drogue chute types?

Do certain types of chutes work better than others as drogues? I'm working towards a ~35 pound rocket which will pop a drogue out the top of the rocket, to ensure that the rocket descends slowly enough that it's actually hanging vertically from the drogue until the deployment bag containing the main is released from the same compartment. The drogue will pull the bag out, then off the main canopy, then bring the bag and nose (with tracking transmitter) down separately.

This implies the drogue needs to be tough enough to withstand a nominal descent rate of ~50 ft/sec (a number which has been mentioned multiple times here on TRF). So just sticking in a smaller chute like might be used with a small high-power rocket (5-pound range) to serve as a drogue probably is not the best plan.

Therefore, assuming the drogue will be tough enough to do the job, which types of chutes woud make good (or bad) drogues? Some candidates would be:

• TAC chutes
• SkyAngle chutes
• Spherachutes
• Cross-form chutes
• etc. etc.

Any other tips regarding drogues will be welcome.

I use only two types:

1. Top Flight Ultra X-Form
2. Skyangle

I know there are other especially made for drouge applications, but the above are very sturdy and work well (and tend to be cheaper than special drouge chutes). A bit of apples & oranges comparison: I like the Top Flight Ultra X because it tends to swing a bit less in the wind on descent and I like the Skyangle because I can cinch it down and adjust the descent rate a bit.

dixontj93060 said:

I use only two types:

1. Top Flight Ultra X-Form
2. Skyangle

I know there are other especially made for drouge applications, but the above are very sturdy and work well (and tend to be cheaper than special drouge chutes). A bit of apples & oranges comparison: I like the Top Flight Ultra X because it tends to swing a bit less in the wind on descent and I like the Skyangle because I can cinch it down and adjust the descent rate a bit.

Click to expand...

Okay, I'll have to check out Top Flight, I didn't know about that one.

On an unrelated note, dixontj, it took me a few seconds to figure out that little string of characters under your name. It reminds me of a rocket flight I saw at Southern Thunder 2006. It was on a Sparky motor, and the thrust phase looked like this (with head turned sideways)...

<===<<~~~~~~~~~~~~ . . . . . . . . . . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~---+<|

The motor appeared to flame out after about 1 sec of thrust, then a second or so later it reignited. Never seen anything like it.

dixontj93060 said:

I use only two types:

1. Top Flight Ultra X-Form
2. Skyangle

I know there are other especially made for drouge applications, but the above are very sturdy and work well (and tend to be cheaper than special drouge chutes). A bit of apples & oranges comparison: I like the Top Flight Ultra X because it tends to swing a bit less in the wind on descent and I like the Skyangle because I can cinch it down and adjust the descent rate a bit.

Click to expand...

Tom, I used a 60" Topflight Ultra X form drogue on my L3 cert. worked great. the rocket decended straight and at safe rate. Just about at what your looking for.

Cliff

tazzdevl1 said:

Tom, I used a 60" Topflight Ultra X form drogue on my L3 cert. worked great. the rocket decended straight and at safe rate. Just about at what your looking for.

Cliff

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How much did your rocket weigh, Cliff?

SkyAngle makes a specific Drogue parachute that uses 5/8" Tubular Nylon V the 3/8" TN used on the classic 1 & 2 series. It has the 1,500lb rated swivel and no reef device like the regular SkyAngles. LOC/Precision has then in stock.
https://shop.rocketsbymelissa.com/product.sc?categoryId=29&productId=238

TWRackers said:

How much did your rocket weigh, Cliff?

Click to expand...

About 45 lbs on the pad.