WmLauterbach

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Everything posted by WmLauterbach

  1. first PARACHUTE jump... basic airborne school, Ft Benning GA in March 1987 first FREEFALL jump... August 1994, Military Freefall School... Ft Bragg NC
  2. two jumpers at the Military Freefall School doing tandem terminal with the passenger carrying a pro-track clocked 194... (these guys were big fellas) two OTHER jumpers at the Military Freefall School (these guys were both feather merchants) under a 72 inch drouge failed to bust 100 mph as an avg speed... (the avg from the pro-track was 98) I stayed with the fat... uhm I meant big guys in a sit for a few thousand feet, then had to go on my head to keep up.... The other pair was about as slow as I can fall... if I had taken my cars keys on the jump I would have gone low... We also clocked a solo drougefall with the 72 inch drouge at an avg speed of 88MPH... When the guy set drouge, the video looked almost like he had dumped his main... OK... that was my input on the topic.... thank you, drive thru
  3. I had a camera suit walk off at work recently... I went on leave to go make a few skydives in Mexico... when I came back WHAM... one of my suits was missing. Stealing skydiving gear is just bad karma!
  4. ...normal packjob, didnt have the nose rolled, risers and lines were even it was just my turn......
  5. COBALTDAN... stilletto 150/raven /exit wt 200lbs dumped at 3500 after an AFF and instantly started spinning and with line twists and began to dive, had a hard pull on the cutaway pillow (no inserts) lost LOTS of altitude FAST.... eventually pulled on my back, got in the saddle right at 1000 ft.....
  6. I had a violent spinning mal under an elliptical... with the RSL conected.... I just responded to this thread... (which means RSL's and ellipticals are not a deadly combination) If I went up agian, knowing that the same thing would happen, I would still leave the RSL connected. I only see video/crw as reasons for disconnecting... (I have been known to disconnect under canopy on high wind days) but guess what... that only pertains to the canopy I have above MY head... If you dont trust it... dont use it. So to add a twist of perspective--->I work for the military and watch AAD's malfuction frequently... so I have an inherent lack of trust for "gadgets so that begs the question: What happens if your cypress malfunctions on a freefly jump and fires your reserve while you are in a headdown/sit transition? Is that reason enough to start leaving your cypress turned off on a freefly jump? TRUST YOUR EQUIPMENT OR BUY NEW GEAR! No use in fighting over the merits... some people drive chevy's and some people drive fords I agree with Bill... use it until you've had to chop one. Then decide what works best for you. just my two cents, I could be wrong
  7. My unit just purchased a brand new system... Its like I've been driving a Ford Pinto, then all of the sudden I get behind the wheel of a Mazerati... I went from a Panasonic 'AVE-7 and a T-3000 generator to a 1.8GhZ XEON with 1gb of RAM and 80gb of SCSI storage, and a 19" studio monitor ... it is a Canopus system with Sonic / Boris / Acid / Siren etc etc... it is going to take me a while to figure out all the plug ins but right now I am in computer video geek heaven....... just thought I's share.....
  8. some odd signals being used out there... but ya know... if you teach a guy that "the birdy finger" means pull, then to him thats what it means.... If he dont respond, you could hold a 4x8 sheet of plywood with "PULL" painted on it and he wont see it...
  9. just about everybody that has ever sat in a photography classroom has used black and white film... I like Kodak pan film. 400 is a good all around speed if you are doing existing light photography. 100 is good if you are going to be outside. Get a few filters, and see the effect that filters have on black and white film. I think you will enjoy the results if you mess around with it. good luck
  10. MAX... I wont see you guys this weekend, I am going to San Diego to do a demo for the school. I will see you guys next weekend for sure. yyou fellas be safe, see ya next week Blue skies......
  11. ...so WTF? Was it a good weekend or not? Enquiring minds want to know! Didja spend all your profits at the slots? Blue Skies bro... Billy
  12. ...I dont jump strongs, which is why I specified "Vector" in my thread.
  13. Stripping the handles before throwing the drogue is a dangerous practice to get into... to use that as a "plan" means you are mentally practicing an out of sequence main deployment ..... the number one KILLER of tandem jumpers world wide since the birth of tandem skydiving. Also, stripping the handles esentially collapses the drogue, (on a Vector, the drogue will not fully inflate if the release handle is pulled first) so in an emergency situation you are relying on an 'uncocked' pilot chute to open your main... You are better off waiting 1-2 seconds for the drouge to inflate, then releasing it, than waiting 10-15 for an underinflated drogue to pull it out for you... just my 2 cents... I could be wrong
  14. A few things to think about... If you are at 998 feet and the plane is on fire with one wing, do you ride it down or exit and pull the reserve? (some chance of surivival is better than none) If you are at 1999 feet, and the pilot turns white and bails out, do you get out and pull your main or reserve? If your ALTIMETER reads 4000 feet, the pilot turns white and bails out, but you are flying over a 3000ft high mountain range, do you get out on the main or reserve? (and how do you know the ridge is 3000ft high) OK... you are at 9000 feet, at an unknown location, and the pilot says "get out", what do you do? I for one am going to leave, and pull, and heres why... IMHO, pilots inherently DO NOT want people leaving the plane 'until it is time to jump'... (if anyone doubts this, next time you are in the plane, open the door too early and watch how pissed off the pilot gets.) If you are out in 'the meadowlands' and the pilot tells you to "get out" it is safe to assume that something is wrong with the airframe! Since something is wrong, the pilot wants to get on the ground as soon and as safe as possible... If jumpers decide they want to pull at all available altitudes between the plane and the ground, the pilot now has new worries "where in the hell are all the jumpers" Mind you... his plane may not be in a ready state to dodge 10 parachutes spaced out between 10 different altitudes (remember, the plane is broke hence the emergency exit) I can promise that if a parachute and a broke plane battle for the same airspace, the broke plane will win the collision 100% of the time. If you exit and deploy, the non-working plane that is trying to land will be below you, looking for a place to land, you will most likely NOT be in his way... (not to mention that you may have been flying over a 7500ft high ridgeline) Now if you are so far away that the drop zone is an impossibility, you are high enough to have planty of time to find a good landing area. (which may be a significant event depending on what kind of canopy you are under) I guess the bottom line is, know where you are, and what handle you are going to pull if ya' gotta leave early... just my 2 cents, I could be wrong....
  15. i have a PC-1 with some cameye2 issues........ i was wearing it side mounted, had a cutaway, and the riser hit the camera, breaking the tip of the cameye off inside of the camera..... it still works, but of course the LANC port is temporarily out of commision.... finding a plug the same size is quite a chore .... none of the 'YUMA' area radio shacks have that size plug.... looks like i am gonna have to order one... and of course there is still the issue of 'digging' the tip out of the LANC port........ well... at least my regular camera system is still intact! blue skies and good shooting....
  16. I never thought I would EVEREVEREVEREVEREVER hear someone ask "how can I make my sabre open faster"...
  17. look on e-bay.... pc-1's go for a few hundred bucks, trv-11's are pretty cheap also..... just my 2 cents...............
  18. I just got one yesterday...if you had the parts, an upgrade would be pretty easy, drill a few holes and away you go. One downside is; there is no longer a 'ratchet' mechanism for snugging up the helmet. All you can do is push the strap into the lock, and thats it. I havent jumped the cutaway system yet, but I think it may be more of a preference than actual improvment in fuction. If you are proficient at escaping from any of boneheads earlier designs, the cutaway handle is not going to save you any time because you have to clear a bungee tie down before the strap will release. It looks on first glance like you "pull the handle and the helmet goes away - thats not the case. You have to clear the cutaway handle, THEN pull the helmet off of your head. After picking mine up today I did a few 'practice runs' with it and it is much easier to take of my other bonehead. Maybe I just need some practice. Also... once you pull it free, it is a pain in the butt to put back together unless you have little bitty fingers. In my opinion, if the same system was incorporated into the hinge it would make a bigger difference. I am not worried about "losing parts" if I have to pull the cutaway handle. If I have to 'escape' from my helmet, then I have just made a consious desicion that to DESTROY my entire system if need be to save myself. Thats what insurance is for... I have found that assembling the system without using the bungee does make it come apart a little easier without hurting the overall security of the locking system. Like I said, I havent jumped it yet, and since it is a "work helmet" it wont get jumped until I get done with "vacation" next week. just my 2 cents... I could be wrong
  19. ...the place where the last few inches of cable live, on the back of the riser
  20. I threw out around 3500... so I could play for a few extra turns... well........ I got a few extra turns! I was wearing a sidewinder, and rewatched the video about 40 times that evening trying to figure out what coulda' been done different. Looking at the time code, from opening shock to opening shock took about 12 seconds... I think the guy that packed the reserve drinks tequila.... Blue Skies..........
  21. sunday afternoon, everyting going well ALL weekend....... then wham.... I didnt think a parachute could spiral that fast! Then had a HARD pull on the cutaway handle... learned a lesson, (if you have mini-risers and an eliptical main, you need to have the hard housings for your risers) I have heard about how hard/fast/violent this kind of mal can be, but DAMN.... I guess you never know until you have the misfortune of seeing for yourself... I was surprised at the pressure needed to pull the cutaway handle... nothing like a malfunction to remind you that no-one is invinsible............. Blue Skies Billy
  22. Instead of asking him 5 questions... just ask someone else at the drop zone ONE question... Does that guy know what the hell he's talking about? number of jumps? maybe he has 2000 plus but took 25 years to getr there' and only a marginal skydiver with a LONG list of stories.. maybe he has 2000 minus but has been in the sport 4 years, and is a shit hot skydiver... jumps last year? maybe he broke his leg at a swoop meet when his control line broke and only made 6 jumps all year ... canopy/wingloading? Maybe he only jumps an Icarus Extreme because eveyone else does, but flies it like a stratocloud. License/Ratings... I have shot video for four seperate AFFC courses and a little 'AFFI' stamp on your card dont mean as much as people think it does... Maybe he has ALL of the cool skydiving videos, but always has an excuse why he cant go on 'the big way'... and when he does, he screws up and blames it on all the low time jumpers that manifest sold lift tickets to. The best way to get a look at someones "credentials" is to ask someone else. just my opinion... I could be wrong
  23. ...military cameramen have had good results with a plain old protec, with bayonet fittings for a mask, and a sony hi-8 camera... dont know what else to offer.... have fun