January 28th & 29th post-launch report

Happy New Year!!.

And welcome to the Post-Launch report for the first regular launch of 2012

We got some pictures from the launch so check out the Gallery.

Anyone else take any pictures this weekend?

Any pictures you have from a recent launch that you would like to get posted on the web site for our embarrassment and your entertainment, just contact Doc Russell at rocketrycarolina at gmail dot com, or as some have done, pass it on a disk or flash drive. We can always get it back to you.

We continue with our Range Safety standards by making specific assignments of a RSO=, Range Safety Officer to pre-inspect rockets before flights and the LCO=, Launch Control Officer to check range conditions and control the launch’s in a timely and efficient manner. So far this has worked fine with little to no effect on launch flow.

Check both the WEB site and at the launch’s for info on volunteering for RSO (Cert Lv-2 required) and LCO (Cert Lv-1 preferred, but any responsible and experienced adult can apply).

It’s great for anybody who isn’t flying that day but wants to take part anyway.

And it’s fun to push the red button.

Lost and Found: Steve Brown, I have your “Sham-Roc”, so see me at the next launch.

Note: Curtis Beal, I still have your Club Renewal and check, as a note to all members, we have a difficulty in cashing checks if it is made out to “ROCC” or “Rocketry of Central Carolina” or even to my name with “Secretary of ROCC” Ect. The banks don’t like, and question legalities if it is not made out to a specific persons name only.

We are looking at trying to get a club account, but there are a lot of difficulties involved.

Important:

New Insurance Procedures: In order to meet and comply with the Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry insurance requirements, our Club, R.O.C.C. has chosen to register our scheduled launchs under the NAR flight regulations and for the insurance coverage that best meets our needs.

All rocket fliers who are members of the National Association of Rocketry are fully covered by NAR liability insurance against damage or injury caused by their rocket launch.

(NAR recognizes TRA membership and covers them under their blanket of coverage)

Fliers who are not NAR or TRA members will be required to sign a waiver on the launch field stating that the Launch organizers, property owner or launch sponsors are not liable for any damage or injury caused by their rocket launch and that they would be flying under their own homeowners/private insurance.

R.O.C.C. will still be registered as a joint TRA and NAR associated club and Tripoli flights and certifications will continue as normal.

Joining the National Association of Rocketry is quite easy.

You will find a application form in every Estes rocket kit you buy, or you can even join on-line at WWW.NAR.ORG. There are 4 yearly annual memberships.

Junior, 15 and under =$25,   Leader, 16 –20 =$25,   Senior, 21 and up = $62.

Family = with one regular Senior and $12 for each additional family member.

This membership completely covers you for liability, damage and injuries at our launch’s.

R.O.C.C. club membership is a separate local only membership that supports the club only.

We know that there will be questions, so feel free to ask out at the field.

Saturday, 28 January. Our backup weekend after bad weather on our regular weekend.

Great weather. Most were down to T-shirts for part of the afternoon.

We started our “Big Boy’s Rocket Raffle” with a Aerotech “Arreaux”, a FlisKit 2 stage “Nomad” and a LOC “Norad”. Next month we will add a Estes “Executioner” and a 4 ft big bertha like “Broad Sword”. So there will be 5 to choose from, all ready to fly.

Tickets are $1 each and there is a separate ticket box for each rocket you want to draw for.

We will have 2 drawings at the March launch and the last 3 at the April Campout launch.

Due to a change in the procedures by the FAA to issue flight waivers, we were restricted to the 3 pound and under rule for the weekend. Basicly limiting us to “G” engines.

Lets see, We had 19 fliers who put up 81 flights burning 87 engines. That includes multi-stage and cluster flights. That’s 4.2 flights per flyer.

If we burn 87 engines, how many igniters did we use? Probably 130!

A=8,  B= 10,  C= 22,  D=15 ,  E= 13,  F= 13,  G= 6,    

Who flew what? Remember your penmanship influences my spelling of what I can read.

Roy Potter, I flew my “Thumper” quite well on a F20 after wiping the packed dirt off the nose after last months attempt to dive to the earth’s core, I got my NCR Phantom 400, “Pepsi” rocket up on a G77redline and the orange and white “Test III” and “NASA” had repeat flights on D12’s.

Michael Strunk flew a long and tall Estes “Mean Machine” on a F35. I really thought it would fold-up under that acceleration, but it went straight up with a close landing. His Estes mini “Honest John” (he noted that he really didn’t expect to see again) flying  on D12’s, a “Alpha” and “Big Bertha” on a C6’s then a “Big Daddy” on a F35, Straight up and unfortunately, straight back down lawn darting in the soft farm field.

Bob Bernatchez, again brought out his fleet. Most are scale models of military and civilian missiles. His “Exocet AM.39” flew on a E9, a “AGM 114 Hellfire” on a F39 that regretfully came in ballistic into the trees. Even though we saw and heard the impact, nothing was found.

His “Falcon 9 Dragon” flew on b6 and C6’s, his “Pathfinder” on a D12, a “Big Brute” on a F40, the “D Region Tomahawk” on a E18 and a “Maniac” on a D15.

Michael Hollowell flew a “Comanche I” (upper stage of the 3 stage kit) on a B6 and C6 and a nice “Strong Arm” on a F52 for a great flight.

David Neiman flew his “Minotaur” on a D12, a Estes “Executioner” on a E9, he also has a “Strong Arm” that flew on a F22, a nice and big “Saturn V” flew low on a E30, I think there was some damage. His “SR 71 Black Bird” flew well, like its namesake on a D12, and a Aerotech “Initiator” on a F42.

Sandy Houston flew a Estes “Big Daddy” on a E30, a pyrimid “No Stack” on a E30, was that the flight where it went loopy and bounced off the ground, or last month? I know it flew later just fine. His Estes “Venus Lander” flew on a D12 and E28. He rebuilt a “Ranger” that flew on a cluster of three A8’s. Clusters are cool when they all light up like that.

Erica Owens flew a “Full Moon” on a A8, a Estes “Fat Boy” on a C6, a Estes ”Baby Bertha” on a B6 and a mini “Bull Pup” on a A8.

Dan Mathers flew a nice looking IQSY “Tomahawk” on a F40.

Richard Mathers flew a former TARC rocket, “Da Bomb” up on a G80 that went straight up in a impressive flight, but came back down ballistic into the same trees as Bob, again nothing found.

Malcolm Smith flew one named “Cinco” on a D12, the “Magnum Hornet” on a B6 and C6, a “Big Dawg” on a B4, a mini “Lil Ivan” on a 1/2A6 and the “Stelth” on a D12. His “Ugly Bertha” flew on two engine clusters of A6’s and B4’s successfully each time.

John Bergsmith flew a OD Green “Honest John” well on a G64, a Aerotech “G-Force” on a G64 and a extended upscaled XL “Hi-Flier” on a E9.

Ryan Bergsmith flew a scale orbital launch missile “RLS” on a E9, the “Reflector” (due to its streamer) on a B6, a “Astra III” on a B6, a Estes Star Wars “Darth Vader Tie Fighter” on a C6, a classic “Der Red Max” on a C6 and a neat winged space plane, the “Star” on C6’s.

Doc Russell, when not acting as our Range Safety Officer flew his “Fed Ex” box on a F20, the “Laser-X” on a two E9 cluster, a 1.5 upscale “Sprint” on a D12, the pink “Pinky” on a D12, a scale “Nike Smoke” on a C6 and the Estes upscaled “Interceptor” on a E30.

Brian Gossiaux flew a Aerotech “Initiator” on a E30 for a low flight, then a F42 for more altitude.

Todd Haring flew the “Little –O III” on a G64 and a “Silver Streak” on a F40 and G64.

Terry Baucom flew the “Super Bird” on C6’s a number of time.

Matthew Baucom flew his “Outlaw” also on C6’s.

Mitchell Bird flew a “Patriot” and his “Payloader” filled with peanutbutter M+M’s on a C6’s. He said the M+M’s taste better after being compressed by acceleration.

Ranely Bird flew a “Heat Seeker” also on C6’s.

Sunday, 29 January.

It was forecasted to be windy but really was almost pretty much like Saturday. Maybe a bit warmer.

Lets see, this time we had 16 fliers who put up 69 flights burning 76 engines, including multi-stage and cluster flight’s. That’s 4.3 flights per flyer.

A= 3,  B= 6,  C= 27,  D=13 ,  E= 4,  F= 7,  G= 6, 

Who flew what? Remember your penmanship influences my spelling of what I can read.

Michael Bernatchez flew a Estes Star Wars “Imperial Star Destroyer” on a E28 and “Darth Vaders Tie fighter” and “Imperial Tie fighter” both on C6’s. His “Orbital Transport” flew on a D12, and then a “Fire Hawk” on a C6.

Bob Bernatchez flew his classic NCR “Orbit” on a F24, an “AGM 78 Standard Arm” on a D12, a “Falcon 9 Dragon” on a C6, a scale “Titan III E” on a D12, the upscaled Estes “Interceptor” on a F39, the French missile “Matra Magic R.55o” on a F35 and the “Wac Coporal” on a G64.

John Metcalf has a LOC “Forte” that flew on a Pro 38 G46 and a LOC “Lil Nuke” that flew on a F27 redline.

Roy Potter, I flew the Aerotech “ARCAS” on a F40 the “NASA” and “Test III” on D12’s and test flew my “Boost glider” on a A8 but the booster tangled with the glider at separation that required a repair before I could try it again.

Joe Pettler flew a Estes “Der Red Max” on a C6, a Estes “Heli Cat” with a helicopter return nose cone on a B6 and C6. His Estes “Chrome Dome”, Estes “Cosmic Cobra” and Estes “Big Bertha” all flew on C6’s.

Jason Pettler flew his “Steelers” football team rocket on a F50, a “Patriot” on a D12, a Estes “Baby Bertha” modified to fly on a D12 to go way up there, and a old Estes “Venus Probe” for a low flight on a C6. His “Red White and Blue” flew on a E9.

Ralph Roberts, our TRA Prefect, flew his daughter “UFO” on a D12 and his new “East Side Thug” on a G76 for a first flight followed by a G80. It’s a nice looking new kit called “The Thug”.

John Bergsmith, flew his “SLS” orbital launcher on a C6 and a “Goblin” on a D12.

Ryan Bergsmith flew his “Reflector” a Estes “Sky Trax” a neat looking “Star” and a Estes “Sky Writer” all on C6’s.

Brad Shea, ROCC Club President flew the “Slim Fast” got to be a story there, on a Cessaroni G115, and then the “Hy-Bird” also o a Cessaroni G115.

Matthew Baucom flew a Estes “Fat Boy” on a C6, a Aerotech “Wart Hog” on a E30 for a good low flight and a “UFO” saucer on a Pro 24 F240 V-Max where massive engine thrust overcame engine block resistance. Motor went up through the saucer body. Minor damage really.

Keith Biddinger flew his LOC ? extended “X-Calibur” on a CTI F85 and then F240.

Todd Haring flew a Aerotech “Arreaux” on a F40 and F52 of which the first flight cut sharply to fly over the Simpson farm but was recovered and then flew again normally later.

GDS TARC Team flew a scratch built rocket called the “Nomad” for a number of test and timed flights on F20’s, F22’s and F26’s looking for the best flight time and characteristics.

Samuel Morrison flew his Estes “Puma” on 1/2A3’s for his flights

Charlie Hardy flew a “Sky Hawker” on a B6 and a Estes “Mean Machine” on a D12 and a E9 while his “Lego Blaster” flew a number of time on B6’s and C6’s.

That was the weekend as a whole. Many times someone asks “Who makes that rocket kit?” so I’m trying to identify the kit maker in the reports so interested fliers know what kit to look for.

Hope to see you on the pads and remember to keep those exhaust nozzles clear.

Roy, ROCC Sec.