March 6th & 7th Launch reports:
Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 2:15PM Sat and Sun, 6 – 7 March, 2021 ROCC Launch Report
OH yeah. Our first two day weekend launch and it was a long time coming with the pandemic, weather and such, complicating our regular launch season.
Saturday was the calmest I’ve seen for quite awhile. There were some periodic light to moderate breezes and a random quick gust once in awhile. So we had a lot of “G” and above flights.
Sunday turned out to be a bit more windy. OK, it was mostly windy so most flights were limited to low altitudes and “F”s and below. There were a few High Power flights at that time, but about 3:15 the winds appeared to calm enough to get up the majority of the HP flights of the day. In some cases the calm at the ground level was misleading concealing stronger winds at the higher altitudes. So that resulted in some unfortunate “Royal” tree landings. Royal tree landings are when the rocket lands draped across the “Crown” of the top of a tree. Very difficult to recover.
Brenda took the lead looking out for us and had the hand washing, cleaning and mask requirements under control plus cleaning the tables, pens, pencils and common table items. Brenda also provided a Covid Contact List so people can be contacted if there is a Covid alert. Doc Russell had brought out a case of sanitizer and supplies last month.
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies,
Ken was at a prior launch commitment as this was a unscheduled launch weekend for us.
LOST AND FOUND. Roy has Terry Baucom’s lost 29/240 motor caseing.
Check the box for a few nose cones, and a few other odd items.
Farmer Kip brought a fresh red Big Daddy sized nose cone lost at the Jan launch.
As a note, when you are walking across the fields on the trek to locate your latest launch, keep your eyes open on the ground for anything. Not all motor casings look alike. Also there are mini altimeters, nosecones, motor retainers, ect.
Pictures. Check the Gallery for launch photo’s. Come on, We see everyone is taking photo’s. Lets Get them onto the ROCC Club WEB Site Gallery.
Just contact Doc Russell at rocketrycarolina@gmail.com, “or” as some have done, pass it on a disk, memory card or flash drive
ROCC Club Membership (along with the Raffle sales) covers the costs 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.
For memberships, check with Brenda Marshall, our Membership Officer, out at the launch site. ( Or check the Club web site on line for any new updated information At= WWW. RocketryCarolina.org).
At this time, Ask Brenda first about how to do any checks.
ROCC Club “T” Shirt’s, are limited right now but can be purchased as the supplies last until a new source is obtained. Check on styles and colors available at the launch.
Saturday,6 March 2021.
We had 12 fliers, and flew 46 flights and burnt 62 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 8, B= 5, C= 6, D= 10, E= 7, F= 18, G= 8, H= 5, I= 2, J= 0, K= O.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
Paul Kraemer Is the cause of the high number of motors burnt compared to the number of flights, he flew 4 different “Cluster” flights.
The “Trifecta 318” flew a cluster of three D24-10s successfully. His “7-UP” flew on a cluster of three plugged mini A10s and four plugged mini A3’s with an EggTimer deployment that was too late or didn’t activate before darting. The “Alegro” flew a cluster of two F51-10s and two Estes F15s but the chute bundle didn’t clear the tube so it core sampled. The “Ultimate” flew a cluster of two G54-9w and one G25 with a successful J/L deployment at 500ft. Paul also flew a LOC “LOC IV” on a CTI I 55-6 “Mellow Yellow” with a 6 second burn time with a Jolly Logic deployment at 500ft. It’s a collection of extremely long burning, low thrust motors. It was so great I didn’t realize I blurted out on the speaker “Oh my god. This is so cool. I want one!”
Paul also flew a “Super Big Bertha” on a regular I154-6bj, which was the last flight of the day at 4pm.
Scott Pennington flew 10 flights himself. His “SUHAMM-66” flew up and fast on a fast burning H550-8t with a J/L deployment at 300ft. His “Cosmo-2” flew on a Estes E12-4. The Mighty “Thor” flew on another fast burn H550-8t with a J/L at 300ft. His Estes “QCC Explorer” flew well on a E12-6. The “Lance Delta” flew on a F67-6w with a good J/L deployment at 300ft. The “Athena” flew on a more sedate H115-8 with a good J/L 300ft deployment. The Russian two stage “Sasha” flew on a E12 to a D12-5. And his large yellow “Big Bird” flew well on a G74-6w. “Star Chaser” flew on a E12-4 and what I thought was a impressive scale model of a “Nike Ajax XL” that flew on a F67-9w.
Mark Bartkowiak was participating in a NARTREK project. A nice short abbreviation for National Association of Rocketry Training Rocketeers for Experience and Knowledge. His project includes measuring and recording the flight altitudes of small rockets flown on different motors. Today it was flying the “King Richard Da Turd” on a series of B4-4s using a J/L altimeter to record the flight altitudes.
Joshua Lambert, a junior flier working his way up, flew the “Blue Boy” on a C6-5 and the “Sand Boy” on a C6-5. Then flew his “The One that Destroyed Itself” on a F59-5 successfully and then his “Zepher” on a G78-4 for its first flight, successfully, as a test for his soon L-1 Certification flight.
Roy Potter did nothing but “Poop Chuters”. (Rear Ejection Chute Deployment). “Orange-4” flew on a F42-4, the “Red-5” flew on a G38-4, the “Yellow-6” flew on a Aerotech reload G64-4, the “White-7” flew on a G79-4 finishing the list with the 12 year old “T-4” flying on a Aerotech single use H135-6w. All deployed their large holed donut chutes with slow soft landings. Yeah, that’s how its done. (This Time).
Trent Dominick flew his “Red Viper” on a E12-4, his Estes upscaled “Big Bertha” flew on a F67-4wl with an altimeter just to see how high it did go. Looked quite good to me. The “Golden” (a gold Estes Executioner?) flew on a E12-4 and the “Used to be Trash” (recycled debris) flew on a D12-5.
Mike Nay flew a Estes Pro Series, two stage “Ascender” on a F15 to a F15-6 with a J/l 300ft deployment. The boost was a tad weak so it angled over so when the main lit, the upper stage angled over the creek tree line but was able to drift into the open field on the other side. Mike also flew a 1:200 scale “Saturn V” on a D12-5 for a straight up high flight and good recovery. His big flight was the “Tree Hugger”. (prior tree landing survivor?) A short squat looking rocket that flew on a H238-8 super thunder. Very nice.
Robbie and Samuel Kirk was there. Robbie was flying out here when he was only a little bigger than his rockets. Welcome back Rob. Rob, wife and son flew a “Star Orbiter” on a D15-4, an “Olympus” on a D12-3, the “Alligator Green Monster” flew on a C6-3, then, “Mrs Big Rocket” flew on a D12-3.
Dorsey Delavigne flew a Estes “Goblin” on a D12-5 and a Estes “Big Daddy” (everyone liked that kit, so why did they cut it?) flew well on a E12-6 with a J/L 300ft deployment. His “Viper” flew well on a F42-4 with a J/L deployment at 300ft with a Featherweight GPS locator just in case. Really neat, displays on your cellphone where your rocket landed.
Phillipe Loher, junior flier, flew a Estes “Quix” on a A3-4 and found it.
Bill Jetton flew a Estes “Super Nova” two stage on a C6 to a C6-7 but the C6-7 main did not ignite so darted. Bummer when that happens, it was a booster too.
Malcolm Smith got a quick break from RSO duty to quickly fly his Estes “Big Bertha” on a C11-5 just for the heck of it
Sunday, 7 March, 2021.
We had 14 fliers, and flew 31 flights and burnt an equal 31 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 0, B= 1, C= 9, D= 4, E= 0, F= 9, G= 0, H= 6, I= 1, J= 1, K= O.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
Matt and Dan Rushing each flew a “Black Brant” on C6-7 in a Drag Race with each other. One stayed on the pad. The winner made a tree landing. The loser won.
Mark Bartkowiak continued his NARTREK test flights with the “King Richard”, this time making recorded altitude flights on C6-5s.
Doc Russell, who was too busy giving L-2 written exams and dealing with official stuff Saturday, now had the time to get a few flights up himself. Docs very reliable “Tigger” flew twice on H163-8s with a J/L chute deployment at 500ft. A Quest clone of the Estes classic Alpha, the “Astra” flew on a C6-5 that landed in the field to the left but not sure if it was found. It was small. His “Stealth” flying pyramid made from a Fed Ex shipping box flew on a plugged F67 with a air drag recovery. Doc had been wanting to make the maiden flight of his new and fantastic looking Pan Am Clipper from the movie, 2001 a Space Odyssey, the “Orion”. So he prepped it on a I211-9 with a J/L set for a 500ft chute deployment. The flight was fantastic, straight up, ejection at apogee and freefall down to 500ft where the J/L released the chute. But even as it free fell the wind drifted it toward the tree line. If the chute had been not so efficient it would have landed in the field, or had been more efficient it would have made the open field on the other side. So, it ended up in the middle and made a tree landing. Doc has dealt with robber trees before, so I hope its recovered soon.
Roy Potter. I was on and off the Launch Table so only got a few launchs, but I kept them to a lower altitude, I didn’t trust the winds and I can’t yet use a J/L release with the rear ejections. (I’ve got an idea on that). “Blue-3” flew twice on a F32-4t and the smaller “White-1” got 4 flights on a D12-3.
Dan Rushing flew the “NASA Black” on a B6-4.
West Iredell High Sch, TARC Rocket Team test flew the “BART” on F36-7’s.
AC High Sch, TARC Rocket Team test flew the “Corn Stalk Killer”, with and without eggs on F59-5’s.
Drake and Austin flew the “Corn Stalk Victim” (was once damaged by a corn stalk upon landing) twice on a F36-7 for the next to last flight at 4:40pm.
Lenoir Rhyne Rocket team with Prof. Doug Knight, had the last flight at 5pm of the “SN.3” (3rd design?) on a Loki J820. It was loaded with lots of tech, a simulated weight of the future decent guidance system of the cargo section and the separation and recovery of the three different chuted sections. The flight was great, impressive. The nose section separated and descended to the ground on its own chute, but the cargo section and boost section entangled so added the efficiency of both chutes to carry them over to the trees and a crown landing. Again, a matter of either too much or too little. We hope it gets recovered soon.
Frank Way, an old timer getting back into the hobby, (a Born Again Rocketeer) held off on his nice “E” rocket but flew his Scale “E SAM-58” twice on a C6-5.
Spencer Welland flew a nice LOC “Athena” on a slow burn H90-8. Good flight.
Brett Vogelsang flew “Bretts New Hope” on a H120-8 for a L-1 cert flight.
Harrison Boston flew his “Home Made” on a H128-6 for a L-1 cert flight. A good flight and looked good coming down but made a tree landing over the creek.
Caleb and Doug Knight flew a big scale “Astro Bee” on a slow burn CTI “H87-7 with an egg just to see if it would work.
OK, that was fun.
Watch the Facebook postings and web site for future launch’s.
Just remember, keep the pointy end up and your exhaust nozzle clear.