Full Name:  Jason Lauer

Age:  30

# of Jumps:  400+

Favorite Discipline:  Freefly

College:  Kansas State University

Major:  Biochemistry

How big is Kansas? 

82,282 square miles ... see, I told you it was as big as you think!

Favorite Jump Plane: 

     Otter.  It is a workhorse.  Fast climb rate, big door, and you can find them almost anywhere.

What first brought you to the sport of skydiving?

     I have always had a desire to fly.  In highschool I designed a set of wings that would have worked if I could have afforded to build them.

What is your favorite aspect of skydiving?

     There is no greater feeling then putting the A License stamp on your students forehead.  (It's a Kansas thing!)

You fellas at K-State have a different dropzone situation than most other schools.  How does your DZ operate and who is in charge?

     There really isn't anyone in charge.  We have an executive committee that has specific roles, but there is not a designated DZO.  We decide on a time to open on Saturday and Sunday (it is usually when the first staff member is willing to get out there).  We look at the weather and post it on the website and send out an email to all on the list serve no later then 4:00 Thursday.  This gives everyone a chance so see the email and make plans.  We show up close to on time, recently it has been 8:00 am.  We open up the hanger, pull out the planes (we share a hanger with another plane).  Sweep everything out, layout the carpets, and vacuum them. Only then can the club gear come out of the gear locker.  This keeps our students involved and gives them a sense of ownership in the club.  Once the pilot arrives we fire up the plane and start turning loads.  We pretty much manifest ourselves for each load.  At the end of the day, we put all the gear away, roll up the carpets, bring in the planes and close up the hanger.  Then most of us go to dinner.  On a really good fall Saturday, we will get about 15 loads.  The number decreases as winter rolls in and increases in the summer.  Our S&TA is a club member and KSU alumni, Jesse Magana.  He is also our treasurer.  He has been around for a number of years so he is able to pass the info on to new club members as we rotate out every 4 years. 

It takes a lot of work to run a club, how much more work does it take to run a dropzone too?

     Running the club is not a lot of work, we have a meeting once a month to discuss what ever needs to be talked about, and vote if necessary.  Running our dropzone is the real work.  It is also the fun part.

How do you train in new people, since college clubs inherently have a high turnover rate?

     We use a static line first jump method.  This is for the ease of training, least number of required instructors (1 instructor for 3 students) and it is the cheapest way.  I am also a little biased and will say it is the safest way.  We have 4 first jump classes per semester, and one in the summer with a max of 21 new jumpers per class and 4 retrains.  Of these 200 plus first jumpers we licensed 8 this past year, which was an incredibly high number for us. 

     First Jump class days are big for us at the DZ.  We have upper students jump in the morning as we finish training the first jumpers.  Then at about noon we go to work.  We have no less then 7 loads of first jumpers. We only have 7 student rigs.  A minimum of 3 instructors are needed, 1 in the plane, 1 debriefing his load and one getting the next load ready.  We have our coaches running radio and talking down each of the jumpers.  We have the upper students (6-15 jumps) “shagging” the first jumpers (meeting them as they get to the ground, congratulating them, and showing them how to daisy chain the lines and get back to the hanger.  It is a real team effort and we are usually pretty tired after that.  But the beer tastes extra good those nights.

     It takes students about 18 jumps to get off of student status if they have no rejumps.  As soon as students get their A License we try to get them checked off to pack parachutes.  As they do this they build Jumps to 100, then we encourage
them to get a coach rating.  This helps to fund their jumps until they get to 200, then they get their SL instructor rating.  It seems to work pretty well for us.  We have been fortunate over the past few years having some instructors around for longer then the usual 4 year tenure.  That has really carried the club.

If you could give a shout out to one of your other club members, who would it be and why?

     Justin Lowrey. He carried me to and through the collegiate national championships. 

If I was a whirlwind of disfunction, and you were my emotional pack-mule, how would you get me to the top of the mountain?

     I would tell you to "exhale".  That is what I always tell my students.  In a sport where relaxing is crucial and difficult, that one word seems to get most people back to a focused and calm state.