Feb 3&4 flight recap
Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 8:31PM February, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th 2024, Post- Launch Report.
TO All Of Us Who Get the “NAR Sport Rocketry Magazine”.
You also get the periodic issue of the “NAR MEMBER GUIDEBOOK”.
If you just stuff them in the back of a drawer or into a box in your ‘Rocket Closet’, instead, bring them, old or new, to the launch. They are great to pass out to a new flier just getting into the hobby. They can really help them with all the basics.
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies,
Ken was committed to another location today.
I’ve been asked, and 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 saving you time. Some have even used various colored paper to make custom slips. It looks cool.
LOST AND FOUND
HEY, the box has various stuff and donations that needs a forever home.
Check the box, we have nose cones, LP chutes, fins and other odd items.
And some donated and salvaged rockets. Really, if you need something, use it.
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 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 the conditions were almost perfect. It is February after all. Sky was almost totally clear, lots of sun. So with the open fields acting like a solar collector, it was at least 4 degrees warmer than the 56 degrees downtown Charlotte. I would estimate it was almost Calm 50% of the day, 40% light breeze to the South, South/West, and the remainder 10% with short gusts South. Didn’t think it would be a problem, but It was probably a combination of the sun, the large open fields and the tree line but we had a number of rockets that got a high altitude (with chutes) get caught in thermals. That resulted in a few light weight rockets to float away downwind into or somewhere past the South tree line. And there is always the random chance for a rocket , as soon as it clears its rod or rail, to instead of going straight up, to instead, turn abruptly low toward a tree line, so we had a few close calls. Doc was able to recover his “Star Cruiser” with the 35ft extension pole.
AND “Thanks to Ron Crosier for the pictures posted on the Face Book site.”
This Saturday We had 13 fliers, and flew 49 flights and burnt 53 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 0, B= 7, C= 17, D= 7, E= 6, F= 12, G= 2, H= 2, I= 2, J= 0, K= 0.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
(I did not witness all the flights, no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, so some information may be in error.)
Guy Antonides , Welcome. Guy flew his Jack-1, his Dunkan-1, the USA-1 and Amazon-24
all on Estes “B6-4’s”, the B6’s was a good choice for these light weight models.
Mark Bartkowiak flew his King Richard with 12 fins (there is a story there) on a “C6-7”, his Estes CBU-87, Cluster Bomb, without its long lost bomblets, flew on also on a “C6-7”.
Ron Crosier flew his Constellation on a “C5-3” A nice 1” Goblin flew on a “D12-7”, and his upscale 3” Goblin on a “F16-6” and then on a “F23-4”. His Apogee-300 flew on a “C6-3”. A nice looking Cherokee FNG (normally flies on a “E” motor) took off on a “F52-8” that proved to be over powered, too much thrust/velocity and the rocket apparently suffered “Fin Flutter” that tore the fins off shredding the rocket, flipping it over throwing out the nose and chute then the body came down ballistic butt first into the soft ground. Unexpected, and Very exciting.
Weston Fowler flew his PorkZilla, a two motor cluster of two “G80-10’s” successfully (love it when clusters work) with a Jolly/Logic Chute release at 300ft for a good Level-1 Certification flight. (L-1, Cert was on the card) Congratulations Weston. He also flew a short version of the Estes Mammoth rocket twice on “E16-6’s” with a J/L deployment at 300ft.
Daniel Hanna flew a Estes Free Fall (without the parachuted skydiver, lost?) on a “B6-4” and his EST-11 flew on a “D12-7”. His Star Orbiter flew on a “F15-4” and was to come down in two sections with separate chutes, but got too good an altitude and totally caught a thermal. I think the booster took the trees and the upper section just went up and out of sight. His 3” Der Red Max flew fine on a “F16-4”, the Estes Alien Invader looked good on a “C18-8”? His Nike-X flew on a “C6-5”.
Zach Hanna flew a Estes Vertigo twice on “B6-4’s” and once on a “C6-7. He borrowed and flew the Estes Free Fall on a “C6-7”.
Scott Pennington, he has a fleet of finely made kits. His Estes Explorer flew on a “D12-5”, the very nice Cosmo flew on a “E12-4” and a LOC? Lil Stella flew on a F15-6. His two “H” flights were with his LOC Mini Magg-XL on a “H195-7”, with a J/L deployment at 400ft and LOC? Nike Zeus flew on “H550-7” with a J/L deployment at 400ft.
Roy Potter, I was comparing the Estes “C” and “D” motors to the AeroTech Q-Jet “C” and “D”. My Orange-.5 flew first on the Estes “C6-3” then the Q-Jet “C12-4”. Without surprise, the “C12” got better height and pushed through the minor wind without drifting/turning into the wind. The White-1 first flew on a Estes “D12-3” then the Q-Jet “D16-4fj”. They appeared to get the same height, the “D12” just burned a tad slower/longer to get the altitude where the “D16” burnt faster/shorter but coasted longer up to the same apparent altitude. I flew my Blue-3 on a “F44-4” but I ‘over choked’ the chute to limit the risk of drift so the chute turned into a very efficient ‘streamer’ with a dart into soft soil without any damage.
Ralph Roberts flew his Fire on a AeroTech “I211-9” with a successful Jolly/Logic deployment at 400ft. A very impressive flight.
Doc Russell had a great flight of his 3” Der Red Maxx on a “F52-6” with a J/L chute deployment at 500ft. His 3” Goblin flew on a “F52-8” with another J/L deployment at 500ft. His Star Cruiser also flew on a “F52-8” with a J/L set for 500ft, but after leaving the rail, it turned South West toward a corner of the tree line. The J/L deployed the chute with the ejection high enough to inflate and drift ‘kind-of’ back to the field but not enough. It was suspended close enough that Doc was able to snag it with the 35ft extension pole and safely retrieve it. Whew!
Stuart Samuels, always with something out of the usual, flew his 18mm Helix spinner and tumble recovery on a “C6-3”. The large looking four sided flying Green Pyramid flew on a “I161-3” with a parachute recovery. Very smoky, very loud, and very cool. His 24mm Double Helix, think of a helicopters 2 blades, powered by a long burn “E9-4” on each blade, so cool cooool. His Go-Deep. Just think of a “D12-3” powered foam football that tumbles down while the booster returns by streamer. His 200% upscale Maple Seed that goes up on a “C6-3” where the big fined rocket splits into two large spinning blades, just like the spinning Maple seeds you see in your back yard. Then Stuart has to look normal and flies his normal rocket, Bi-OC on a “C6-3” for a normal flight.
Burke Wallace, flew his Fire Cat on a “C6-7”. His nice 1” Goblin flew on a “D12-3” to a too great of an altitude and caught a thermal and went into or beyond the tree line, I myself lost sight of it. His 3” Goblin was more behaved and flew on a “F16-4” and returned normally. His nice black and white 1” NIKE-X flew on a “C6-7”.
Sherry Wallace flew her Estes Pro-Series II Majestic up on a “F15-4” with a good return. Her Estes Cherokee-E went up on a “E12-6” and was caught by a thermal and again, went somewhere into or past the trees. Her really cute Little Green Man (alien) flew on a “C6-7” with a red streamer which made it easier to find. Her Lunar Shuttle flew on a “C6-5”.
Sunday the 4th. It was forecasted to be 4-6 degrees colder than Saturday and breezy/windy. So it was a slower, fly’em when you got’em kind of day. The temperature was no problem, the fields kept the solar heat around, it was the breeze, that kept the chill more noticeable. The breeze and light winds were just enough, just at that level where you could feel comfortable to fly small stuff, maybe “E” and below, but you didn’t feel good about anything more. There were short periods of a lull/calm where some took advantage of where you could keep something on the pad and wait for a calm period, but there was no rhythm/pattern to when the periods would come up.
Sunday We had 6 fliers ,(more spectators than fliers) and flew 15 flights and burnt 16 motors.
This includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A= 2, B= 2, C= 6, D= 4, E= 0, F= 1, G= 0, H= 1, I= 0, J= 0, K= 0.
Remember, what I write is influenced by your penmanship and spelling.
(I did not witness all the flights, no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, so some information may be in error.)
Mark Bartkowiak flew his Odyssey on a “D15-6” that pushed through the breeze with a small ‘wind-cock’ effect.
Ron Crosier flew a small Estes Sprint on a “A8-3” and actually got it back. He flew his Constellation on a “C6-3” with a ‘Astro-Cam’ to record us on the ground. Hope we get to see it. His 1” Goblin flew fine on a “C11-7” I thought the possible altitude would be a very bad thing, but he angled it well. His Two-Stage flew on a “B6-0” to a “B6-6” with a good altitude. I know the booster landed near the LP pads and the upper stage was followed by the spectators.
Roy Potter, I duplicated yesterdays comparison flights of the Estes “C” and “D” vs the Q-Jet “C” and “D”. The Orange-.5 flew the two “C’s” and White-1 flew the two “D’s”. The Q-Jet’s did cut through the wind better, which didn’t surprise me too much.
Doc Russell was the bravest of us, waiting until the conditions were good and angling the pads as needed. His Tigger flew with a “H180-7” with a J/L set for 400ft. the flight up was good but two possibilities, 1= after ejection, the J/L went well below the 400ft point and we were holding our breath when the chute released maybe just above 100ft, and made a safe landing. OR 2= there was no ejection (maybe a long delayed 7 seconds) and it was coming in ballistic and the ejection finally occurred late, just at about above 100ft and the J/L had already released itself in the body at 400ft so it instantly deployed just in time. Any way, it was safe and we all started breathing again. A more relaxing flight was with his 3” Goblin going up on a “F24-5” with a successful J/L deployment at 400ft.
David Walter flew a Estes Green Egg, maybe a egg lofter, a clear cargo section was present, it went up on a “C11-7”. Davids Estes Express went up on a “D12-5” with a ‘Astro-Cam’ on board but went too high and had also angled toward the tree line. It appeared to land in the first row of trees on the other side of the creek. That’s a bummer.
Ella Walter, flew a small orange Estes Swift on a mini “A10-plugged”. It went up and disappeared, we all heard it land to our left front but could not find it, until Doc, just walking out to retrieve something just looked down and saw the fins sticking up. Her Estes EXTREME went up on a "C6-3" but got too high and caught the wind into the tree line.
Remember to keep the pointy end up. Keep a check on the Webb site and FaceBook for launch notices.
- Roy