February's (the real one) launch report - 2/17&18/2024
Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 8:32PM February Launch (this time for sure!) Saturday 17 / Sunday 18, 2024, Post- Launch Report.
Anybody who gets the “NAR Sport Rocketry Magazine”, You also get the periodic issue of the “NAR MEMBER GUIDEBOOK”.
When through with them bring them, old or new, to the launch. They are great to pass out to a new flier just getting into the hobby.
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies,
Ken was freezing his be-hind, in the cold and snow of Virginia.
YES, you can take a couple of blank Launch Slips home to make your own copies so you can pre-fill out your slips in advance. Some have even used various colored copy paper for their custom slips. It looks cool.
LOST AND FOUND and some donations.
HEY, DAVID STRUNK, (you had a decal with your name and a old tel# on one fin) your 4ft long/ 29mm wide, bottom half Blue, top half Burgandy red rocket was found. Kip or one of his farm hands laid it out on the runway in front of the wind-sock for us to find and pick up. Doc and I checked it out, the motor 5grain 29mm Cessironi, just slid out and cleaned up. The fiberglass body preserved it in like new condition, chute and cords all intact. Its ready to fly Dude. (David, I have it, didn't want it confused with the give-away rockets! I'll bring it out to the next launch and put it in the silo. - dr)
HEY, the box has various stuff and donations that needs a forever home.
As a note, when you are walking across the fields, 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. We see everyone is taking photo’s. Lets Get them onto the ROCC Club WEB Site Gallery at Rocketrycarolina.org, or the, Rocketry of Central Carolina ROCC, Facebook site.
ROCC Club Membership
Membership covers the costs of maintaining the launch equipment, supplies and the expensive Porta-Pot. Membership also pays our association fees with the “National Association of Rocketry” and the “Tripoli Rocketry Association” which provides our insurance.
Memberships run January to January. Membership drive starts in October.
Adult - $20. Family - $25.
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.
Flight Fee Donation Box.
Remember, the Flight Fee, Donation Box goes to the Land Owner. Please Donate.
We have been running short on the “Rent” to the landowner occasionally.
Club Members = $10 per day
Non Members = $15 per day
Parent with young child under 12yo = $5 per day.
Saturday 17 February
Somewhat better than I expected. Very cold and windy early on. I assumed it would stay too windy all day. (why didn’t we cancel? By the time we verified the weather, it was too late to cancel and for everyone to get the word. So we went with it hoping for the best.) But at about 1pm it calmed down a ‘we bit’ becoming ‘doable’ with proper cautions taken: choking/reefing your chutes/ switching to streamers to reduce drift, and motor selection to control altitude, then angle adjustments to the launch pads. Some loaded the pads and just waited for the occasional ‘pause’ to launch. Scott waited to launch his H550-7 even with a Jolly Logic chute release at 400ft. Gladly We Had No Loss’s To Wind Or Trees.
This Saturday We had 12 fliers, and flew 21 flights and burnt 24 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 1, B= 0, C= 9, D= 8, E= 1, F= 3, G= 0, H= 2, I= 0, J= 0, K= 0.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
(I did not witness all the flights, so if no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, some information may be in error.)
Girl Scout Troop # 274 flew their TARC competition rocket Graffiti, on its first test flight on a “F67-9”. Everything worked so now they will do more Test and then Qualification flights.
Finn Burke made his ‘Junior’ First Flight with a Estes Japanese Dragon on a “C6-5”
Daniel Hanna flew a small Estes Swift on a “A10-3t”. As explained, that small and on a A10 motor, it might not be found, she accepted that and it went up fast and unseen. So she then brought out her EST-II that went up on a “D12-5” successfully with a streamer. She also had a nicely done Mr Pringles Can Bomb (styled after a WW-II 500lb bomb) that flew great on a “E12-6”.
Shay Hill flew a silver Estes Baby Bertha well on a “C6-5.”
Mike Hill flew a Estes? Long Ranger on a “C6-5”.
Rufus Mclean took most the morning prepping a ‘Apogee Rocketry’ Zephyr for a flight on a “H180-6”. Just as it left the launch rod, the motor apparently ‘burned’ around and past the delay element igniting the ejection charge prematurely allowing the motor to burn at both ends blowing out the nose and chute flipping over to the ground. Someone is said to have it on video, we might get to see it. (in my early years, that happened to me a couple of times) Actually, inspection shows minimal damage and will probably come out next month.
Scott Pennington made the last flight of the day waiting for the best time to fly The Scoob on a “H550-7t” successfully with a J/L deployment at 400ft. It did kind of ‘Kink’ toward the S/W tree line but had enough altitude to recover. We think the rear ‘rail guide’ broke.
Roy Potter, I flew the Orange .5 on a “C6-3”, the White-1 on a Q-jet “D16-4fj” and my J/L-X on a “F44-4” for a altitude check. I want to see if a Jolly Logic chute release can work with a rear ejection rocket. I got 546ft so I can try a J/L release at 400ft hopefully Sunday.
Doc Russell flew a standard Estes Goblin on a “D12-5”, a choked chute kept it from going too far. His 3inch Der Red Max flew up fine on a “F24-5” but got some extra ‘delay seconds’ that resulted in a ‘darting’ just as the ejection charge went off. The nose was imbedded in the ground with the cord and chute spread in line to the main body sitting upright on its fins. I think Doc took pictures for us.
Burke Wallace flew a standard Estes Goblin on a “D12-7” but used a streamer instead of a chute and landed safely. His Satellite Drone flew on a Quest “D20-4” that ‘chuffed’ on the pad about 3 times, then roared off the pad on a good flight with a streamer return. His Estes? Alien Invader flew also on a Quest “D20-4” for a good flight.
Sherry Wallace flew a Olympus on a “D12-5” with a smaller chute with good results. Her colorful and cute looking (with floppy ears) Little Green Man flew great on a “D6-4?” with a small chute. It did kind of have a longer burn time.
Sunday the 18th.
OK, this was a different kind of day. There were high overhead clouds and so chilly. Doc, Mark and I were there early to set up and it was cold but dead calm. We kind of puttered around and prepped our first launch’s. People started showing up after 12 noon and for the rest of the day it was chilly but calm through late afternoon then a light breeze that kind of shifted directions back and forth from the north to the south. A little after 3:30pm, we all kind of ‘petered out’ and shut down. The lack of wind kept teasing us for “Just One More”. Again, no loss’s to wind (no real wind) or trees.
Also we had half of yesterday’s fliers, but we put up just as many flights plus one.
Sunday We had 6 fliers and flew 22 flights and burnt 24 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 4, B= 0, C= 3, D= 1, E= 2, F= 9, G= 3, H= 2, I= 0, J= 0, K= 0.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
(I did not witness all the flights, so if no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, some information may be in error.)
Girl Scout Troop #274 came back with their TARC competition rocket Graffiti to make four flights ‘ this time’ on “F44-8’s” with two test flights and two successful Qualification flights. Go Girls.
Patrick Glazier flew a ‘air drag’ plastic Spool on a “F67-9” with a tumble recovery. A good flight, specially for those who haven’t seen a spool fly before. His scale missile Strong Arm flew on a “F26-6fj” for a great fight and then his Apogee Rocketry Zephyr (a popular kit) flew on a “G76-5”. His Olympus flew on a “E30-6”. All without any drift issues.
Eli Glazier flew a ‘modified on the field using a known two stage technique’ a two stage Estes Alpha-III on a “A8-0 to A8-3”. It worked but not smoothly, he will refine the modification at home. That Alpha-III flew as a single stage on a “C6-5” with a good streamer recovery. His Epic-II two stage flew on a “A8-0 to a A8-3” successfully. His new Space Plane flew straight up nicely on a “C6-5” with a chute return. The Aquarious flew well on a “C6-3”.
Roy Potter. I and Doc got the first two flights up just before others started showing up. We both pulled out a Aero Tech “H180-6” and both had great straight up and return landings.
My T-4 (this was its retirement flight, its time) landed about 30 feet from my vehicle.
Later I flew my J/L-X again on a “F44-4” to test a Jolly Logic chute release with a rear ejection chute deployment system. The J/L altimeter said I made 579ft (23 ft higher than yesterday in the wind) and it made a successful J/L deployment at the set 400ft. It worked!
My White-1 flew on a “D12-3”, the Blue-3 flew on a “F44-4” and the Orange-4 flew on a “G74-4”.
Ralph Roberts, Rocket Guru, brought out his old ( the name says it all) blue rocket, The Cosmic Staff Of Azul flying on a “G64-5” that made the last flight for the day.
Doc Russell made the first flight of the day with me with his Tigger (yes Poohs buddy) with a Aero Tech “H180-7” but used a J/L deployment at 500ft for a great flight. His 3in Goblin flew great on a “F67-7” also with a good J/L deployment at 500ft. He also had brought a old Estes Pro-Series II, (OOP) Out Of Production, Argent that flew on a “F50-6 Blue Thunder” for another great flight with a J/L deployment at 500ft.
Remember to keep the pointy end up. Keep a check on the Webb site and FaceBook for launch notices.
Reader Comments (1)
Was that the Jack Webb site? Just the facts man.