RogerRamjet

Thanks for the frame grab and the nice caption you put on it! I'm now 58 and other than great memories, have no left over issues from skydiving. Today, my sport is competitive water-skiing in the slalom event. You can see a shot of me in competition on this site: http://www.rclarks.freehomepage.com/photo.html I don't know if I'll ever jump again. I have thought about it and have a standing offer from a friend that still jumps for a free re-cert jump in Deland, so still a possibility. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Thanks! I just found I was in this video when someone posted it here recently. Landing my Strato-Star: As you can see from the video, I was very good at doing a full flare at the correct altitude. If you watch, one of the next Strato-Star landings on the video they guy really flares too low and too fast. Even though he stands up, it is not near the light landing he could have had if flaring correctly. I still see this problem today. For me, if there was no wind, I stood up with both feet pretty easily. If there was 3mph or better, I could one foot stand up. I don't remember ever not standing it up. When I reached the magic jump number at Z-Hills that allowed you to jump a square (100), I found someone willing to lend me their Para-Plane and proceeded to jump it, then an original Foil, an original Sled, and the Para-Cloud. For some reason I had a natural feel for them and stood them all up easily. Before getting the "Ramjet" nickname from Roger Nelson, I was sometimes called Roger Ramair because I was always jumping one of those dangerous square canopies. Interestingly, I never had a malfunction on a square even with the weird reefing systems of the day. I was told that 1 in 10 jumps resulted in a reserve ride when I started jumping them; but I believe it wasn't quite that bad though I certainly saw some cutaways from them. Today, it's not so much getting the canopy to open as it is getting to the ground and landing it in one piece. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Hmmm, that's confusing to me as I am not in any of the RW shots in that film (as far as I have been able to determine)... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

You can see me land my Strato-Star at the 5 minute mark in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-tdClLaEE ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Dactyls could be landed softly with some practice, check out Bobby Gray landing his at just after the 5 minute mark in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-tdClLaEE ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Very nice. Yes, the original setup came with it's own deployment bag, rings on the bottom of the canopy, and the reefing rope passed through all the rings and then ran up through the center of the canopy (there was a cotton square of material there with grommets for the lines to prevent burning of the bottom and top surfaces of the canopy) and attached typically to a MA-1 pilot chute. When you deployed, something like 30 feet of reefing line stowed on the bag left first, followed by the bag. Then the suspension lines, also stowed on the bag would deploy. Bag comes off next. Then as the canopy tries to inflate, it has to pull all that reefing line with the drag of the pilot chute down through those grommets. This was so much more effective than the old rings on top (Para-Plane) that opening went from firm (or brutal) to super soft and there was no longer a need to reef the bag differently for sub-terminal vs. terminal opening. It was the beginning of a new era. The introduction of the slider about a year later cemented the end of the round era as it made square reserves possible and made openings even more reliable and predictable. When Bill Booth and I went to pack the thing for the first time, we had to call the factory as the instructions they sent were hand written and not very clear. I never had a problem with that canopy and would not hesitate to jump one today

Thanks for explaining

Three cutaways from Strato-Stars??? Why? I put 650 jumps on mine, about 150 on the rings and ropes and the rest on a slider. Also shortlined it 6 feet. It never even hinted at malfunctioning. I always felt a properly tuned, properly packed, slider equipped Strato-Star was about as reliable as a canopy that ever existed (probably still true). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

A quick search of the site reveals he is mentioned in 1 thread (other than this one): http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1469321;search_string=Herb%20Graves;#1469321 Not any help in finding him, but perhaps someone will know and help out here. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I never heard that before; in fact I believe the Strato-Flyer became the first square reserve. They were d-bag deployed originally, but of course a lot of people got into the free packing thing (not me). I have a hand full of jumps on one and stood it up every time (135lbs) though not as easily as my Strato-Star. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

A lot of survival in this sport is "common sense." Keep thinking and keep learning; no one knows it all... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Was all your practice just standing in your rig? Do you have access to a hanging harness? Handles can move several inches from their normal position once you're suspended under a canopy. All in all, sounds like you handled the situation well to me

There was a C-47 at the Hills for a while in the mid '70s that flew with both doors off, Only did it for a week or 2 because of the buffeting, wieght and balance and with the rear door off, people were comming really close to the horizontal stabilizer. But the palne empyed almost as fast as tailgate. Even with the rear door on the space of the front door was very tall. A center floater holding the top of the door would be a foot or 2 inside the plane unless he was very, very tall. Yes, sometime in 73 we took both sets of doors off for a few loads. I remember 8 across exits. However, the pilots felt that plane was just not stable enough and the buffeting was bad enough that they thought structural damage might occur over time, so we stopped doing it. I don't remember the horizontal stabilizer being an issue, but I was 20 then... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

It was missing? I remember you could open (I think 2 of them) and I took photos similar to yours that way. I don't remember one ever being missing though. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Was it at Z-Hills? I jumped one there, but can't remember who's it was. I didn't have the spinning opening though I saw plenty of sleds spin on opening. The one I jumped had the split tail and seemed to fly very nice; easy stand up landing. I jumped all the squares I could find at Z-Hills in '73, a Sled, a Foil, Para Plane, Cloud and never had a mal though everyone said I probably would. Eventually the Strato Star came out and then the slider and square mals pretty much went away (thankfully). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I just hooked up with Kathi Embrey on Facebook. She is living in Park City, Utah and is doing fine. One of the prettiest woman I've ever met and just as nice too! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Yeah, it's me doing a 1 foot standup. I did tons of them and find it really funny when current jumpers talk about how bad those canopies were. 650 Strato-Star jumps, no mals, no bad landings and I could land in a 2 foot box every time. Modern canopies may be faster, but when I visited Z-Hills and Deland recently, I saw no 1 foot landings, almost no simple standup landings. Most were running or at least several steps to stop. And the openings... my Strato-Star with slider opened in the same time as the old Paracommander or cheapo would open, some of the openings I watched took several hundreds of feet and speaking with some of the jumpers, the "snivel" time was not consistent on each jump. If I were to get back in now, I would look for a canopy that opened and landed more like what I had back then if there is such a thing. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

But used properly, seemed to land very nicely (at least with you at the controls). My landing on my yellow and black Strato-Star is at about the 5:00 mark and your Dactyl landing starts about 5:06 in the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-tdClLaEE ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

Do you know approx what year that was? I was unaware that they ran Z-Hills at any time... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I didn't drink or smoke, but when we went up to the Valley View bar/restaurant, I would always ride with the smokers because they could still drive (mostly). I remember riding with Dan Steger one night and talking about why I rode with the smokers and I said they could still drive though they were still affected. He asked what I meant saying he drove fine while stoned. I said, well, the speed limit here is 45 and you're going 23... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

See attached photos taken at Indiantown. First is of Bill Burr (in white) and myself. Second is Ed Dorey who died in a plane crash. There's also a shot of Pop's Howard. When is this site going to allow us to embed photos??? I believe Bill (Moriarty) Burr was killed in Hawaii in a plane crash while on the way to a demo. When he was jumping at Z-Hills, I lined up behind him on a big way one day and had to take a 2nd look at his piggy back reserve flap. It had a warning sticker on it that read "WARNING - EXPLOSIVE CUTTERS INSTALLED." He would sometimes adjust jumpers spines for them as his brother Robert is a chiropractor. I like that photo too Pat; I never knew Bill with short hair... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

I was a member of the Himalayan Rope (Tony Patterson, Steve Fugleberg, Jay Boynton, Dan Steger, Larry Gossler, Helen Frazer, Mike Branch, Steve Noonan, Bobby Wilson, and one I cannot remember. Twin Beach was flown from Atlanta each weekend. Twin Beaches were used for the '74 ten man event.. Not ten WAY!!! Wow! All those names in the line up really bring flashbacks. I seem to remember Steve Noonan in the door as a floater? Or maybe he was being pinned by Larry Gossler for the base. Dan Steger was the coolest Naval Aviator I have ever met. When he left the Navy no one would ever know he had ever been in the military. I remember he had this squinty eyed smile that lit up the whole area. Last I heard, he was living in St. Augustine but that was over 20 years ago. Dan is still there. And yes, the coolest Navel Aviator I've ever met too. Dan Steger story... I was a pretty bad student while on static line doing back flips, front flips, etc. The standard exit from the 182 with step at Z-Hills was being taught as trail a foot, kick up and push off. I was either kicking too much and pushing to a front flip or not enough and pushing to a back flip. Dan took me up for my 8th and 9th static lines. Before going up he asked what trouble I was having. After hearing the procedure, he said, why don't you trail the outside foot as before, but instead of kicking up and pushing off, just do a little side hop? This was too easy and I was cleared for freefall after the 9th static line. I spoke with and demonstrated my new found method to Jim Hooper and Jeff Searles and to their credit, they altered the training to the hop to the side method. I also loved his animated style. One day he had a mal on his cheapo and started screaming "cutaway, cutaway" before he actually cutaway. I styled my cheapo after his adding pull down center lines to my 7TU. Luckily, my cheapo blew up with a may west at about 350 jumps and I "was forced" to buy a new Strato Star ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

In the spring of '74, Gary, Jaybo, Bob Favreau, and Brent McClarty brought Mr. Douglas to DeLand and strarted working on it to be a jump plane. Bill Booth brought a rig he had built. It was a back rig with a wrap-around pilot chute released by a "plastic coated" ripcord. It was thin. With that and a poptop a jumper would be thinner (front-to-back) that with a Security piggy back. A few weeks later Bill showed up with a piggyback version. I think it had the thru loop comming from the reserve pack tray. That idea, of the pin flaps being pulled toward the pack tray, was the begining of the end of the rigs that resembled a refridgerator. As far as Buchman's rig, Mike Ladd had the first one I saw. A nice piece of equipment but I don't remember if it was that year or the year after. Also in the spring of '74, Himalayan Rope (sp) stared jumping at DeLand, I seem to remember a Twin Beech but both brain cells may not be co-operating with each other. The "through loop" used on both the Wonderhog and the Eagle rigs was simply that the loops holding the 2-pin reserve containers closed were one continuous piece run through the bottom of the container in such a way that even if just one of the two pins cleared, the loop could flow through the back releasing the reserve pilot chute. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

In the spring of '74, Gary, Jaybo, Bob Favreau, and Brent McClarty brought Mr. Douglas to DeLand and strarted working on it to be a jump plane. Bill Booth brought a rig he had built. It was a back rig with a wrap-around pilot chute released by a "plastic coated" ripcord. It was thin. With that and a poptop a jumper would be thinner (front-to-back) that with a Security piggy back. A few weeks later Bill showed up with a piggyback version. I think it had the thru loop comming from the reserve pack tray. That idea, of the pin flaps being pulled toward the pack tray, was the begining of the end of the rigs that resembled a refridgerator. As far as Buchman's rig, Mike Ladd had the first one I saw. A nice piece of equipment but I don't remember if it was that year or the year after. Also in the spring of '74, Himalayan Rope (sp) stared jumping at DeLand, I seem to remember a Twin Beech but both brain cells may not be co-operating with each other. I was there the weekend Bill showed up with the piggyback version. He said he was looking for someone to build them for him and I moved to Miami the next weekend. The rest is history as they say... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

If Frank Pate (or anyone else) wants to look up their SCR, they can find it at Bill Newell's site: http://www.starcrestawards.com/ Frank Pate: SCR 1925, SCS 586 ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519