Kinda made you think for a second before squeezing up behind him for exit ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I'm sure that's right, I was 6.... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Could someone take a shot of their Paragear press and post it here please? I'd like to see if it looks anything like my press. I will see about taking a shot of mine tonight when I get home from work and post it as well. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

so this is a sky hook would have save scenario, from waht i am aware that is why they exist. i wouldn't have an r.s.l. but i want a skyhook. Its still an RSL, just a different type. Maybe Bill should have called it RDD (Reserve Direct Deployment).... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I'm there Wendy. I have only one mal and I packed both (rounds) the main (28' C9) and reserve (26' Navy Conical). Luckily, one of them worked ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

For me it was an air show at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL when I was in the sixth grade. The Navy's (now defunct) Shooting Stars skydiving team performed there and did stand-up landings on the runway right in front of the crowd. I read every book in school on it, watched the Ripcord series on TV, even had an old 24' round reserve a friend's father brought back from WW2 to play with. Kind of forgot about it for a few years, but the subject came up while working with my brother one day when I was 20. We decided to go out to Z-Hills and check it out. I spent the next 7 years doing NOTHING else, even living on the dropzone (in the loft) for most of a year. Earned my riggers license to help pay for my jumps, built the first 100+ Wonderhogs for Bill Booth, built Eagle rigs for Bill Buchman, even built my own rigs for a while. Life was good. I have a nice collection of firsts, world records, and great memories

I bought mine in 1973. It's been hanging on the garage wall for 25 years now. Just got it down when I read this thread and tried it out; yup, still works perfectly. I don't know where I bought it though, I think Jeff Searles (owner of Z-Hills commercial center and Master Rigger who trained me) got it for me when I finished the rigger course at Z-Hills. I would say from looking at mine, that it is very well made. It has no markings on it whatsoever, do any of yours? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Well, besides the other interesting replies you've gotten here, consider this. Sooner or later if you keep jumping, you will find yourself falling past the side of a cloud formation and believe me, the sensation of speed WILL present itself Another interesting perspective is to be base (actually any position is ok, but with few jumps you will probably not be last in) for a formation (2 or 20 doesn't matter really) and, after planning it with everyone else, punch out of it at break-off altitude. As your canopy opens, keep watching everyone else as they fall away from you... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

What size is that canopy? In 1974 at Z-Hills we had a guy down from Canada (Steve something) who was experimenting with cutting holes in the lower surface of square canopies. He had several canopies of various sizes including a 425' cargo square. We took that canopy and 1000' feet of line to the back runway and did many tows (behind a truck) without issues. At least a dozen of us flew it. Took me a while to get down though as I only weighed 135lbs at the time I don't think I'd try it with a regular skydiving canopy though... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I don't doubt that. I expect your PCs were not using 1975 era lowpo materials though.... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519