Upcoming Launch Schedule

ROCC 2024-2025 Launch Schedule:

NO launch in May due to the wheat. We hope to fly in June. 

 

 All launches are at the Midland, NC site unless otherwise stated.*

Here are some other launch opportunities in our area:

ICBM & ROSCO, better known as Rocketry South Carolina, flies near Dalzelle, SC., Just NE of Shaw AFB.  More information can be gotten at their site HERE

The Saturn Rocketry Club in Hendersonville is currently switching their launch field. As soon as we know where they land we will post it. Their FB site is HERE

NC Rocketry flies at Bayboro, NC in the northeast part of the state, information is HERE

 Set-up starts at about 9:30, launches commence about 10:30. Field closes about 60 min. before local dusk so we can clean up. Watch the site front page for specifics. Also visit us on FaceBook. You can also check for the FAA NOTAM at https://notams.aim.faa.gov/notamSearch/nsapp.html#/ and using KCLT (Charlotte) as the location. This will give you the starting and ending times for HP flights. 

* If field is available due to crops, etc.

Entries by DOC R. (814)

Wednesday
Nov022016

Hey kids, we need your input!

Hey everybody. I got an email from Brian Dilger, a ROCC alumn who's now working at Black Hawk Hardware. He's got a request, I'll let him tell it:

"Good evening. My name is Brian Dilger. I am a former member of ROCC. I am currently working for Blackhawk Hardware here in Charlotte. The owner and I have been discussing bringing into the store Hobby Supplies for building models. This would include a variety of supplies including paints and essential tools for building both plastic, wood and metal models of all kinds including rocketry.

My question to you and membership is what “Brand” paints, tools and other supplies would you like to see if you ever considered purchasing locally? Our goal at Blackhawk Hardware is to inventory the most wanted (popular) of these for our loyal hobbyist customers.

If you and the membership of ROCC would be so kind as to provide me with a small listing I will do my best to ensure that these products are included in our inventory. Brand names are most important.

Most sincerely, Brian X. Dilger"

So send in your lists! Now that most of the Hobby Town USA's have closed we're running short on local merchants to support! (Gosh, I really miss Science Hobbies!) If you want to just use the email link on the site I'll collect 'em and send it over to Brian.

Thanks, dr

 

Sunday
Oct092016

The Charlotte Mini Maker Faire

The 2016 Mini Makers Fair was a great success even with Hurricane Matthews dumping rain all night and day, until about when it was time to break down at 5pm. Some of the attendees were coastal evacuees staying at a local hotel looking for some diversion. Turned out they picked a great weekend to be stranded in Charlotte and everyone was trying to look after them.
Doc Russell, myself (Roy) and Laura Owens-Bailey, who had to travel up from SC right along with the weather front the whole way, set up a really good display next to the Rain Garden site by the stairs to the lower level. We really hope to get the same site next year. It provided more space and working area than we would have had restricted to the tent outside. And we really had the crowd when they had to pass right by our display anyway when going further inside.
Laura brought a lot of "give-a-ways" for the kids and a couple of her rockets. Doc and I had a good selection of low power, mid and his big High power to show the range of rockets that we can fly out at the farm.
Our booth turned out to be a terrific site after being moved inside due to the forecasted weather.
Doc had a few hundred ROCC informational fliers made up and we must have given out a couple of hundred of them to a lot of interested spectators. Of course this was essentially a Science Geek convention so most everybody there was into the sciences in one form or another so most everybody was wanting to talk and tell stories. Most had dabbled or flown rockets as kids or while in school so were all potential "Reborn Rocketeers". Many conversations were had with kids about how they could participate and a good number of parents seemed like they would come and fly with their children. We may get a number of visitors this season if only to bring a picnic lunch and watch the show. Some may get the bug again.
We hope to see everybody soon, and everyone's looking toward a November "return to flight"!
Remember... Keep those exhaust nozzles clear and be ready.

 

rp & dr

Saturday
Jun182016

New River Valley Rocketry invite

Hi all;

Steven Batten (he of such punny rockets as Strakes on a Frame, Spark Knight Rises) wrote to us to convey an invite from our old friend and former ROCC member Bob Schoner, president of the New River Valley Virginia rocketry group to come to their July 25th & 26th launch. 

From Steven:  "The NRVR club wanted me to make sure all of us ROCC folk know that there is a two-day launch up in Virginia next weekend the 25th and 26th. There will not be a vendor on-site, but they are taking motor orders from Wildman for delivery at the field on launch day. Check out NRVR.org for details and directions. Oh, and did I mention the current forecast says the high temperature should be in the low 80's?"

It looks to be a pleasant drive to their SITE near Blacksburg, Va., and they usually have a waiver about the same as ours, with call-ahead altitudes to about 6K.  

dr

 

Friday
Jun032016

CTI VMAX restrictions

This was released today:

"

Flight restrictions for CTI VMAX motors

To our members:

The National Association of Rocketry’s Standards & Testing and Tripoli Rocketry Association’s Tripoli Motor Testing Chairmen are hereby enacting temporary Safety restriction for all Cesaroni Technology, Inc. VMAX reload motors equipped with delay charges.

We have both seen a growing number of VMAX flights using delay only recovery coming in ballistic at our flying fields, due to delay snuffing. It is believed that delay snuffing is likely a result of any extremely high burn rate motor completing its burn with a significant drop in pressure and/or temperature, breaking the burn ‘chain’, extinguishing or ‘snuffing’ the delay slug.

In light of the unpredictable VMAX delay performance and the resulting significant safety issues, we will now require all VMAX motor flights flown at NAR and Tripoli launch sites to have at least one electronic system installed for primary recovery. These electronics need to be able to handle the short G period of these motors to insure “Flight in progress” triggers. The safety restriction will be lifted when the manufacturer has provided documentation to the three motor certification committee chairman which includes the root cause analysis, the corresponding design changes undertaken by the manufacture to address the issue, and implements the necessary changes.

Any questions about this restriction may be sent to your respective organization’s motor test chair

Regards,

Steve Lubliner
NAR Safety Committee Chairman

Paul Holmes
Tripoli Motor Testing Chairman

Deb Koloms 
Tripoli President

Ted Cochran
NAR President

John W Lyngdal
NAR Safety Committee"

Sunday
May012016

March & April post-launch report...

Roy's complied all the latest on the March & April 2016 launches...  here he is to tell you all about it:

 Before Getting into the current post Launch reports for April let me quickly cover some points on the March monthly launch held on Sunday on what was then forecasted as the best day. Saturday the 19th looked pretty good after the fact but at the time when the “go” “no go” had to be made it was forecasted up to last minute to be very cold, cloudy, wet and very, very windy, beyond our safe launch limits, so with the forecast saying Sunday would be better than Saturday we went with safety going for a Sunday launch.

 Sunday 20 March Monthly Launch .

And it was cold, not a freezing hard cold, but a kind of slow seeping through your clothes into your bones cold, and unless you were up and moving around, it seemed colder due to the constant wind with a heavy grey overcast where many rockets after launch just disappeared into until they reappeared descending  beneath the cloud level.

But that didn’t stop us from getting up a good number of 94 recorded flights.

 Sunday 20 March 2016.

We had  37   fliers , put up  94   flights burning  whopping 103   engines .

    

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights

A’s= 6,  B’s= 18,  C’s= 21,  D’s= 9,  E’s= 11,  F’s= 20,  G’s= 8,  H’s= 5,  I’s= 4,  J’s= 0,  K’s= 1.

 

Flyers included   =   Roy Potter,  Steve Brown,   Mark Bartkowiak,   Cheryl Batten,   Steve Batten,   Doc Russell,   Jason Pettler,   Kaitlin Pettler,   Joe Pettler,   Scott Pennington,   Eric Franzen,   Lucy Franzen,   Eleanor franzen,   Matthew Stecher,   Ryan Bergsmith,   John Bergsmith,   Shawn Becigneul,   Larry Becigneul,   J.R. Devine,   Patrick York,   Dan Sumner,  Yohannes Taddesse,   Liam Thrower,   Doug Knight,   Anna Grace Knight,   Trent Dominick, EAMS AC High School Tarc team,   Joe Vanstory,   East Mech Tarc team,   Malina Brooks,   Eli Brooks,   Victory Christain Tarc Teams #one and # two,   Alan Stephenson,   Todd Haring,   Zachary Hoelscher,   and Weasley Duaford.

Saturday, 16 April 2016, Camp-Out weekend and Night Launch.

Conditions were actually quite good, pretty clear and sunny. BBQ, Yard Sales and the annual ROCC Rocket Raffles with over 20 rockets from small to large given out by Sunday afternoon. The only difficult thing to deal with was a constant wind blowing to the left towards the creek. Many trips were made across the creek bringing some back, locating some unretrieveable  and then one or two small ones that couldn’t be found.

Jolly Logic Chute Release System. (check NAR “Sport Rocketry” magazine articles)

(Sorry for the plug, but guys are asking if they are as good as the reports say.)

A lot of the Dual Deployment launchs are now being performed with the new product from Jolly Logic who first came out with the small Altitude recorder. This device is very user friendly and can deploy as high as 1000ft to as low as 100ft and fit in a BT60 sized body tube. We have been increasingly impressed with its performance. The most notable thing you have to change is how you wrap your chute bundle.

Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies, (the designated target area for out of control rockets)

Ken was there to meet our requests delivering orders and keeping us supplied with all our rocketry needs.

Rocket Ralph Roberts had his grill up  filling in for Jason. He and Doc Russell prepped 3 Boston Butts for 24 pounds of pulled and chopped  pork BBQ. Saturday he served home smoked pulled pork/chopped BBQ for his ROCCin BBQ and Sunday putting out ROCCet Hotdogs and  chips and drinks.

ROCC Club Membership covers the cost of maintaining the launch equipment, supplies and our association fees with the National Association of Rocketry and the Tripoli Rocketry Association plus covers our insurance.

Remember, any $20 membership (which can cover your whole family) comes with a ROCC Club “T” shirt. Check with Jason on styles and colors available.

LOST AND FOUND. We have=

Check the box for a few nose cones, a three18mm  motor cluster booster, and ect.

Pictures. Check the Gallery for launch photo’s. We see everyone is taking photo’s.

We see a lot of people taking pictures out there. Lets get them onto the ROCC Web Site into the Gallery section. Remember, for our embarrassment and your entertainment, any pictures you have from this or any recent launch that you would like to get posted on the web site for everyone to see, just contact Doc Russell at rocketrycarolina@gmail.com, or as some have done, pass it on a disk, memory card or flash drive. We can always get it back to you. That’s how I do it.

 

Saturday, Sat, 16 April 2016, Camp Out and Night Launch.

Choked chutes, streamers and angling into the wind ruled the day.

 We had  31  fliers , put up  75  flights burning  78  engines .

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights

A’s= 4,  B’s= 6,  C’s= 19,  D’s= 5,  E’s= 5,  F’s= 7,  G’s= 10,  H’s= 9,  I’s= 7,  J’s= 3,  K’s= 1.

(Remember, what I write is influenced by the penmanship/spelling of the writer.)

Charles Long flew the “Art Apple White” Stealth pyramid on a G54 and a H110 of which the H (I think) flipped the pyramid separating the motor which looped a couple of times, then stabilized and shot back over the hog barns maybe across the road. Whew!! My heart stopped. His Estes “Big Daddy” flew a nice boring flight on a E9-4. He also flew the  ”Delta IV HT”, a heavy tube finned design twice on a G131-7 with a Jolly Logic at 300ft.

Michael Hollowell flew his 3-D printed 2 x upscaled “Quinstar” flying winged star on a F50-4t then a standard sized 3-D printed Estes “Quinstar” on a C6-5 drag racing Jonnas stock Estes kit.

Malcolm Smith flew a old classic Estes “Maxi Alpha 3” on a D12-5, and a “Unk “PML kit on a F36.

Roy Potter flew the Retirement Flight of the “Stars and Stripes” for its last flight on a H135-4. It has just accrued too much damage over its number of flights and was time. The “T-4” was converted to a Poop Chute rear ejection deployment system and flew also on a H135-4 for a perfect nose first landing. My “White Arcas” flew on a F42-4t with dual deployment using a Jolly Logic chute release at 400ft. my LOC “V-2” made its unintended last flight on a G71-4r with a very historical looking ballistic impact due to grease clogging the gap between the delay element and the ejection charge. Something to watch out for.

Steve Brown flew what looked like a real tree trunk called the “Stump” flying on a I245-7g with a dual deployment at 400ft. His “Gremlin” flew on a C11-5 and the “Splinter” on a 1/2A6-2. His “Hyper LOC 1600” flew on a J350w with dual deployment at 475ft.  A Estes “CC Express” two stage went up on a C11 to C11-5. His “LOC Forte” flew on a G61-7w with a dual deployment at 300ft.

Ashton Johnston flew a “LOC IV” called “Please Work” on a H120 for a L-1 Cert attempt.

(There were a lot of Cert attempts but due to the Rocket Gremlins, few made it)

David Jessick flew a “Super DX-3” ? kit. On a H152 with dual deployment at 500ft for a L-1 Cert attempt. Unk results.

Larry Becigneal flew a “Glow Star” tumble/air drag return test flight for the night launch on a C6-0. A Estes “Photon Disruptor” went up on a B4-4. The “Ballistic Tip” flew on a F40-7w while the “Sham Rock-it” flew on a G53-7fj then the “Lemon-Lime” on a C6-5.

Shawn Becigneal (also Shawn made out quite well in the ROCC Rocket Raffle)  flew his “Reflector” on B6-4 in a drag race with Avery. His scale “Honest John” flew on a mini A10-3t.

Jonna English flew the “Mr Burns” on a G76-5 and a G138, both with a Jolly Logic release at 300ft. Her Estes stock “Quinstar” on a C6-5 drag raced Michaels 3-D printed version. She had the speed but Michael got the altitude. Greater mass kept moving after momentum stopped.

Randy Hewat flew a classic Estes “Silver Comet” on a E31-7 doing quite well on the more powerful motor. His “Dark Star” flew on a C6-5.

Avery Walden flew his “Broken Fin” (story there?) on a C6-5, a Estes “Baby Bertha” on a B6-4 in a drag with Shawn. His new “NASA” flew on a E31 and was surprised when it landed not too far away. (it was originally designed for a “D” motor.) His Estes “Metalizer” flew on a C6-3.

Chris Amell flew a “LOC Fantom EXL” on a H400 and then a I800 Vmax both on dual deployments at 400 and 500ft. THEN AGAIN on a J357 for a L-2 cert flight. Unk results.

Finn Buckley flew a Estes “Bull Pup” on a B6-4 and a C6-5, a Estes “Patriot” flew on a B6-4 then a C6-5 and his “Sky Dart” on a mini A10-3t.

Mark Ferrell took his time to prep his “Dizzy” to fly up on a J420r with a dual deployment at 400ft.

Corkey Story, according to the flight card, (I must have been across the creek and missed it) flew the “Snake Eyes” two stage? On a I357 to another I357 with a dual deployment at 600ft.

I did get to see his giant upscaled “Der Gooney Max” on a K1000 (WOW!!) with a dual deployment, but the main got pulled out at apogee and both sections drifted way.. way ..away. But Corkey knows what he is doing and had trackers in both sections and came back with them about an hour later.

Eli brooks flew a Estes Pro-Series II “Partizon” on a G76-7g on a impressive flight.

Malina Brooks flew a “Helicopter” return model on a B6-4.

Patrick York flew a Estes Pro-Series II “Argent” on a F50-4t, also impressive.

Doc Russell flew a Estes Pro-Series II “Ventris” on a F36-6 and his new and improved “Tigger II” on a great I211 flight  with a dual deployment at 800ft.

James Brockman flew a Estes Pro-Series II “Argent” on a F59-6 with a dual at 300ft then on a G80 Skidmark with a dual deployment at 200ft. His stock Estes “Quinstar” flew on a C6.

Robert and Michael Brookman flew the “Fire Truck Rocket” on a E16-6 together.

Barb Tobin flew a “Proto-type-I Helicopter on a D12-3 and “Type-II” on a A10-3t, Barb surmises both require more design and testing.

Morgan Pfister flew his “Prospector” on a C6-5, the “Not-so-pretty-Rainbow” on a D12-3, then a Estes “Firestorm” on a C6-5 in a drag race with Matthew.

Matthew Pfister flew a Estes “Shuttle Express” on a C6-5, the “Helios” flew twice on a C6-5, and a Estes “Firestorm” on a C6-5 in a drag race with Morgan.

Ryan Bergsmith flew his “Duck Commander” on a D12-5.

Kim Bergsmith showed up Ryan with her “Mega Mosquito” flying on a D12-3.

John Bergsmith showed them both up with his “LOC Mini Magg” on a I245, then brought out his Look-a-Like of a Estes “Interceptor” that is a rocket powered Radio controlled Glider on a slow burn E6-P. Dynasoar Rocketry has a selection of R/C kits at WWW.dynasoarrocketry.com.

Jonathan Dosh flew the “Plane Jane” on a H100 for a L-1 Cert flight then on a H152. I think it was in that order.

Charles Ogino flew his “Meco” by his Carolina Composite Rocketry on a I165 with a dual deployment at 500ft. They always come back when he attach’s tracking devices.

Alex Sutton flew the “Smudgy Steel” on a H400 V-max for a L-1 cert flight. Unk results.

 

Saturday NIGHT launch.        Based on the flight cards received next morning.

There were  8  fliers , and put up  10  flights and burning  13  engines .

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights

A’s= 3,  B’s= 2,  C’s= 4,  D’s= 0,  E’s= 0,  F’s= 1,  G’s= 1,  H’s= 1,  I’s= 0,  J’s= 1,  K’s= 0.

Steve Brown flew the “Hyper LOC 1600” on a J350w Dual deployed at 475ft.

Barb Tobin flew a rocket cluster of three A8-3s with LEDs and the “Screamer” with a two B6-2 cluster with LEDS and fiber optics.

Larry Becigneal flew the “Glow Star” luminescent flying star on a C6-0.

Michael Hollowell flew his 3-D “Quinstar” on a G75 metal.

Mark Bartkowiak flew a Mercury Redstone “Mercury-a-Glow” with LED glow strips on a C6-5 with 2 LED light balls on the chute.

James Brochman flew his Estes “Photon Probe” on a C6-3 with LEDs.

Doc Russell flew his Estes Pro-Series II “Ventris” on a F36. Using a strip of 45 yellow LED's in a spiral. 

Charles Ogino flew the “Diab-Glo” on a H112 with LEDs.

 

Sunday, 17 April, 2016.

Again, good overall conditions except for the winds, not quite so bad on the most part, sometimes going straight down the runway but still a few trips were made across the creek.

Choked chutes, streamers and angling into the wind ruled the day.

UNCC 49ers Rocketry Club made a few Cert flight attempts but most for various bad luck reasons didn’t make it. It was that kind of weekend for Cert flight attempts.

We had  29  fliers , put up  68  flights burning  75  engines .

  

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights

A’s= 5,  B’s= 16,  C’s= 11,  D’s= 8,  E’s= 8,  F’s= 9,  G’s= 11,  H’s= 4,  I’s= 2,  J’s= 1,  K’s= 0.

(Remember, what I write is influenced by the penmanship/spelling of the writer.)

John Bergsmith flew his “Hey Listen Here Jack” on a E9-4, his Mad Cow “Bat Ray” flew on a G53-7, his scale “Little John” flew on a F40-7, the “BS Pump Dream” flew on a C6-3 and his special from the $1 bin at Target “Spining Pin Wheel” went up on a C6-3. It will probably outlast all our stuff.

Kim Bergsmith flew her “Mega Mosquito” up from a D12 to a E9-4 for a long graceful flight.

Ryan Bergsmith flew his “Duck Commander” again on a long burn E9-4.

Anna Grace Knight flew the “Sandy Blue” with her dads help on a F40.

Avery Walden re-flew his new “NASA” on a E22-5, his “Spencer” on a D9-4, and the “Broken Fin” on a C6-5.

Dan Sumner flew a classic Aero-Tech “Astro Bee-D” on a G64-7, his “Aero-Franken-Tech” flew on a F40-4. His “Wackey Corporal” flew on a D12-3, a “Cherokee-D” flew on a C11-3, the “Eliminator” flew on a D12-5 and a “AMRAM” on a B6-4 for his smallest flight.

Corky Story was more laid back and easy going today with 2 original sized models from the Goony Bird Collection, the “Der Goony Max” on a C11-5 and the “Goony Saki” C11-5.

Mark Ferrell had his rebuilt “Green Ghost Resurrected” fly on a H220 with a dual deployment at 400ft.

Charles Long again unintentionally wowed the crowd with his “Art Applewhite Stealth” pyramid on a H110 that again separated and looped till running out of fuel. We found that motor and noted that it had Kato’d giving suspicion that Saturdays flight may have done the same. It may have been the same “Art Applewhite” Saucer that flew on a G54 as a normal test flight before the “H” flight. A Estes Pro-Series-II “Leviathan Red Stripe” on a G88sm with a Jolly Logic deployment at 300ft. A Estes Pro-Series-II “Partizon Green Machine” flew on a G88 with a Jolly Logic deployment at 300ft. His “Delta IV HT” flew on a G118 and then a H54 with a jolly logic deployment at 200 and 300ft.

Charles Ogino flew his “MECO” again on a I218 then a I445 with a dual deployment at 900ft.

Saithvika Chadalawada flew her Estes “Chrome Dome” on B6-4’s

Siri Chadalawada who appears to really be interested in science and was excited about being able to fly a rocket, flew her Estes “Chrome Dome” on B6-4’s and made two raffle wins including a Estes Starter kit.

Chris Amell flew his “LOC Forte” twice on a G185 with Jolly Logic deployments at 200ft.

Henry Caplan flew a model named the “Orange Bird” on a F16-6, a classic Aero-Tech “Barracuda” on a F23fj with a dual deployment at 300ft, His “Mac’s Bigger Bertha” (Scratch Design?) flew on a E18-4w with a really large streamer. His biggie was a 4inch “Patriot” that flew on a H100w with a dual deployment at 300ft.

Eric Franzen flew a Aero-Tech “G-Force” twice on a G64-4. His two-stage “Air Attack” flew on a C11 to a C11-3.

Eleanor Franzen flew a raffle won Estes “Eggs-Caliber” egg lofter on a C11-3 without an egg but some grass and a leaf as passengers. Just testing the system for future egg lofting.

Larry Becigneal flew a “Mega Mosquito” on a D12-3. A Estes “Photon Disruptor” flew on a B6-4 in a drag race with son Shawn. A old Quest “Cobalt” flew on a A8-3 and the “Curvi-Linear” flew on a mini A10-3t.

Shawn Becigneal flew his Estes “Photon Probe” on a B6-4 in a race with dad Larry, dad lost his gas money to Shawns raffle ticket purchases. A Quest? “Goliath” flew with a cluster of three B6’s and a scale ”Honest John” flew on a A10-3t.

Ryan Clark flew a nicely done mini “Der Red Maxx” on a mini A10-3t.

Roy Potter again flew the aero-Tech “White Arcas” on a F50-4 with a jolly logic deployment at 400ft.

Mike Nay flew a old Estes “Maxi Alpha” on a E12-4 then a F30-6  with a jolly logic deployment at 200 and 300ft also with cameras both fore and aft to see where he is going and came from at the same time. Did it get down loaded?

Andrew Mogge flew a Estes “Mini Mosquito” on a A3-4t, a Estes “Big Daddy” flew long and tall on a E9-6. His “Top Tiger” flew on a D12-5 while his “Mega Mosquito” flew on a D12-3.

Mark Mogge flew a “Mega Der Red Maxx” on a G74-9w and a Estes? “V-2” on a D12-3.

Nathan Tiwatri flew a Estes “Sizzler” on multiple flights with B6-4’s and C6-7’s.

Bryson Smith flew a Estes “Patriot” (normal motor is a “C”) on a F15-8 with a 6ft streamer, The body separated but the extra heavy nose with the streamer was recovered.

Malcolm Smith flew the “Odd’l Rockets Cricket” on a D12-5. Sorry I didn’t see that, sounds  like a interesting name.

Doug Knight flew his mega Bertha styled “Long Sword” on a E22. You all remember his huge green “Kiss my Grass” that utilizes multiple chutes. It made another great flight on a J570 with only 4 chutes this time but still made it well into the trees presently unobtainable. Presently, for now, anyway.

Victory Christian Center School Tarc Team did a test flight of the “Han” on a F59-6. Stability, balance, structure ect. It looks good.

Gary Clark flew a Estes? “Astron Cobra from 1972” on a cluster of three B6-4’s. A classic.

 

Hope everyone had fun and will be looking forward to our next launch, till then, remember to keep your exhaust nozzles clear.

Roy. ROCC Sec.

Thursday
Feb252016

February 20th & 21st Launch Report

Roy's at it again, with his recap of the festivities on February 20th & 21st. Windy but warm for the most part, with many rockets going either into the southern or northern tree ranges. 3 TARC teams ran shakedown flights and we saw a new, bigger pig from the Pettler clan. Read on, please, it's jam-packed! dr

Click to read more ...

Monday
Feb222016

January 2016 Launch Report

Our ever-vigilant Roy Potter sent this in early last week but I didn't want to take away from the run-up to our February launch, so here without adieu being in any way more furthered, is the January Launch Report!! Enjoy!! dr

Click to read more ...

Saturday
Jan232016

AP, a strange and tangled past...

We were watching TV the other night and heard about a rocket scientist from the mid '30s named Jack Parsons. I'd never run across his name and wondered why, so I do what ya do these days, I plugged his name into Google and out poured one of the starngest tales I had ever read about the birth of our propelant of choice, Amoinium Prechlorate. 

If you're interested, here's a few links, but it makes some strange reading...

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/bb/babalon004.htm

http://www.olats.org/pionniers/malina/aeronautique/asphalt_rocket.php

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/23/jpl-jack-parsons

dr

 

Wednesday
Dec232015

December 19th & 20th Flight Report

Our esteemed secretary Roy was unable to make the launch this past weekend (you were sorely missed Roy, hope all works out well), so I will try and fill in as best I can with the breakdown of flight notes. Currrently we're looking at a January 1st launch, our New Years Day Blow-In, (hey, some folks use shotguns, we use AP...) so stay tuned to the site and keep your fingers crossed with the weather. Click the "read More" link for the numbers... Happy ChristmaChanuKwanSolstiMas! dr

Click to read more ...

Monday
Dec212015

Turkey Shoot Recap from Roy

Now that the December launch is done here's Roy's recap of the November "Black (powder) Friday & Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot" launch. Speaking of the December launch, just wanted to thank all who came out & flew, watched, helped out, etc., and to all, Happy ChristmaChanuKwanSolstimas... dr

Click to read more ...