Dag Otto Lauritzen tells about the parachute accident

Tonight, the winner of “Kompani Lauritzen” will be announced, and the final episode started somewhat dramatically when the participants had to parachute from a plane.

Absent from the final party

Voice actor and violinist Stinius Maurstad (29) immediately seemed to have problems with the main screen. In front of Dagbladet, he now disarms the situation by saying that he himself overreacted in the fall.

– It was a doubtful case of a screen, and I didn’t want to wait to decide on it until I was too close to the ground. So I triggered the backup screen, he explains.

Actually, he had plenty of time to get the main screen working, he believes.

– But: “If you’re in doubt, you’re not in doubt”. I felt I was just following the procedure we had learned, so it wasn’t based on fear, even though it was a hasty move, he says.

– Always a certain risk

Colonel Dag Otto Lauritzen (67) understands Maurstad’s reaction and says it’s funny when that happens.

– I myself have parachuted quite a few times, and you know that there is a risk of having to pull the reserve parachute. But at the same time, I have never experienced having to do it myself, despite about a hundred jumps. But I have experienced that some of my companions have had to do it, Lauritzen tells Dagbladet.

Panicked: – So incredibly disappointed

He says the 29-year-old did everything by the book.

– He detached the screen flawlessly and triggered the spare screen. There is always some risk with extreme sports like this, but they are drilled so well that they should be competent to do it. It was good that it happened to him, says the colonel.

Ugly accident

– How unusual is it that you have to pull the spare screen?

– Then you almost have to consult the parachute instructors, because they have much more experience. But it may well happen that if Stinius had had two or three seconds more patience, the screen would have appeared, he replies.

– Hurt and very, very sad

34 years ago, in 1980, Lauritzen experienced every skydiver’s worst nightmare. He was a paratrooper in the Norwegian Armed Forces and was on a rehearsal exercise in northern Norway.

He jumped for 40 seconds in free fall with a 30 kilo bag attached to the harness behind his legs. The straps came loose in the plane without anyone noticing, and this caused the parachute cords to wrap around his right leg. Lauritzen hung with his head down towards the ground, he says.

The TV star has previously said that he fainted at that moment, but that he eventually got the strap undone. The incident nevertheless resulted in an ugly accident, where the meniscus, cruciate ligament and ligament were torn and the kneecap shattered. Today, Lauritzen has 15 centimeters of steel wire in his knee.

After this, it would take 34 years before Lauritzen jumped again.

– Had hit the wall

– It was during “På tur med Dag Otto” where me and Kristian were on a trip with the Solli Tangen brothers. I had thought that I had to do this, and get up in the air again, says the 67-year-old, and adds honestly:

– But I was so seriously injured (in 1980) that it took me a year to recover.

– Put it behind me

Lauritzen has parachuted three times since the accident, and is glad that he mustered up the courage.

Dramatic accident: – Lots of blood

– I felt I handled it very well, but there is no doubt that I was nervous. But I wasn’t paralyzed with fear. I knew what I had to do and had talented people around me.

– Fortunately, I have put it behind me. I’m not afraid to jump, because I know that it usually goes well.