Suited up way back in 1975 or 1976

[cloud9 0]

This was back in either late 1975 or early 1976 I can't remember. I was jumping a Strato Star with a 24' humble belly mount. Note the big jump suit also if you look close I had this harness built. The rigger at the time P.K. Clifton in N.C. put those releases on. I think they were called Coker maybe cokener fittings but can't remember for sure. I had my first mal with them at jump 95 and had a very hard time with the cut away. I was under reserve around 700'. The rigger on the drop zone at the time sorry can't remember his name grounded my rig and then offered to fix it for free. So the Coker fittings went away.

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

Hi cloud9,

Quote

I think they were called Coker maybe cokener fittings

Going from a not perfect memory, I think they were called Rocket Jet fittings; but they were made by Koch.

JerryBaumchen

PS) Loy Brydon 'once' had the same riser releases on a Golden Knights rig and once had the very same problem.

[cloud9 0]

Ah yes Jerry it's starting to ring a bell now with the rocket fitting thing. They had two studs that fit on the riser and then two female fittings on the harness. The male snapped into the female fittings. Then there was a spring loaded cover you had to pull down, and lift up on a small bar to release the main. I had a bad spinner on the Strato Star due to the ropes and rings and then struggled like crazy to get the cut away. On a side note after this jump the releases went away and I also had a slider put on the Star

[SEREJumper 1]

I would say based on that info it was Koch Gen 1 fittings (If they were around in '75-'76). Raise the spring loaded cover, push down on the release bar (or as we say "raise the skirt, drop the panties" )

If activated together, the release is pretty smooth. If you only get one, the release for the other side is very tough under load. They were never meant to be cutaway, especially since they were used on ejection seats.

We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

[skybill 18]

Hi Cloudy,
"Koch" fittings!! Yup that's them. The "Rocket Jets" are a different animal. Check out Poynters' for fotos. 'Seen rigs using both. Joe Morgan had a really light weight rig way back when, around 68' or so. T/VIII harness, Rocket Jets!! Neat. Rocket Jets had a propensity to separate at the most inopportune times, usually on opening!! They were cute though. Trying to work the Kochs though would usually trap the leather fingers of your gloves which added to the excitement of trying to get your reserve out after you tried to cut away!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[cloud9 0]

Yep this looks like the right animal. I had a spinner and got one side of course, and then fought like hell to get the other. Luckily I was young and strong because I had to do a bit of a one armed pull up to get the pressure off the riser and get the release. I'm sure the adrenalin helped too. I knew I didn't want to have to do it again.

[cloud9 0]

I don't remember where P.K. got those things. We were stationed at Camp LeJeune N.C. at the time. P.K. was a Navy corpsman VietNam vet. Had a steel plate in his head from a V.C. bullet and couldn't stay out in the sun for too long. He was a great rigger though.