December & January 1st Launch reports

Hey, welcome to the Dec Christmas launch and a list of who all came out for the January 1^st, New Years Day Launch.

It was good to get back out again out at the farm and launch some rockets.

Again, anyone 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.

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 on it. 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.

Saturday, 17 December.

The conditions were much better than we were expecting.

We concluded our “KIDS” ROCKET RAFFLE for the kids

We gave well over 3 dozen painted and ready to fly rockets to the kids over the last 3 months.

 Thanks for all the donations who contributed for the kids.

Lets see, We had 25 fliers who put up 79 flights burning 90 engines, including multi-stage and cluster flight’s.

That’s 3.1 flights per flyer.

If we burn 90 engines, how many igniters did we use? Probably 180!

A= 4,  B= 2,  C= 30,  D=14 ,  E= 15,  F= 5,  G= 12,  H= 3,  I= 3,  J= 2 .  

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

Stuart Samuals flew a 2 stage hex saucer the “Fric-N-Frack” on a C6 to C6. The first try hung on the rod and launched the upper stage off the rod. The “Green Lanturn” flying pyrimid flew on a I161 smokie sam with a rear ejection system. A “Micro Spool” flew on a E9, his ½ scale “Maple Seed” flew on a 1/4A mini engene. The 400% upscale “Maple seed” flew on a E18 for a low altitude but successful flight and spinning return.

John Metcalf flew his Wildman” Wild Child” on a F22 black jack, a LOC “Forte” on a G80, a LOC “Lil Nuke” on a E30 and a Aerotech “Arreaux” on a F27.

Joe Pettler flew a Estes “Chrome Dome” on a number of C6’s, a mini “Honest John” on a mini A10, a “Big Bertha” for a low flight on a B6. The “Bumble Bee” flew on C-6’s and then the “Red White and Blue” on a E9.

Jason Pettler flew a “23B Hawk” on a H238 blue thunder and a 3 engine cluster of E9’s on the “Viper”.

Randy Bird flew the “Bumble Bee” on a B6, a upscaled Der Red Max “E-Max” on a D12 and E9.

Mitchel Bird flew a classic “Blue Max” on D12 and a Etses “Max Tracx” on C6’s.

Sandy Houston flew a big “Black Brant” first on a H238 then a H340, the trianglular “No Stack” on a E30 that whipped over and skywritted.

Michael Hollowell flew a classic Estes 3 stage “Comanche III” on a D12 – C6 – C6. A NUC “Initiator” flew first on a G76 for a impressive flight, then on a G138 like a bullet.

Terry Baucom flew the “After Thought” (what was he thinking) on G64’s, then the two D12 cluster rocket “2 – Up”.

Drew Baucom flew a classic Estes “Big Bertha” on a C6.

Matthew Baucom flew a small Estes “Out Law” also on a C6 for a greater hight.

Steve Brown, was a very busy boy flying a Estes “Saturn V” on a E15, a very low and slow flight, the crew section survived but the body had a chute malfunction. The “North Star” flew on a C6, a Big “Mega Mosquito” on D12’s, the green and white “Sham Roc” on a D15. A Estes “CC Express” 2 stage on C11’s. A custom design looking like a tree trunk, the “Stump 2” on a I215 redline that flew well but returned like a tree stump separating from the shock cord. His “Lil Swift” flew on a mini 1/4A, the “Comanche 1” upper stage, on a C11 and the “Micro Mirage” on a mini 1/2A.

Chuck Bracey flew a “Brighton” on a G38 fast jack, a “Centauri” on a B6 and a “Cherokee-D” on a D12.

Doug Knight flew a Aerotech “Mustang” on a G77 redline as the last flight at 4:45. Earlier he flew the “Yard Sale” (put together from things he got at a yard sale) on a I245. A “Black Brant” flew on a G54 redline and a small Estes “Skywriter” o a Aerotech D21 that he actually got back.

Gary Staggers (student of Doug) flew the “Red White and Blue Zepplin” on a G79 white lighting.

Colin Parter (student of Doug) flew a “Un Named” also on a G79 that sufferd non deployment and lawn darted.

Richard Mathers (student of Doug) flew the “Da Bomb” also on a G79 for a altitude check had a shock cord separation so the body darted and got a core sample of the farm soil.

Aidan McGarrigle (penmanship?) flew a small “Zenith” on a C6 and got it back.

Corky Story successfully flew the giant evil flying eye “Star Snoop” on a Aerotech J350.

Todd Harkey flew the 3 engine cluster “Trice” on D12’2 and then E9’s. Very high.

John Bergsmith flew a giant “Yellow Crayon” on a G64 in a drag race with Ryan’s Blue Crayon. His LOC “Door Knob” (looks like a short Bruiser) flew on a J760 for a successful L-2 cert flight. He also flew a upscaled “Mega Mosquito” on a E9.

Ryan Bergsmith flew the “Blue Crayon” against the Yellow, can’t say who won. The “Reflection” flew on a C6.

The Gaston Day TARC Team got in some test flights with eggs and altimeters with the “Naked Wanderer” on F26’s and F29’s and F50’s.

Savanna Samuels repeatedly flew a scale missile, “Aim-45A” on C6’s.

Preston Scarbourgh flew a “Unknown” on a C6.

Not bad for a December Saturday.

Sunday, 18 Dec.

Was pretty much like Saturday. We had a lot of high flights that landed only a few feet to a few yards from the launch areas.

A lot of fun was had by all.

Lets see, this time we had 19 fliers who put up 62 flights burning 70 engines, including multi-stage and cluster flight’s.

That’s 3.1 flights per flyer.

A= 2,  B= 6,  C= 16,  D=17 ,  E= 12,  F= 5,  G= 4,  H= 5,   I= 1,  J=1,  K=1.

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

Michael Hollowell flew a PML “Thunder Lighting” 2 stage of a I211 booster (with a chute deployed decent) to a H123 upper stage with a successful Altimeter main chute deployment at 500 ft after a tethered freefall from apogee. A very impressive flight. But it did require some effort for recovery. It flew to the right at takeoff, the booster made into our field, but the main went past the tree line. He did have a locator system onboard for recovery. He also flew a LOC “4-29SS” on a cluster of 2 G80’s of which only ignited resulting in too low an altitude for the altimeter system to deploy the chutes at the programmed 500 ft. Bummer of a Sunday morning.

Bob Bernatchez flew a AGM 78 “Standard Arm” scale missile on a E18, his scale “Titan II E” on a D12, the “D Region Tomahawk” on a E18. His scale “Red Stone Mercury” flew on a seemingly very powerful D13 but the mercury capsule ended up high in the trees. Hard to replace individually. A Estes “Beta Clone” 2 stage flew smartly on a mini A10 to A3. His (its flown a million time now) “Matra Magic R.550” French scale missile, flew on a F35, a Estes “AGM114 Hellfire” scale missile flew on a F39 and a scale “Exocert AM.39” flew on a E18.

Roy Potter flew the “Test III” on D12’s, the sci-fi “Pulse Fighter” on D12’s and the “NASA” on D12’s.

Sandy Houston flew the “Cato 1” in a drag race on E9’s with Allen but sat on the pad, He had to try again. The “LiL Diter” flew on a H148 in a drag with Erica. Its always a matter of opinion as to who wins a Drag Race. Then he flew a Estes “Big Daddy” on a E11.

Randy Bird flew a Estes “Heat Seeker” on a C6 then a Estes 2 stage “CC Express” on a D12 to D12.

Mitchell Bird flew his Estes “Max Trax” on a C6, a Estes “Eagle” boost glider on B6’s for at least one great flight. His “Payloader” flew on a C6.

Emily Bell flew a Estes “Rip Tide” on a C6 for her first flight.

Jason Pettler flew the “Hawk” on a H123 and again on a H128, the 123 was a Sparky Skidmore that drifted way off past the bridge and creek. Found it and plans recovery.

Joe Pettler flew a Estes “Converter” on a C6 and a “Metalizer” on a C6 also.

John Bergsmith flew a “QCC Explorer” o a E9, a 2 stage “Long Tom” on a C6 to C6, a large upscaled Estes “Swift” on a H123 that went straight up and landed behind his launch pads. His “Deuces Wild” 2 engine cluster flew on C6’s and the “Grunt” flew on a D12.

Ryan Bergsmith flew the “Star” on a C6, then a classic Estes “Maxi-Alpha III” on a cluster of three E9’s that flew very nice and very high on 3 long burning E9’s.Really great. The “Seeker” flew on a C6, a “Astra III” on a C6, the “Dragonite” on a B6 and a “Blue Ninja” on a D12.

Gary Coursey flew  the upper stage of a “Mongoose” 2 stagger a few times on B6’s.

Mark Ferrell flew his 4.5 times upscaled Quest “Big Betty” on a J420 redline with freefall separation at apogee with a successful main chute deployment at 400 ft just behind his pad.

Scott Huff flew the “Z-Bug” on a G83 blue streak (missed that flight) and a “Aura” on a F120 vmax.

Allen Deal flew the”Cato II” on E9’s once in a drag with Sandy and once as the last flight at 3:55.

Erica Houston flew the “Formula 54” on a G64 in a drag with Sandy and then a 1.5 upscaled Estes “Alpha” on a C6.

Andres Marcos flew a “Der Blue Max” on a D12.

Charles Ogino flew a large “Little John” on a K740 c-star with a intended dual deployment with separation at apogee and main at 700 ft, but no chute deployed. CSI to investigate.

Steve Brown flew the “Worm Burner” on a F35, a Quest “AS-1” flew on a B6.

The “Sham Roc” flew on a D12 that was lost but found at the New Years Day launch still in perfect condition, see me (Roy). The “North Star” flew on a D13, a upscaled “Mega Mosquito” on a E9, a Estes 2 stage “CC Express” on a C11 to D12. That got way up there.

Next is a list of who all who were free to show up for the January 1^st, New Years Day Launch.

No flight slips were available for the report.

Congrats to all 31 of you.

Malcolm Smith,  Bob Bernatchez,  Michael Bernatchez,  Doug Hardy,  Robbie Kirk (did you get your T-Shirt?),  John Metcalf,  John Bergsmith,  Ryan Bergsmith,  Tommy Propst,  Dan Mathews,  Sandy Houston,  Doc Russell,  David and Michael Strunk,  Joe Pettler,  Jason Pettler,  Brandon Jackson,  Corky Story,  Allen Deal,  Stephanie Brasier,  Tony Palomba,  Emily Bell,   Erica Owens,  Elwin Hutchinson,  Keith Biddinger,  Todd Haring,  Chris and Ethan Warnel,  Stuart Samuels,  David, Davy and Lucas Graham,  Tomm Manns,  Jim Eddings, Gaston Dat Tarc Team, and Ralph Roberts.

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

Roy, ROCC Sec.