Launch Report for Saturday July 22 2007

Again, Welcome, Welcome to all you Rocket Scientists, young and old, male and female, nerd and geek. It is good to be a Rocket Science Geek.
As you already know Saturdays launch was PACKED. We had the 22 Scouts with family members and friends plus many of our regular fliers.
Again, thanks to Mr. Brad McLelland and Mr. David Hutchinson with Cub Scout Pack 214 of Matthews for the kind Thank-You letters. Like Ralph, our clubs Prez said, we really enjoyed having you come out, consider yourself welcome any time. We found 4 rockets we think are Scouts by end of Sunday. So you got to come back.
Sunday the 22nd of July was suppose to be better than Saturday but it to was a bit breezy. Not as bad but it did not really get dead calm till later in the afternoon early evening.
The attendance was quite a lot lighter and many didn�t arrive till after 1pm so we had a non-rushed, fly�em when your ready routine for most of the day. Everyone was able to take their time with prepping and fly when they were
ready.
We had 17 actual fliers and we got up a total of 54 flights by the end of the day. There are many who can�t come out Sat because they work or have Sat obligations, so Sun is their only chance to come out, where others have Sun
obligations instead. As always we have a number of family members, friends and casual spectators that give it a big crowd look even on the slow days.
We got enough �Site Fee� donations Saturday to carry us through the smaller donations Sunday to make the landowners target amount of $250. So keep that in mind when flying on Sat, that we might need a good donation Sat to cover us for Sun when we usually have a smaller turnout.
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies stayed the night with other campers so was bright eyed and ready for business all day Sunday to see that we had everything we thought we needed. Walking through his stuff is like a candy store for rocket guys.
Fliers were:
Roy Potter, I assisted with others and prepped my �Classic Sci-Fi Rocket Ship� for a flight on MP with only a fin pod popping off on landing. And the Sci-Fi �Space Pirate� also flew on MP without mishap.
Amanda Roberts used up every LP Estes engine she could dig out of her Dads pick-up and flew the most flights of the day with a total of 18 flights. She was launching her �UFO� saucer all day long, along with her �Sky Writer�
that once �darted� and was repaired on site to be lost way past the tree line later. She also flew the �Screaming Banshee�, �Silver Bullet�, �USA� and a �Alpha 3� on LP.
Ralph Roberts, (Dad), again was assisting others but did fly his novelty rocket �Rock-It�, the Estes cave man rocket that is so easy that �you know who� can do it. Do I hear a libel lawyer knocking at your door?
Emily Nelson brought out her �Tortuga Twins� rocket and flew it once on a MP with toooo looong of a delay, and lawn darted but only damaged the cargo section. So by removing the cargo section and moving the undamaged nose to the main body tube, it flew perfectly on a shorter delay MP. Now that�s quick field repair.
. Bob Bernatchez returned to fly a �Quasar�, a �Super Big Bertha�, a �Mantra Magic R550� and a old North Coast Rocketry �Orbit�, all on MP. His �SideWinder�, scale �Apollo Little Joe� and �Mini Mars Lander� all flew on LP.
Jay Michael flew a �Patriot� for it�s first �C� LP flight, and a �Ansari-X� and a �Quark� on LP.
Branden Michael flew a �Sizzler� for it�s first �C� LP flight and a �Heat Seeker� for its first LP flight.
Terry Baucom (who�s e-mail keeps getting kicked back because he is out of the office) flew the only cluster flight of the day with 2 LP�s in the �2-Up�.
Drew Baucom, (Son), flew a Estes �Big Daddy� on MP.
Joey Sinopoli returned to fly his �Capt�n Bob� again on LP.
Steve Bumgarner hasn�t had a free weekend for awhile and flew his �Defcon II�, the �Hi-Viz� and the �Hornet� all on MP. He flew the �Tri-Max� on LP.
Keith Biddinger returned to fly his �X-Calibur� on a long burn Ellis Mtn MP, then the �Oynx�, the �X-Land Shark� and the �Cool Spool� on MP.
Corky Story came out and we got to see some great works in progress. He took his time and prepped a scaled �Wac Corporal� missile to fly on HP with a altimeter controlled separation at apogee with free fall to a programmed altitude of 300ft for a successful main chute deployment. It�s really neat when it all comes together like that.
Tim Durbin came out to play this weekend, left his work truck at home. Tim is a sales vender for Giant Leap Rocketry. He also took his time talking shop and prepping his �Chester Cheetah� for a MP flight to a calculated altitude of 1800 to 2000ft. He and Bob Bernatchez made one of the few cornfield landings, but by keeping a straight line of sight and walking as straight a line as possible in to the 6-7ft corn, they were found straight off. Sometimes deeper than you thought.
Mark Ferrell had the last flight of the day at 8pm dusk again for a level 2 cert attempt flight of the �Sweet� which was the last flight Sat night. It was a level 2 HP attempt but the Rocket Gods reached out and swatted it from their sky by allowing a rare �Blow through�. It appears the engine burned from both ends not blowing by the ejection charge, but blowing through it. Needless to say it really messed up the rocket, and it was so Sweeet.
Keith Biddinger and Corky tried to get one more up before it was too dark, but couldn�t get it to light off, so it was time to take all the equipment down. And because it may be 3 months till the crops are taken in, every thing needed to be wiped down and treated to sit until next needed. Its no easy task in the dark, so we made a quick but yet efficient job of it and got it all stored away till next time.
OK, so that was Sunday�s flight day, and actually, slow and non-rushed is a good way to launch. Everyone had a good time and we hope everyone will be looking forward to the next launch after crop season.
Information will come out as too any activity we may have in the meantime. Sept Labor day weekend we will be going down to OrangeBurg SC, for the big East Coast Rocket Meet, �Liberty Launch� which will be Sat, Sun and Monday for the experimental launches. Even if you don�t plan to fly, I sometimes don�t, it�s worth even a Saturday day trip just to watch the show. And there are venders galore to drool over all the neat stuff for sale. Food venders too in case you�re the type that requires nourishment at a big launch.
Ok until later, take care and we hope to see you on the launch field soon.
Roy, ROCC Sec.