March 2025 rain-delayed launch report 3/21 - 3/22
Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 8:17PM Saturday, 22 March, Post- Launch Report. (makeup Date)
“Everybody who gets the “NAR Sport Rocketry Magazine”. You also get the periodic issue of the “NAR MEMBER GUIDEBOOK”.
Pull those GuideBooks out of your Rocket Closet and bring them, old or new, to the launch. They are great to pass out to a new flier. “
Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies,
Ken braved the winds only on Saturday. He had a commitment in Virgina Sunday.
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. You can even use colored copy paper for cool custom launch slips.
LOST AND FOUND and some Donated Items that need a home.
Three 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.
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.
Saturday, 22 March. Check out all the great pictures on the ROCC Facebook and ROCC Web site. You can identify yours and other flights made on Sat and Sun. It seemed like there was more than one person taking and posting pic’s. So you may see the same rocket pic’s but from different angles. “Special photographer is again, Ron Crosier” who shot maybe, every rocket out there.
Saturday was indeed Windy. At 9am, when I got there to start setting up, it was 45 Degrees and fairly calm. The winds gained speed up to the end of the day at 4:45, when at last launch, it was 76 Degrees and gusting at 15+ mph. with the winds still mostly due east at ground level, but more northerly at the higher altitudes.
What was good is that it was mostly blowing due East where there is a long stretch of area to land in. The winds shifted a few degrees northward and back and forth, but never due North at ground level. Now the higher altitude flights, ARC (American Rocket Challenge) and higher flights did catch more northerly winds at different altitudes. So some did drift over the North boundary tree line. Some recovery’s were made. Of course, as what happens too many times, as soon as a rocket clears the rod or rail, it turns on its own course. Angling the launch pad and wind-cocking helped, but lighter low thrust rockets would turn into a path of lower resistance.
AND NO Ground Fires. We had one 3gal sprayer, two 4gal sprayers and one pressurized extinguisher on hand. NO SPARKIES allowed.!! We were on a Red Flag fire threat for the weekend.
We had 10 fliers, flying 24 flights and burnt 24 motors.
That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A-2, B- 4, C- 4, D- 2, E- 5, F- 3, G- 4, H- 0, I- 0, J- 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, A great photographer, also got some great flights in himself. His Estes ‘Mega Mosquito’ flew first on a “C11-3” then a “D12-3” flying pretty straight even with those big swung back fins, and maybe that’s why. His standard sized Estes ‘Sprint’ flew on a “B4-4” with a streamer recovery. His Jim Z Clone ‘EAC Viper’ flew on a “A8-3”. The ‘Mercury Red Stone’ flew on a “C5-3” (referred to as a Super C), the ‘Constellation’ flew on a “C11-3” and a helo recovery Estes ‘Gyroc’ flew quite high on a “A8-3”.
Hickory Ridge H.S. ARC team made test flights with the 2 eggs and the required separate recovery of the untethered booster and cargo sections. One fight on a “F20-7” and another on a “F67-4” with one of them a official attempt for record.
Zildjian Lys, (I’m sure this is correct) flew a AeroTech ‘G-Force’ on a “G74-4w” straight up as I remember.
Dhruv Nemalikanti, test flew his ARC model with eggs in cargo and a separate booster, twice trying to find the source of the wobbly flight effect on “E30-7t’s” losing the cargo chute on the second flight.
Roy Potter, I flew my ‘Orange-.5’ rear ejection, on a Q-Jet “C18-4” that pushed through the wind, then my ‘White-1’ rear ejection flew on a “D12-3”. The ‘Yellow-2’ on a “E20-4w” flew great but had turned into the wind and south over the south tree line. Then at the chute rear ejection the elastic cord at the nose had become too dry and brittle snapping. (I should have checked regularly) The motor mount and chute landed close by but you could easily hear the ‘Thrashing, Tearing, Shredding’ sounds as it came in ballistic hitting the south trees. (Another replacement project.) The ‘Red-5’ on the other hand flew on a “G74-4” rear ejecting it’s chute just fine. A Good picture also.
Clara Page, flew a Estes ‘Amazon’ once on a “B4-4” and twice on a “B6-4”. She’s just showing us how it’s done.
William Rankin, flew a nice looking, light weight blue 3-D printed, ‘Nuke Dukem’ on a “G80-10 with a Jolly Logic set for 300ft. On a calm day, even overpowed as it was, it would have worked. This time it just went straight up into the blue sky into varying wind directions, O.O.S., Out Of Sight. (All of us, at one time or another, have been there.)
Wyatt Rankin, flew the blue 3-d ‘Nuke Dukem’ First! But on a ‘F50-9” with a good Jolly Logic chute deployment at 500ft and recovery. He did challenge the odds by also flying his ‘Flash Bang’ on a “G80-10” with the J/L set for 500ft, but at apogee we all heard the ejection report but there was no separation ending in a hard dart impact. But the J/L survived in the chute bundle.
Doc Russell, while pretty busy giving aide and wisdom to ARC teams did get to fly his ‘Argent’ on a “F67-6” with a good J/L deployment at 300ft.
Ruohan Wang flew his ARC model, named ‘The Unfortunate Tube’ on a “F41-8w”. The cargo with chute landed in the field fine, but the booster section had too good of a chute and was lost to the north.
Sunday, 23 March 2025. Check out all the great pictures on the Facebook site and Web sites. You can identify yours and other flights made on Sat and Sun.
Again, it was breezy/windy, but half of what it was on Saturday. This time it was mostly blowing westward, going back and forth toward the north a bit. But it again gave us a long open area to land in. At 10am when we started flying it was 52degrees and 3mph, about 12 noon it was up to 5mph, by 2pm it was between 5 – 7mph, by 3pm it was between 7 – 8mph ending a 4pm at 76dgrees and winds at 10+mph then having to close the range due to increasing wind speed and a more north bound wind. As the later day progressed, it became more a northward wind and stronger.
And we had the sprayers on hand for any ground fires. We only had the one.
We had 23 fliers, flying 59 flights and burnt 63 motors.
That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights
A-9, B- 11, C- 8, D- 7, E- 2, F- 12, G- 7, H- 4, I- 3, J- 0, K- 0
Everyone, always tell the RSO you have a Sparky motor for a Go/No Go 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.
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.)
Stephen Bodhar, made a L-1 Cert flight with the popular Apogee ‘Zephyr’ on a fast “H242-8t” with a good Jolly/Logic chute deployment at 500ft. I think it was good.
Steve Brown flew his ‘Blue LOC’ on a “G61-9w” with a good streamer recovery. His small blue ‘Colbalt’ flew on a “B4-4” and the brutish ‘Runt’ flew well on a”F24-5w” with a good chute recovery. His big 5 inch? LOC ‘Big Nuke’ was launched with a “I284” white lighting
with an electronic deployment set at 475ft and a backup at 450ft. But I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of a possible forward closure failure just when clearing the launch rail falling back down. The fire response team was quick with extinguishers with both grass turf and rocket swept clean. Good Job. I’m glad that Steve took it in stride as a member of a hobby where we Will lose and break our toys.
It just means that when we repair or replace the rocket, it’s UP GRADE.!
Catawba Ridge H.S. ARC team, with Lauren Ford, team leader, flew their model for it’s first test flight on a “F26-6fj” for a successful test flight.
Emma Cooper, flew her ‘Sky Flyer’ well on a “C6-7”, chute return.
Ron Crosier flew a Jim-Z clone, the ‘Check Mate’ (yellow with triangle fins) two stage twice. First on a “B6- to A8-5” then a “B6 to another B6-6”. Both great flights. Gotta love it when the staging works. His Estes colorful ‘Patriot’ flew on a cluster of three “A8-3’s”, nicely done. His Jim-Z clone ‘Blue Saphire’ flew on a “B6-4” and the ‘EAC Viper’ flew on a “A8-3”.
Rami Glassberg, flew the tiny ‘Tabby’ on a mini “A3-4t” that went higher than expected and was then lost in the 8inch wheat field. Maybe he will have a good harvest in the fall.
Doug Harsch, flew a shortened LOC Patriot renamed ‘Shorty’ on a “G126-6” and on a “G127-7”, (that’s what was on the two launch slips), both good flights. His LOC ‘Onyx’ flew on a “F51-7” fine, and the upscale Estes ‘Der Red Maxx’ flew well also on a “F59-7”. The Estes Russian ‘Sasha’ flew on a Q-Jet “D24-4”, the Estes ‘Fire Streak flew on a “C6-5”. The impressive Estes ‘Saturn-V, Skylab’ flew on a “F50-6t”, but the lab lost it’s chute and darted, while the booster with two chutes was fine. Not to worry, the lab was unmanned.
Pete Horwath, flew a nice long narrow arrow shaped ‘Lawn Dart’ (obviously a challenge to the rocket gods) on a “H180-10” with a elec apogee separation to fall without a drogue chute with a egg timer elec chute deployment at 300ft, it worked. In your face rocket gods! His Aerotech ? ‘ARCAS’ flew great on a “G76-7” for another great flight and recovery.
Hickory Ridge H.S. ARC team returned and flew the ‘Nebula’ twice on a “F67-6” but the planed 3rd flight had to be scrubbed at 4:42 due to high wind conditions and the range had to close at 5pm.
Srisiddwarth Kondapalli, flew an Apogee ‘Zephyr’ on a “H100-14w” for a L-1 cert flight. I think it was good.
Paul Kraemer, brought out a really big ‘Super Big Bertha’ that flew on a “I140-7” with a apogee deployment. Great impressive flight and a great landing.
John M Laton flew a classic, simple reliable designed kit, the ‘LOC-IV’. He flew it on a “H160-8w” for a L-1 cert flight, but, at a high apogee altitude, the nose and chute separated (not LOC’s fault) from the body and drifted far away over the north and the body landed in the wheat field almost flat reducing any damage, John seemed happy with that.
Caitlin Magdanz, flew the ‘Second Chance’ on a “B6-6” with a streamer recovery, and the ‘Mini Storm’ on a mini “A3-4t”.
Dhruv Nemalikanti, returned to re-fly his ARC model on another test flight on a “E20-7w”. It still flew wobbly? Somethings still off, he will keep looking.
Amy Page, flew her Estes ‘Cross Fire’ once on a “A8-3”, then three times on “B4-4’s” having a ball. I think she’s hooked.
Clara Page, came back to fly her Estes ‘Amazon’ on a “B6-4”, then a “C6-3” then two more times on a “C6-5’s”. She and Amy, Rocket Girls.!
Matt Page, flew his LOC/Precision white and black upscale ‘Goblin’ on a “G78-4” trying to upstage the girls. OK, I admit it, it was a good flight.
Roy Potter, I flew my ‘Orange .5’ on a super C, “C5-3” but it blew out the forward delay and clay closure. no damage to the body and no ground fire. Lost Yellow-2 yesterday, Hmmm. But, ‘White-1’ flew fine on a “D12-3” with a good rear deployment along with ‘Orange-4’ on a “G40-4” which landed so close, Ron couldn’t get the chute into the picture, and ‘Red-5’ flew last on a “G74-4”. (Good Pic’s of the descent’s on chute)
Wyatt Rankin, flew a ‘3-D Print’ on a “D22-10”, it did take 3 try’s to light but it finally took off turning south east, but the 10 second delay (expected a higher altitude) was just too long and darted close to the car park area. It was angled away but turned S/E off the rail. Someone thought they heard a ejection charge but no separation?
Doc Russell while helping the ARC teams, still had time to fly his large upscale Estes ‘Sprint’ on a loud “I211” with a good elec deployment at 500feet and chute landing.
Burke Wallace, flew his ‘Mach-2’ (we have had Mach busters out here in the past) on a leisurely “D12-7”. The ‘Calypso’ flew on a “D16-4f” with a streamer recovery. His Estes ‘Goblin’ flew on a “D22-7” also with a streamer recovery. His scale green missile, ‘Little John’ flew on a “F50-4t”, the ‘ARCAS’ flew on a “E12-6”, and the cool looking ‘Alien Invader’ flew on a super-C, “C5-3”.
Sherry Wallace, flew her ‘Olympus’ on a “D12-7”, on a nice flight, the Estes ‘Flash’ flew on a “B6-4”. And The Cutest Rocket on the field, the ‘Little Green Man’ flew on a “C6-5”. (Good pic’s)
Ruohan Wang test flew his ARC model renamed ‘ The Angry Tube’ on a “F41-8w”, then modified and renamed ‘The Angry Stick’ on a “F41-8w’ and then ‘the Dying Cylinder’ on a “F81-8w”. Each rename identified the modifications for that flight. Could not get another flight to the closing of the field due to high winds and a more northernly direction.
Happy Flying Everybody and Remember to keep the pointy end up.
And Check the Web Site for any possible last minute changes.