RogerRamjet

Was the plane totaled or were they able to repair it (it doesn't look that bad from that picture)? ============ Edited to add: I see someone said the same plane was in another accident later, so I guess it did survive... ============ I put students out at Rainbow in summer of 1975. I know Tuna flew jumpers there earlier than that, but maybe not that early. Do you know who the pilot was, DZO? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I have a half dozen jumps on a flyer, all stand-ups (135lbs at the time). It landed harder than my Strato-Star, but was ok at my weight (IMO). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

As I said in PM, I do not think I met Walt when I jumped there. When I arrived (6/9/74), they were organizing a two plane SCR attempt. I had my SCR, but though I had been in a number of 16 and 20 man stars, did not have a SCS at the time. I went 8th on the load and got my SCS. Here are the SCR jumpers which were local Woodbine jumpers: 3572 Rogers Roger K Woodbine Maryland 6-9-1974 NA 3573 Reed Paul E Woodbine Maryland 6-9-1974 NA 3574 Miller Michael P Woodbine Maryland 6-9-1974 NA 3575 Thewitt Larry Woodbine Maryland 6-9-1974 NA Maybe one or more of them can be found here or on facebook and maybe one of them knew Walt. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I made quite a few jumps at that Glider Port. I believe they had a Stinson with something like a 450hp engine on it, loudest aircraft I ever jumped from. Jumped out there with Bobby Grey, Pam Tayon, Beanpole, and a few others while working for Bill Booth. Would have been 1974/75. Made one jump at Homestead airport from a Bell JetRanger owned (or rented) by Quinn Martin Productions. They were filming a TV series called Caribe Force and Pam made a stunt double jump for which I spotted. While talking about the jump back at the airport, I said I had always wanted to jump out of a helicopter at which point the Director looked at the pilot and said "I think we can arrange that." I stepped off the skid at 4K for my only helicopter jump (or ride for that matter). There was no jump operation there, so probably not legal Edited to update the HP on the Stinson after an email from Hooper about it (thanks Hoop!). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Hoop, when were the National Inquirer jumps at Z-Hills? I was there for them, but not jumping the "big stuff" yet. I do remember National Enquirer stickers on helmets (and everything else) for a while. Weren't those record attempts as well? I know they were on Saturday and Sunday and spilled over into Monday. I remember a number of jumpers calling in sick to work (and Dan Steger calling in to the Navy) on Monday... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

It took a little scanning in google earth, but I was able to find the aircraft. I was confused since there is a paved airport a bit south of Beatty and I was looking there. However, the matchbook cover gave me the hint that the truck stop was 3 mi north of Beatty on 95, so I scanned up the road and eventually found the plane. Imagery date is Nov 19, 2006, so it was there at that time at least. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I believe I remember meeting him. I was the rigger at Z-Hills during the National Inquirer Record attempts. Can't remember for sure if those were in 74 though, I seem to remember it being 73 as I was not yet jumping with the sky gods. Do you have a photo from that time? Hooper has a better memory for names than I do, maybe he will add something here. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yup. I kept telling her I didn't even drink and just wanted food and a coke. She kept telling me it didn't matter, she still needed two IDs that matched. My first impressions of Indiana weren't so hot... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Very cool! Totally different experience at South Bend. After jumping Saturday, we all went into town to a bar and grill where I ordered food and a coke. The waitress asked me for ID to which I replied I was only getting food and a coke, no alcohol. She said Indiana required two forms of ID to drink or eat there. I had my Florida driver’s license and luckily had my FAA riggers card with me or I would have been down the street at McDonalds or something. Between the malfunctions, heat, and rules, I came away somewhat under whelmed with Indiana... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I was jumping with him (and Bohr and others) that very same summer though he didn't attend the South Bend event as I recall. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

No, that unit was either the 2nd generation or the 3rd generation. The first generation used a 20K ft altimeter. I 'think' that the 2nd generation used a 10K ft altimeter; but I might be wrong on that. It has been a 'few' years, JerryBaumchen PS) We had one dufus back in '64 who was all geared up and waiting to get on the plane ( he had a 1st generation Sentinel ). Some kids were standing there and they asked what that thing was. He told them & then they asked how it worked. He said, "You just turn it on; like this." POW - she fired & left his reserve canopy laying on the ground. Some people were just not cutout for this sport. We used Sentinel 2000s at Z-Hills in the 70s. I remember one jumpmaster forgetting to calibrate the unit, so he did it on jump run. The student had a two out ride (a 28 and a 24, not really an issue like today's two out can be). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Probably not the one you're thinking of, but... In 1975, Roger Nelson organized a meet in South Bend Indiana. We took the Loadstar down there from Aurora where we had it up for the summer working at Hinkley. I saw more malfunctions that weekend than ever before or after. I packed 13 reserves myself and other riggers were busy as well. I also saw the lowest survived opening in my career when a guy cutaway at about 1000 feet, took his time pulling his belly wart which happened to contain a 28' reserve. When the canopy opened, his feet swung through the wheat and he landed prone receiving only a bloody nose. The farmer who was on his tractor cutting the wheat had to be attended to by the ambulance that was sent out for the jumper. I never heard screams of anger like the ones coming from his wife when she realized he was alive... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I have a handful of para-plane and para-cloud jumps. Yes, it uses rings and ropes on the top surface, but depending on sub-terminal/terminal opening, there is a collar (if I recall correctly) that must be used for terminal and can't be used for sub-terminal. Getting that backwards is either bad (reefed for terminal, jumped sub-terminal causes bag lock) or disasterous (reefed for sub-terminal and jumped terminal causes broken bones). If you have the manual, make sure the new owner gets and reads it for packing... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

He always seemed to be at the Z-Hills boogie as well, great guy. I also agree about that being something Bob would do. He's still a great guy, just turned 60 (and looks 45 damn him). Saw him last weekend at the Kittenger thing in Deland. I spoke about a recert jump with Carl Daugherty and Bob offered me the deal of a lifetime. Carl had no time for such things that weekend, so have to find an off weekend when he's not plane captian or doing POPS record attempts

I was just there for Friday. Sorry I missed you, but I did hook up with a few people I hadn't seen in 3 decades. I met Joe also and spoke with him for a few minutes and managed to catch up a bit about his brother whom I had done some computer work for in the mid 80s. Saw Carl Daugherty who I've been threatening to let do my recert AFF jump with, but he was way too busy with the 50 way sequential stuff being one of the plane captains. Carl and I were both on the first ever 16 man diamond jump together in 1974 and on the winning Migratory Bird Refuge 16 and 20 man teams at the 1975 Turkey meet. Glad you got to do the whole weekend! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Are you there? I was there all day yesterday and met quite a few people I hadn't seen since the mid 70s. If you were, I wish I had run into you so I could put another face with the internet name! That's an interesting display too as I jumped rigs equivalent to the 60s, 70s and 80s setups they had on display. Seems scary now, but the norm for the times. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I was on a two way with a young lady at Z-Hills one day in late 73 or early 74. The ripcord housing had come loose from her harness and she couldn't find it at deployment time. As I was falling right next to her, I watched her try once, twice and then go directly to silver (front mounted 24' with pilot chute). Boy did she disappear in a hurry. After I opened (28' C9 TU7), she came oscillating past me as the 24 was not modified. I kept yelling "feet and knees together" to her all the way down. She really didn't complain too much about the opening, only that the landing was hard as she landed during the downswing of one of the oscillations (no injury). She had shot and a halves, but that really didn't matter for this incident... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Thanks! I'm in that film... about the 5 minute mark I'm landing my Strato-Star, Yellow and Black canopy, yellow slider, yellow with black stripes Clauson jumpsuit, white SK-120 hockey helmet, definitely me

I have about 350 (of 1000) round jumps. Nearly all were standup landings including my one reserve ride (26' Navy Conical). I've seen way more violent landings on current canopies than I ever saw on rounds... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Newbie Aug 5 1972 LOL, I wouldn't have beaten you even if I'd been allowed to jump when my Brother and I first went out to Z-Hills in November of 72. He started jumping then but my parents would not sign for me (I was 20 and the legal age in Florida at the time was 21). They (Florida) lowered the legal age to 18 on July 1st, 1973 and I made my first jump the same day. Still a newbie in this thread... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I worked for both of them. First Booth in 1974 for the original Wonderhogs (I built the first 100+ units) which had a two pin though loop system. I went to work for Buchmann in 1975 and his reserve container was also closed in the same fashion. Who was first and who copied whom I don't know. I can tell you that I never heard of the Eagle rigs until just before I left Booth's shop in 1975 so if Booth was using ideas from Buchmann, he certainly never said so out loud. Similarly, Buchmann never mentioned anything about the Wonderhog while I was working for him. One thing is for sure, the closure was the only thing they had in common as Booth's system was way more streamlined and relied entirely on plastics (even the ripcord in the early models). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Your spelling for Buchmann is correct though I can't figure what he contributed that would be worthy of the hall of fame... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

July 1st, 73. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Incident from around '73-'74 involving One-Shots. A guy jumping a Thunderbow in a Piggyback with a ripcord stop (Some of you may have to research that item). After deployment, he had placed the ripcord handle over his right wrist, with the end of the ripcord cable still in the housing, secured by the ripcord stop. Somewhere along the line, the cable got behind the cover of the right-hand release. At about 300', the dude cranks a right turn, pulling the ripcord tight because the handle was around his wrist. The cable flips open the cover of the right One-Shot Capewell, releasing that riser. It was a fatal accident. Most people weren't crazy about One-Shots at the time anyway. That accident sure didn't help their cause. Kevin K. I heard that story also while jumping at Z-Hills. We tried to find out who and where, but were never able to verify that it actually happened. One shots require the cover to be pulled fully down, very hard to do with a cable (not impossible I suppose). Compared to the number of accidental releases of 3-Rings, One-Shots were terrific... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Thanks for the update. Sad to have lost yet another friend. Yes, he was a great guy, excellent pilot and skydiver. He was also the first person I ever heard use the term aarrrggg. We had a rig back from Jim Hooper to resize the harness a bit and Bill had just completed cutting all the stitching that holds the container to the harness about the time Steve walked through the front door at Overton's Airport (a small house with an airstrip in the back yard we lived in during the summer of 1975). Just as Steve was saying hi, Bill ripped the container from the harness at which time Steve let out a loud AAARRRGGGG. Bill must has looked like superman or something; it was pretty funny and I still remember the moment like it was yesterday. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519