Roy's December 20 & 21st 2025 Rocket Report
Thursday, December 25, 2025 at 1:46PM Saturday 20, and Sunday 21, December, 2025 Post- Launch Report.
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies,
Ken was out both days doing as he always does, providing us with all those things we just have to have. Letters to Santa were left with Ken to pass on to the Elves.
NOTE: There are sheets of ‘Blank Launch Slips’ you can take home to print your own Launch slips so you can pre-fill out your slips in advance. You can even use colored copy paper for custom colored launch slips. You may need to use ink on colored slips so we can easily read them. This can also give you more time to fill-out your launch slips NEATLY so we can read them. THANKS.
BULLETIN :
“Everybody who gets the “NAR Sport Rocketry Magazine”. You also get the periodic issue of the “NAR MEMBER GUIDEBOOK”.
Pull those Guide Books out of your Rocket Closet and bring them, old or new, to the launch.
They are great to pass out to a new young flier just starting out.
LOST AND FOUND and some Donated Items that need a home.
Plus Three Identified Found rockets.
1. Lilly G. (Gambrell?) Silver with Green paint Estes “Star Hopper” flown Sat, 25, Jan, found in the late afternoon.
2. Richard Mayberry’s Estes “Long Ranger” yellow body with purple nose and fins flown Sat, 20 Apr, 24 found during Launch breakdown.
3. Shay Hill’s small Estes “Wizard” painted blue, from way back.
4. 2.5in black pointed nose cone found Sun, 13th. (Steve Brown?)
Pictures. Lets Get them to 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 #608” and the “Tripoli Rocketry Association #066” 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.
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Saturday, 20 DECEMBER, 2025.
It was a smaller attendance than I expected. Even with two collage teams, one from SLVT Virginia and another from UNC Charlotte, and the Marvin Ridge High School rocket Team and two students doing ARC test flights. I guess I Still expected, with the favorable weather forecast, (for once it was right-on) more regulars to take advantage of the great weather. I would call it a nearly perfect day to fly. So, with slow arrivals and fewer fliers at any point of time, we had a slow but continuous, “Fly’em when you Got’em” kind of day. Winds were estimated at 3 – 5 MPH mostly from the NE, N and NW, with periodic shifts more due E and W. Some altitude layers had some north bound drift but would shift direction back when it lowered into the different drift directions. We had a couple of flights off the pad that just decided to fly north so there were a few close, with I think, one LP rocket in the north tree/fence line. Sometimes there was just not enough drift to bring them back us. The sun was definitely out and bright enough you could lose sight of a chute when it drifted across the sun. The temperature after 11am was short sleeve and t-shirts for some, especially while you were walking around going out to recover your rockets.
Everyone, always tell the RSO if you have a Sparky motor for a “ Go/No Go “ flight decision, depending on field conditions. Our launch area has a thick ‘thatch’ layer in the turf and restricts the use of Sparkies depending on the season.
( I feel like we missed some flight cards. Some may have been kept. We had additional fliers sign-in that I don’t have flights slips for. Apologies if your flight didn’t get recognized.)
We had 14 fliers, flying 36 flights and burnt 40 motors.
That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A-0, B- 3, C- 8, D- 11, E- 8, F- 4, G- 2, H- 2, I- 0, J- 2, K- 0
what I write is influenced by your “Penmanship and Spelling.”
( I do not witness all flights, so if no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, or a Flight Slip is missing, some information may be in error.)
Mark Bartkowiak flew a mostly 3-D printed Helio-4 on a “C6-5”. Looking good going up, then went into a helio return with deployed spinning blades half-way down and then turned into a tumble recovery softly bouncing on the field grass.
Jason Constantino of the UNC Clt Rocket Team flew the Punisher on a “F67-9w”, a mini test version of a team rocket. The team made another test flight of last months test rocket, the Nugget, again on a “J460” with a egg-timer deployment at 600ft with a ARC-3 back-up deployment at 500ft with a IMU altimeter payload. It kind of arched to the south a bit but came basically straight down but still made a tree landing sooo close to the edge of the field. Luckily, with a hunters tree stand just at the right spot and the 35ft retrieval pole, it was retrieved with only damage to one fin.
Ron Crosier flew his Estes Super Big Bertha on a “E12-4”, a Estes Big Daddy also on a “E12-4”. His Estes Big Dawg flew on a “B4-4” and a Upscale of a Estes Nike-X flew on a “D12-5”. His Shrike, a two stager, flew on a “C-6 to a “B6-6”, a Jim Z Clone kit, but lost the red nosecone and the Estes altimeter from the mainstage cargo section. We looked both Sat and Sun without success.
Patrride Glazier flew a nice AeroTech? Strong-Arm on a AeroTech “G78-7” on a good high flight.
Matthew Isaacson flew a successful L-1 cert flight with his Vanguard on a “H165-14r”.
Alex Kalinin, jr flier, flew a LP fast looking rocket he named, Apollo-67 twice on a “C6-5”.
Dhru Nemali Kanti flew his Estes? Strat-o-Force twice on “E30-7’s”, on ARC Test Flights.
Roy Potter, I flew a number of my ‘Rear Ejection’ rockets. Orange-1/2 Kato’d on the pad with a Estes “C5-3”. White-1 followed with a Kato on the rail with a Estes “D12-3”. Not looking good huh? Well, Yellow-2 lifted and flew great on a “E20-4” followed by Blue-3 on a “F32-4” straight up but would be better with a 6sec delay. Orange-4 was down so Red-5 went up on a “G74-4”. A rescued and rebuilt Falcon flew on a “F44-4”. I found I had an old “H180-6” so used my old “T-4” and both performed quite well.
Matt Rushing flew a nice long Estes? Mean Machine on a “E12-4” straight up. He flew a classic Estes Big Bertha in the original colors on a “C6-5”, His Estes Der Red Maxx flew on a “C6-5”. Another Estes classic kit, the Mars Snooper flew on a “D12-5”. That was the first, I think, Estes kit into the sci-fi category. Changing it from a “C” motor to a “D” really made that model fly like it should.
Dan Rushing flew a small white Estes? Bull Pup, on a “C6-5”. His loong named ACME Aero-Space transporting Wily Coyote to the I.S.S. flew not quite to its destination on a Q-Jet “D16-6”
Stella Russell flew her Soviet Anti Aircraft SA-2061, Sasha, two stage three times on a “D12 to D12-5’s”. Three great flights and easy walk recovery’s.
Malcolm Smith flew a Estes? Gremlin on a “D12-7” with a streamer recovery. His classic AeroTech Mustang flew high on a “F15-6”.
John Taylor, Mentor to the Marvin Ridge High School Rocket Club flew the team’s (as I understand it) scratch built rockets with 3-D printed parts. Sadly, to a bad start. Both TRWL-HAC and TRILT-HAC with Estes “E12-6’s” Katoed. One on the pad, and one on the rod half-way up. ??
Bryan Tomer, SLVT Virgina Collage Team Leader flew the Balin on a “J540-14r” on a systems flight test with the cargo section empty and not to deploy, connected to the main body by a cord with only the main body chute deployment. Everything worked fine, except for the landing. The odds are high against it happening, but it came down on the only power line set on the property on the South East field. We have instructions on how to contact the Lincon Power Co. and they were out just under an hour. Rocket retrieved without damage.
Sunday, 21 DECEMBER, 2025.
We didn’t really expect a lot of flyers to show. It was the Sunday before Christmas and the weather change may have encouraged some to stay home and wrap presents and run errands for family and in-laws. So it definitely was another Fly’em when you Got’em kind of day. It was supposed to be warmer (but with the low winds, didn’t feel like it) with high clouds and the sun breaking through. Heat was supposed to be trapped under the cloud layer. But it was weird, when the sun was out, it was too warm with the sweatshirt on, so the sweatshirts came off. But then when the sun disappeared behind the cloud layer, it suddenly got too chilly and the sweatshirts came back on. So the day was, sweatshirts off, sweatshirts on, then on and off all day. Winds were brisker and carried the chilled cloud cooled air mostly to the NW and then suddenly S with some periods of calm. Scott and Doc took advantage of one of the calm periods to get some “H” flights. Roy, and Doc took similar pause’s to make high flights with some F motors, all with reasonable recovery walks.
We had 6 fliers, flying 17 flights and burnt 17 motors.
That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A-0, B- 4, C- 2, D- 3, E- 2, F- 4, G- 0, H- 2, I- 0, J- 0, K- 0
what I write is influenced by your “Penmanship and Spelling.”
( I do not witness all flights, so if no notes were made on the flight slip by the launchers, or a Flight Slip is missing, some information may be in error.)
Ron Crosier came back to fly a upscaled Estes Mega Mosquito on a “E12-4” and a Estes Bull Pup on a “B6-4”.
Scott Pennington, wasn’t available Saturday, (some members work Saturday’s, so Sunday’s
Are their back-up flight opportunity). Scott flew his big winged fighter jet looking rocket Sharky on a “D12-5”. I was impressed how those big plane like wings weren’t affected by the winds. His big and impressive Thor, appropriately named, flew on a “H550-8” with a successful Jolly Logic chute deployment at 300ft. His Cosmo flew on a “E12-4” always looking cool when under thrust. His QCC Explorer flew on a “D12-5” and the SA-Archer scale missile flew on a “F67-6w” with another good Jolly Logic deployment at a low 200ft. We were holding our breath till the J/L deployed.
Roy Potter, my Red-1/2 and White-1 both kato’d Saturday but because they are rear ejection deployment, the motor mounts with the chute bundle just blew out the rear with no damage to the body tube in this case. So I only needed to replace the eject-able mounts that hold the chute bundles and they were ready to fly Sunday. Red-1/2 re-flew successfully on a “C6-5” and White-1 re-flew successfully on a “D12-5”. Blue-3 flew on a Q-Jet “F41-5” with a unintentional choked chute with a super streamer effect with a soft lawn dart recovery. My J/L-X 3.0 went higher than I expected on a “F67-4w” but made a safe southwest field landing. The J/L-X refers to the two rockets I built to test the possibility of using the Jolly/Logic chute deployment system with rear ejecting rockets. A good idea, but its too risky.
Rocket, Ralph Roberts, almost had the last flight of the day before a dad and 6yo son came in just as we were starting to break down the site. We had no defense to the 6yo pleading eyes. Ralph had just previously flown his Estes Patriot missile on a “C6-3”.
Doc Russell brought out his ever-faithful Tigger for a great flight on a “H120” redline then his also reliable Argent on a “F52-6”. His LP fun flight was his Bull Pup on a “B6-4”.
Brad Slusarczyk (correct spelling) and his 6yo son arrived late but his son was all excited about coming out to fly his two rockets. So his Estes Sizzler and Estes Tigris both got their flights in on “B6-4’s” as the last flights at 3:15.
Happy Flying Everybody and Remember to keep the pointy end up .
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