March 21st launch report

Sun, 21 March, 2021, ROCC Post-Launch Report.  Yahoo!

Sunday was breezier and bit windier than I expected, but it was not as bad as Saturday. We did have a clear and sunny sky so the temperature was constantly getting warmer. But if we had flown yesterday, I’m sure we would have had a lot more tree landings and possibly a few losses, if, anybody had been brave enough to challenge those winds. Today, the dominant wind direction was pretty much due south, toward the creek tree line. Sometimes it shifted southeast toward the bridge and rarely toward the southwest. When we had periods of low wind activity we punched up some of the biggies. (The forecasted 4pm Calm never arrived). There was a line of  HP flights and some anxious cert flights. Some chose to wait for a better day, and some said, “go for it, I’m ready”. The skies cleared up early and left us with a clear blue sky and a strong sun that gave me a slight redness that clearly showed a “mask line” on my face

            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 kept busy. Along with us regulars who came out to fly, he had a few customers who came out just to collect past orders or make new purchases. It looked like I was not the only one who had been saving up to refill their motor box.

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.

Sunday, 21 March, 2021.

We had  14   fliers,  and flew  49 flights and burnt an equal  61 motors.

This includes all  clusters and  multi-stage flights

A= 3,   B= 11,   C= 11,   D= 5,   E= 7,   F= 3,   G= 1,   H= 7,   I= 1,   J= 2,   K= O.

Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.

Joshua Lambert after due consideration decided to wait for another opportunity to make his L-1 Cert Flight. But, for the fun of it, flew a “Sky Cruiser” on a B6-4, and a Estes “Majestic” on a E12-6. His two stage “Hope I don’t lose it” flew on a C6-0 to a C6-5 for a (I think) successful flight AND recovery.

Jim Scarpine, between doing business with Ken, pulled out his large (54milimeter motor sized) “Stealth” flying pyramid on a J145 long burn Sparky that startled everyone who wasn’t paying attention to the launch announcements. It made a turn into the wind then made an air drag return and landed just to the left of the runway to the left of the pads.

Duane Dominick took his time to prep his L-2 Cert flight of his Huge “Warlock” (see video posted on facebook by Rocket TV) that flew big, loud and Successfully, on a J285-8 with a Jolly Logic chute release at 500ft. You can see in the video how it missed both the creek and the trees by landing in the open field on the other side. It was a long walk to get around the creek and treeline, no road to get into that area.

Hayden Kerkhoff flew a two stage “Epic-II” on a B6-0 to a B6-6 successfully I believe.

Ron Crosier came loaded to fly. His “Micro-Goblin” flew on a mini A3-4t that was not found. It just disappeared at takeoff. His standard “Goblin” flew low on a A8-3 with a streamer. He had three flights of his “Goblin-E” on E12-6’s with a streamer return. A “Sprint” flew on a D12-5, also with a streamer. He had three successful flights testing the 3-D print of the “Cat One” on a A8-3 then B6-4’s.  Ron’s “X-Ray-D” flew on a D12-5 and the “Cat Two” (also a 3-D print?) flew on a B6-4 with a streamer.

Roy Potter. I took a few wind risks with my Rear Ejection Chute return rockets. (I’m going to test fly with a Jolly Logic chute release on a calmer day.) The “Red-0” flew on a B6-4, the “Orange-1/2” flew on a C6-3, the “White-1” flew on a D12-3, the “Yellow-2” flew on a E12-4, the “Blue-3 flew on a F30-4 and then the “Orange-4” flew on a F67-4. All  good chute deployments and only one near the trees.

Blaine Seaboalt, (film/reporter for Rocket TV on Facebook). He made rounds taking pictures and talking to us regulars and especially any new comers. He also got a few flights in himself. His Estes “Goliath” flew B6-2’s and a C6-5. You might have seen the picture he posted on Facebook of his making of his rocket the prior evening with wine. So it is aptly named “Last Night’s Wine”, and made flights on C6-5’s and C6-3’s.

Mike McKeon flew a nice “Der Red Maxx” on a C6-3. (all DRM’s look good). He had the last flight of the day at 4:10 with a Apogee “Zephyer” on a H283-6 with a successful J/L chute deployment at 400ft, I believe it was in the field. But, before that, Mike flew an Up-Scaled 4inch “Goblin” on a H130-8 with a 400ft J/L deployment with a successful field landing. After that Mike had a Drag Race with Leaton Jones, who flew the same model 4inch “Goblin”, both flying on a H550-8 with a 400ft J/L deployment.  I couldn’t tell which one was who’s, but one got off the pad first, the other caught up and seemed to surpass the firsts ejection altitude then ejected, then both slid together and came into a side by side formation to land at the same time yards apart just in front of the tree line together. Very cool. Anybody get a video?

Leaton Jones, as stated, flew his up-scale 4inch “Goblin” in a drag race with Mike McKeon’s “Goblin” on a H550-8 with a J/L chute deployment at 400ft. He also flew his “DX-3” on a I345-10 with a J/L deployment at 500ft for a successful L-1 Cert flight that landed just in front of the tree line. He also flew a “Micro Mimi Magg” on a G54-7 with a J/L chute deployment at 300ft. His “Aspire” flew on a E12-6 with a streamer return. I think that was the tree landing, you can see the streamer blowing with the wind.

Trent Dominick flew “The Trash Can” (looked nice to me) on a D12-5 with a streamer and then flew a Estes Executioner named “The Gold One” on a E12-6. That kit and the Estes Pro Series kits were nice sized and well put together kits.

Doc Russell. (He and Doug Knight both successfully recovered their tree landing rockets and a couple of others from last Launch). Doc flew a “Stilletto” on a C6-3 then pulled out a Classic Estes Pro Series-II kit, “The Leviathan” on a F67-6 with an apogee deployment that gave it plenty of air time to drift right back to the tree line and another tree landing. I foresee another visit with his Tree Retrieval kit.

Ralph Roberts returned to the field and chatted with old friends and pulled out his old Estes “Patriot” and flew it on a C6-5. Later went on a hike to see another old friend, the 4inch “Thug” still hanging in the trees from way back when.

Trevor West flew a Estes “Red Nova” on a D12-5 and a Estes “Goblin” (OMG, Goblins are everywhere!) flew on a B6-6 with a streamer recovery.

Eamorn Nugent flew the “Epoxy Menace” twice for a L-1 Cert flight. First attempt was on a single use (Areo Tech?) H219-7 that “KATOED” on the pad without any damage to No Fault of his own. The second attempt was a successful flight on a H125.

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.