4/14/2001 Launch

A bit lonelier this month at our new launch site with only 3 fliers. Flight conditions: high thin clouds, low 50's, 5-10 mph SW winds, shifting to 5-15 mph N winds. We parked off the road in the middle of the site, and set up the launch pads in the middle of the road!

Andrew MacMillen:
My daughter Kate & I showed up around 10 with nobody else around. Since I don't have mid or hi power GSE, we set up an Estes pad, and got busy with some perfect flights: an Estes ARV Condor on a B6-4 (love those gliders!), a Rogue Aerospace Deep Surface Probe on a C6-3 with lots of coned smoke, and a Holverson Zoomie on a 1/2A3-4 for a short steep glide recovery. Finished lo-power with my 2Fer, an experimental 2 fin design on an Apogee A2-5. Great spinning flight, but no ejection charge. Spun all the way back down for a perfect lawn dart, destroying the NC & upper BT. This was the 2nd A2-5 with no ejection in this rocket; MESS forms filed & Apogee notified.
When we got Tim's GSE set up, Kate launched her scratch built Hydac on a AT D15-7 for a perfect flight to ~1000' and a long walk.
I then launched my Rattertouille - a scratch built test rocket for the RATT H70 hybrid - on a G80-7 with a MissileWorks RRC on board for a recorded altitude of 941'. Next up was the Yank Enterprises Mystic Buzz with an H180-10 and a sonic locator for a loud & long flight to ~1800' with recovery only 50' from the bottom of a soggy sink hole. Last but definitely not least was the re-launch of the Rattertouille with an H128-10 and my first dual deployment (with motor back up). Worked perfectly to 1493' except for a delayed main chute due to the drogue & main lines tangling.

Tim Pace:
AIM-9 (Estes) Modifications: Glassed, plywood fins, 29mm MM, 3/8" LL, 446g prepped for launch W/O motor.
1st: F20-7 Nice straight flight. According to wRASP: 232mph with an apogee of 2255'. Unfortunately, with those big fins and that launch lug, the performance was considerably less than predicted. Beautiful flight for a classic missile, none the less.
2nd: F40-M Not quite as straight. (Those darn fins, again) The performance was again somewhat less than wRASP: 271 mph and 2142".
3rd: G64-7 Okay, I will not be doing this again anytime soon. I think I will stick with the F-20's and their crowd pleasing effect. The mere fact that it was still in one piece upon recovery, reminded me that the Rocket Gods are not to be mocked. I would like to acknowledge publicly that an appropriate sacrifice has been made. wRASP: 398 mph and 3566'. Yeah, right. That thing spent more time going back and forth, left and right. I doubt it made it over 2000', but boy it sure made it there in a snap. Absolutely could not believe I had all my fins.
AIM-120 2" (PML): I know there is a lot of discussion about the pro's and con's of QT. I have found that if you just ditch the piston from the get-go and use a baffle or some other adequate form of recovery system protection, the pro's vastly outweigh the con's. It is a pleasure to work with and it is undoubtedly strong and durable. As usual, this baby performed flawless on a G-64-7. wRASP: 232 mph and 1439'. Nice Apogee ;-)