AirFest 16

[troj]

So, surfing the web while travelling to AirFest. Here's a couple pictures of the travels right now....

-Kevin

[Mindcrime]

Reminds me of our trip to Nebraska Heat a couple months ago.

[cjl]

Wow - that's a lot of rain. I'm just about to leave for AirFest right now, and it's clear, sunny, and mid 70s out here in Boulder CO. I should be in Harper KS by tonight.

[troj]

We're here, camp is setup, and it's a bit blustery today!

Supposed to be a little breezy tomorrow, but very flyable. Saturday looks to be the best day, and is when Smemo's Folly should fly.

-Kevin

[Mindcrime]

How muddy is it down there?

[quickburst]

We pulled into South Haven about 5:30 pm, after 12 hrs on the road. I'm about 35 miles from the launch site, which is the closest motel available. We drove out to the launch site and dropped some equipment off. It was very windy and much cooler than expected. Truck shows 72 F. Not too bad but the wind makes it a cool 72. Didn't bring jackets ....


I hear tomorrow will be beautiful.

See you guys there.

[troj]

The pasture is nice and dry, albeit a bit blustery today.

For the curious amongst you, attached is a picture of Smemo's Folly, hiding behind the bottom of the Level 3 rocket.

-Kevin

[troj]

It's currently 7:22 on the opening day of AirFest. Woke up this morning to it being downright chilly! If I hadn't been awake for the drive, I'd wonder if we hadn't gone north, instead of south.

It's cold enough we have the heat going in the camper!

-Kevin

[llickteig1]

Friday turned out to be a near picture perfect day.

Temps got down to 50 overnight - great sleeping weather considering our recent heatwave. It warmed up nicely under a cloudless sky. There was a bit of a breeze early in the day, but the wind died to almost zero by the close of the range for the day. It was a very lively day, with many large and dangerous rockets flying.

Ready for 3 more days of fun.

--Lance.

[troj]

I'm not quite sure I agree with the "near perfect" part, but it was a great day, full of friends and frivolities! Oh, and some rockets, too.

I need to break the camera out today, or mooch some shots from others, and get 'em posted.

-Kevin

[bill2654]

Wish I was there. Im a newby and wanted to go but could'nt find anyone to go with me. Oh well...next year. Have fun guys, Bill

[troj]

Today was another great day -- two of the women (Carmen and Sherri) from our group got Level 2, and Rich successfully got Level 3. Clay from Oklahoma, unfortunately, got a zipper on his L3 attempt, but he's got plans for another attempt next year, at LDRS.

Two days of rocketry fun and friends, so it's been a great day!

Our club spent two hours on range duty today; the efforts of everyone were much appreciated, and it gave the KLOUDBusters an opportunity to have their annual drag race. For anyone who's never been to AirFest and who hasn't seen the drag race, you have no idea how much fun you're missing!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get the buckets flown today. Tomorrow looks really iffy, due to wind. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong.

-Kevin

[Adrian A]

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get the buckets flown today. Tomorrow looks really iffy, due to wind. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong.

-Kevin

I am, too. I'll be arriving tomorrow with the intention of flying Monday. If Sunday afternoon and Monday get scrubbed, that will have been a long drive for no flying. The good news about flying my rocket in wind is that I'm expecting about 70 Gs off the pad, and I have an 8.5' tower. The bad news is that it's a 2-stage rocket that could reach about 24kft. I have GPS tracking in the sustainer and RDF tracking in the first stage. Are the local landowners o.k. with long-distance recoveries?

[quickburst]

If you didn't make it to Airfest this year, you really missed it. So far the weather and the flying has been outstanding. It is so nice to meet the people that have supported QuickBurst for ten long years.

[troj]

Not much flying today, due to uncontrollable factors -- wind!

Still, a very enjoyable day spend having fun with rocketry friends.

In addition, Smemo's Folly, a rocket made of 5 gallon buckets, flew today on a K800. An amazingly straight flight, with a perfect apogee deployment complements of the on-board Parrot. Now, if only it had ejected the parachute, instead of the tube containing the parachute....

Ah, well. 15 minutes in modifications/repairs, and it'll be ready to fly again, next year, at LDRS!

-Kevin

[n5wd]

Ah, well. 15 minutes in modifications/repairs, and it'll be ready to fly again, next year, at LDRS!

Good to hear that you guys are having a good time! That's cool that your club took over for the Kloudbusters guys to play for a while. Perhaps, we'll have enough of a presence from DARS next year to help with that, as well.

by the way, guys....

MORE PICTURES and VIDEOS, please!

[DM1975]

Kevin, I wish I could have been there to see it but I had to come back home. At least with Smemos Folly it is a self contained rocket crash recovery airframe :D

[DM1975]

MORE PICTURES and VIDEOS, please!

I have some videos that I can get edited and posted tomorrow hopefully. I only filmed on Saturday though.

[troj]

Kevin, I wish I could have been there to see it but I had to come back home. At least with Smemos Folly it is a self contained rocket crash recovery airframe

Bucket recovery is nominal!

-Kevin

[G2Rockets]

I hope Kevin doesn't mind, but I would like to use this post, to take the opportunity to thank the Kloudbusters for another fantastic Airfest. The hospitality was great, The burger blast was great, it was alot of fun.

John

[DM1975]

I agree. This was my first AIRFest and I had a wonderful time. Those guys are top notch and have a great field too.

[troj]

AirFest is indeed a very well-run event. The KLOUDBusters have the entire process down, have great equipment, and are blessed with one of the best, if not the best, landowners that our hobby works with.

-Kevin

[troj]

Oh, and for the rocket, I took two cameras with me, and took maybe a total of 15 pictures....

I'll have to rely on others to upload some of theirs.

-Kevin

[DM1975]

Here is just a few launches from Saturday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbPlXkL8MS4

[cjl]

Hey - you caught mine :D

It's the second rocket in the video - the naked fiberglass one flown on the M2075 smoky sam. Is there any way I could get a copy of the original file, at least of my flight?

[DM1975]

Not a problem, just PM me your email address.

[cjl]

Thanks a lot. You've got a PM.

[jaz]

Here is a link from my one and only flight on Saturday.
It was a great time and I cant wait for next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i6mSkgNyiE

[ECayemberg]

David Slack was taking photos the majority of the weekend. His shots are posted here: http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-BrowseAlbum.cfm?album_id=7&user_id=DAVIDSLACK

-Eric-

[G2Rockets]

Can we buy photos directly from David? He has one I would like, but I don't have an account. Plus I want to use it for my Tripoli card and need his permision.

John

[llickteig1]

David Slack was taking photos the majority of the weekend. His shots are posted here: http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-BrowseAlbum.cfm?album_id=7&user_id=DAVIDSLACK
Nadine and Tim Sapp will have galleries up soon as well. I will post a link when available.

--Lance.

[quickburst]

I hope Kevin doesn't mind, but I would like to use this post, to take the opportunity to thank the Kloudbusters for another fantastic Airfest. The hospitality was great, The burger blast was great, it was alot of fun.

John

I agree 100%. Those guys run a hell of a show.

I'll be there next year for LDRS, I reserved the room for next year when I checked out.

[ECayemberg]

Can we buy photos directly from David? He has one I would like, but I don't have an account. Plus I want to use it for my Tripoli card and need his permision.

I spoke with David at the launch. He stated you purchase the rights to the photo through the website. By purchasing the rights to the photo, my understanding is that you may use it as you choose. I just purchased a photo, was able to do so as a guest, without being a member of Shutterpoint.

Regards,

-Eric-

[cjl]

Is there any way to buy less than $10 worth? I'd love to buy the photo of my rocket, but the photo is $4.99 and I don't see any way to buy less than $10 worth.

[bacakjm]

David is a friend of mine. In fact I'm the one that got him interested in taking photos for our local club(AARG) and suggested he come with me to Airfest. If you have any questions just PM them to me and I can let him know. He took a lot of photos during the launch and if you do not see yours right now, he might not have it up yet. When you purchase a photo from the site you are purchasing the rights to the photo and are allowed to use it in any manner you want to. You do not have to sign up but just go in as a guest to purchase photos. I will check up on the 10 dollars min., I'm not sure why it would be that way but I will let him know.

Joshua
VP
AARG
Austin Area Rocketry Group

[jaz]

I couldn't resist. The picture he took of my launch was so good I went ahead and got it and then let my wife pick some pictures for herself. Thanks David!`:clap:

[bacakjm]

I couldn't resist. The picture he took of my launch was so good I went ahead and got it and then let my wife pick some pictures for herself. Thanks David!`:clap:

I will be sure to let him know!:cheers:

[davidslack]

I wanted to thank everyone for their support in purchasing the pictures. Your support and appreciation for the pictures helps greatly in covering the cost to attend and publish the pictures.
Also I completed posting the last of the pictures yesterday that were taken on Sunday.
I enjoyed watching all the flights would like to thank everyone for the show you put on.:clap::clap::clap:

[JimJarvis50]

David is a friend of mine.

David is a good photographer and a fine porter too! Here's his pic of my two-stage flight on Saturday, and also a gps rendition of the flight. (I'd sure like a video of this flight if anyone happened to capture it)

The Kloudbusters did a great job on this launch. Really first class. I'm looking forward to LDRS next year.

Jim

[bacakjm]

Jim, you had a great flight. I'm glad I was there to see it.

Joshua

[troj]

Tim Sapp has posted his photos online. Here (with his permission) is the info he sent out about how to view them....


Tim Sapp Photography has attended many of the Kloudbuster events known as AirFest. It's a great launch and a great group of guys up there.

The last couple years I have gone to AirFest not to just shoot photos but to fly rockets as well. So, I don't have the normal 1,000 photos per day. But, what photos I did take have been loaded into a gallery for review. To see the photos then click on proofing at the top of the page and enter "airfest" in the password field. The password is case sensitive so make sure you don’t use any upper case letters, and as usual, don’t include the quotes. This will take you to a gallery where the photos are posted by the day.

Thanks for viewing the photos.

-Kevin