Who's Jumped a Strato Star ?

[JerryBaumchen 1,363]

Hi Gareth,

Quote

We called it the Stratosplat back in ye olde country.

That is interesting because the StratoStar is what brought the ram-air canopy to the masses.

It opened very reliably and soft, was easy to pack, flew great and landed even greater.

One guy ( Ron something [ Sorry, Ron ] who posts on here on occasion ) got 10 straight dead-centers using one at the Nationals.

Not bad for a 'Stratosplat.'

JerryBaumchen

[jackwallace 3]

I have to agree with the soft opening, reliable, soft landing. But I think the thing was a Strato-cloud that got the 10 dead center. And from what I remeber the same year someone got 10 DC's of a PCII. How come people didn't rush out and buy them?
Has anyone mentioned that Paraflite originally thought they could sell them for around $300. Then found out they had to have such tight QC it jacked up the price.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[JerryBaumchen 1,363]

Hi jack,

As for the StratoStar with the 10 straight DC's; I have communicated with Ron and he was the guy who did it & it WAS on a StratoStar.

I am sorry to say that I do not remember his last name but at one time he was on the 7th Army Team.

I wish he would post and confirm.

I 'think' that the same year, Jim Lowe who was one of my best friends and a long-time jumping buddy, got 10 straight DC's also but it definitely was not on a Mk II PC.

I have this 'memory' of back then that the 'powers-that-were' wanted to award Ron & Jim co-National Champion accuracy gold medals. Lowe wanted to jump-off as he felt he could beat Ron. They did not have a jump-off and awarded them both gold medals.

Anyway that is my memory; which is no longer 100% accurate. Sort of like my jumping was back in those days.

JerryBaumchen

PS) I'm thinking Ron 'Morgan' but that is just a guess.

[JSBIRD 1]

^^ You may be thinking of Ron Walker. I believe my first Strato Star, bought in early 1976, came from him.

359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[JerryBaumchen 1,363]

Hi JS,

Yup, that is who it was/is.

JerryBaumchen

[dks13827 3]

The retail price of Strato Stars, when they came out, was $499

[Jeffrey 1]

This brings back some sweet memories. My Strato Star also doubled as a sleeping bag many of nights back in the late 70’s.

Jeff

[pchapman 279]

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This brings back some sweet memories. Jeff

In your deployment photo, what exactly is the bridle arrangement being used? Seems like an early retractable bridle system for those CRW jumps.

[skybill 22]

Quote

Quote

This brings back some sweet memories. Jeff

In your deployment photo, what exactly is the bridle arrangement being used? Seems like an early retractable bridle system for those CRW jumps.

Hi pchap,
From the looks of opening 2, slider up and bridle stretch. My '76 model Strat wh/slider had a double bridle attached at the high point of cells 2 an 4 . Later everyone went to a single attachment point on the center cell on 5's, 7's and 9's. The double attachment point worked ok, maybe better than a single but it also involved "more material, metal and weight" that everyone was eager to trim down!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[JumpUpMyAss 0]

Great opening photos especially the last one. Neat.
I used to sleep in my Para Plane in the open t-hangers also.

[gjhdiver 0]

Quote

Hi Gareth,

Quote

We called it the Stratosplat back in ye olde country.

That is interesting because the StratoStar is what brought the ram-air canopy to the masses.

It opened very reliably and soft, was easy to pack, flew great and landed even greater.

Well, I remember them getting better, but the one I had access to had no deployment bag, and a pilot chute reefing system. We coiled the lines in the pack and rolled the canopy into a cigar shape and S-folded it on top them. The openings were a little interesting to say the least. However, most of the landings were probably caused by us working out how to flare a square

[JerryBaumchen 1,363]

Here's a tidbit of trivia for you folks.

Back in the early 70's Gary Lewis & Jim Lowe were working at Para-Gear. It was about this time that the Para-Plane Silver Cloud started setting dead-center records. Howard White has posted some of the Para-Flite ads from those days extolling the accuracy capability of the canopy.

Well, the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC sent a purchase order to Para-Gear for a Cloud. Lewis & Lowe saw an old-unused, original baby Para-Plane still on the shelf and shipped that to them instead.

JerryBaumchen

PS) They never did hear back from the Soviets about what they thought of the canopy.

[captain1976 0]

I remember Jim Lowe bringing his home made ram air canopy out to Hebron Airport in Illinois and test jumping it there. This is back in the early 70's while the rest of us were on rounds. Jim Lowe and I had dinner a couple of times an I found him to be a great guy.

Regarding the strato star, I had 16 jumps on it and didn't stand it up once. Nobody told me, or even knew at my DZ that canopy size on squares was a factor with body weight. I was 200 lbs. Then I went to the para-cloud and was ok from then on.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

[dks13827 3]

I was 6'2" 185 pounds on my Strato Star and mostly did stand ups for sure. No wind days were a little more unpleasant. Yes, it is funny, my 160 pound friends always had nice Strato Star landings... at the time we didnt think much about the jumpers weight for ram air canopies. But we sure did think about it for reserves !! I made many jumps with a 28' round steerable reserve ( even stood it up one time ). Finally found a 26' Navy conical ( it was not easy to find one for sale )... but I never had to use it !

[paralola 0]

The woman's gold at the Worlds in 76 went to a Britsh jumper. How she flow that Strato Star was just majestic and a beauty to watch. She showed the world how a squar is handled for Accuracy. I would say her wait was just Ideal for that 5 cell. Wing loading wasn't a consideration then. At that Worlds more then half of the competitors still jumped PC's.

Always happy to fall out of a plane

[tbrown 26]

One guy ( Ron something [ Sorry, Ron ] who posts on here on occasion ) got 10 straight dead-centers using one at the Nationals. JerryBaumchen

[skypuppy 1]

In your deployment photo, what exactly is the bridle arrangement being used? Seems like an early retractable bridle system for those CRW jumps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi pchap,
From the looks of opening 2, slider up and bridle stretch. My '76 model Strat wh/slider had a double bridle attached at the high point of cells 2 an 4 . Later everyone went to a single attachment point on the center cell on 5's, 7's and 9's. The double attachment point worked ok, maybe better than a single but it also involved "more material, metal and weight" that everyone was eager to trim down!!
__________________________________________________

I think you're reading a lot into that Peter. The original strato-stars came out designed for ropes and rings, I think. As such they had holes in the top and bottom skins and a large canvas patch on the top. I think when people went to sliders, they were just running the bridal through one of the holes, up through the other, and tying them together. That's my theory anyway. I cut the canvas off mine, it was a big wad.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[flipper3 3]

I got mine in Hawaii in 1975 and it came with the rope and rings. My first jump
on it had me opening about 1/2 mile off shore on Kailua Beach when 3 of us got our
gold wings. They switched mine into a friend's rig I used for the jump to surprise me -
they did when I looked up on opening. No problems on the jump. Wasn't too long later
that the slider replaced the rope and rings - what a good deal that was - so much easier
to pack and a lot less volume and weight. Compared to jumping a PC this was a great
canopy - we almost always have an abundance of wind here. Since i weighed 160 lbs no
problem there either. I still have the canopy in my attic - guess the next trip up I'll have
to check how I did the mod. I did a lot of CRW with that canopy too back in the day.
Oh the memories!

Flip

Flip

[arregan 0]

Hey..I still own one, but it hasn't seen air for over 20 years. I bought it new back in '74 and later made the mod about 50 jumps after a maalfunction. Many memories from that one. The last time it was used was para-sailing on the beach out in Oregon.

[vanair 0]

In 74 at orange I saw my first square, a para-plane cloud, I talked the guy into letting me jump it even though I only had a little over 100 jumps. What surprised me was the wind noise cause it was so fast. I got one as soon as I could. Old ropes and rings. Dual pilot chutes. Once on opening one of the pilot chutes was wrapped around a steering line. I stalled to try and unwrap it. Darn thing went forward thru the other lines, and wrapped around an a line when the canopy surged forward after the stall. The drag from the pilot chute caused the canopy to collapse around it OOPs. Now uninflated flat spin, cutaway. Lucky I was still at 1500'. Never thought it would do that. Only 1 jump on a strato star. Wouldn't any more after I saw one at Shawanga NY in gusty winds the whole top leading edge collapsed down against the cell openings, dropped about 50' till it snapped open reinflating. Lucky it was reopened about 50'. I did make a few jumps on a Safety-Star before I bought one for me first square reserve. At 225-230 I could still do a stand up landing, One of which was from the World Trade Center on 9/13/1980. Also Stand up landing on Staten Island on 12/07/1980. From the top of the Verrazano Narrows bridge

[SkydiveJack 1]

I would like to hear more about your jump from the World Trade Center. How you got up there, who else might have been with you and jumped, etc.

Thanks!

[CazOfDaGhetto 0]

OK..... I've got a better question.....

Who's jumped a Strato Star in the Washington Monument In DC?

Yeah Bubba...... Somewhat before some whiz kid invented a Pro Rating......

[mjosparky 4]

Quote

OK..... I've got a better question.....

Who's jumped a Strato Star in the Washington Monument In DC?

Yeah Bubba...... Somewhat before some whiz kid invented a Pro Rating......

I used to know a guy named Ski that was in the Air Force and working at the academy. I remember seeing a picture of him landing at the monument.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[howardwhite 6]

Maybe here.

HW

[CazOfDaGhetto 0]

Yo Mike......

I was active duty Marine...... but yeah, that's us.......

See ya at the Old Fart's Gathering in Taft this May......