CANCELLED: DARS high power launch on Saturday, Jan 24 at Gunter.

AlfaBrewer said:

...Me thinks we need to get some flying in soon.

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No doubt.

True, but the stories are good. Undergrad teaching labs were always a bit of a risk. We had one undergrad get the acetone and nitric acid waste containers confused - that one blew up in the middle of the night. Another one was distilling nitric in sulfuric in a Hickman still and thought it would be a good idea to use a boiling stone. Problem was he used a glass bead in a conical vial, the acids superheated, flashed, and blew acid everwhere in the hood. Fortunately it was only a few mL and he didn't get hurt.

We definitely need to go launch some stuff. Today would have been pretty nice for some rocketry.

I might go to the model rocket launch the week before the Gunter launch.......

What's the status of the Frisco field?

The Frisco field was perfectly flyable last month. Still putting up some G motor flights. You can definitely see that the window is closing though, but it may take a little longer than we, or at least I, feared.

Yeah, seems like we got a temporary reprieve.

But there were wooden stakes with bright streamers in several places on the field on January 17. They're gonna pave paradise again. :cry:

Yesterday I had occasion to travel first to McKinney and then to Allen. Since travel on north bound US 75 is a nightmare because of construction, I decided to take the scenic route home so I traveled west to Custer, then north and ultimately to Preston Road. Heading north on Preston I took a right turn at Panther Creek Parkway and on east to the Frisco launch site. Paradise is indeed being paved and Mario Sinacola https://www.mariosinacola.com/ is laughing all the way to the bank. But the field still looks great and with spring rains just around the corner, I expect the pace of construction to slow somewhat. I hope DARS will continue to fly there until such time as Mario's guest workers complain to the authorities. (Hell, they're all wearing hardhats and driving Caterpillar D-9's, so what's the problem?)

After leaving Frisco I headed up Preston through Prosper and points north. Good news! Preston Road/Texas 289 is now complete from US 380 all the way to Farm Road 455 in Celina. All that remains is about four miles north from that point and once you are past that just two more miles to the turnoff at Collin County Road 60. And with Mario Sinacola on the job, they should be finished by March. :clap:

Looks like the launch down in Asa yesterday suffered from a low overcast, so we are not the only ones going without....

I thought it was rescheduled for next weekend because of the rain forecasted?

pyrobob said:

I thought it was rescheduled for next weekend because of the rain forecasted?

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Sure could have been for all I know. I want to go down there one of these days.

You ever take the motor store down there?

Asa is a great place and I would highly recommend it. I've been there several times and the last was about this time last year where I re-certified L1 and L2. It's easy to get to and a great waiver. Marlin the TRA Prefect is really cool as well and attends DARS launches from time to time. When I go to Asa it's really just a leisure endeavor but if you need something then just let me know.