BattlePark Valentine launch is ON! Sunday is CANCELLED

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Handeman

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Tripoli Central Virginia #25 has a launch scheduled this weekend at the BattlePark near Culpeper VA.

Keep an eye on the web site. The weather forecast is not good and it looks like Sunday might be a wash already. Saturday is iffy. We will make a decision by early Friday afternoon, if not before, and the result will be posted at https://battlepark.org as soon as possible.
 
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High 31 degrees, 15-25 MPH wind, or thereabouts... actually didn't we do one of those last year? Precip. following week also.
 
Saturday is Valentine Day which is a killer for me. I'm showing 21-22 for a high on Sunday with NW winds over 20. That's a wind chill in the lower single digits. Brrrrr!

I might just run down to the NOVAAR Launch on Saturday at "The Plains" to pick up a few K motors from Ken. Gotta start collecting motors for BOR and Red Glare.
 
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Haven't had much luck with the weather this year! I couldn't make it to the Dec launch (sounds like I missed a good one, too) - I hope we catch a break soon!
 
Due to weather conditions, the Saturday launch will start an hour early, at 9 AM. We expect weather conditions to deteriorate as the day goes on. We will launch as long as the weather allows. Winds are expected to increase throughout the day and snow is possible in the afternoon so expect a lowering cloud deck.

Wind forecasts for Sunday are all above the 20 mph Safety Code limit. Add to that expected wind chills below zero, the launch on Sunday has been cancelled.

The high temp Saturday is predicted at 44 deg. Morning winds will be 9 mph and rising throughout the day. Fly early!

Here's the Aviation forecast for Culpeper
 
Due to weather conditions, the Saturday launch will start an hour early, at 9 AM. We expect weather conditions to deteriorate as the day goes on. We will launch as long as the weather allows. Winds are expected to increase throughout the day and snow is possible in the afternoon so expect a lowering cloud deck.

Wind forecasts for Sunday are all above the 20 mph Safety Code limit. Add to that expected wind chills below zero, the launch on Sunday has been cancelled.

The high temp Saturday is predicted at 44 deg. Morning winds will be 9 mph and rising throughout the day. Fly early!

Here's the Aviation forecast for Culpeper

On the up side...looks like a great weekend for Kite flying!
 
FYI - Terminal forecast for the area is looking like 5000 foot ceilings tomorrow.
 
Well I've got an F44 loaded up in my Wildman V2 Sport and an E20 in my 3D printed rocket… both should stay around 1000' or so with small chutes hopefully the weather is good enough for at least those flights! Was going to test out my GPS tracker again to see if I could finally get it to work, but I'm out of good 9v batteries. Have to stop in the morning to pick some up and hope for the best...
 
I think there were 5 flights total, plus a static burn and some ground testing. Both of my flights landed close enough to the pads, but after 10am the wind started picking up and we shut the range down at 11.
 
I think there were 5 flights total, plus a static burn and some ground testing. Both of my flights landed close enough to the pads, but after 10am the wind started picking up and we shut the range down at 11.

That's a shame. I took a ride down to the NOVAAR launch in The Plains. There was a pretty good crowd there. Mostly kids but it was a tough day for TARC testing for them. Anyway Ken Allen was there and he quickly pulled out the K454 Skid and K500 Red I asked him to grab for me a few days earlier. They are safely stored and are awaiting better weather. For now, grab the snow shovels for tomorrow and expect even colder weather later in the week!!
 
I talked to Mitch today, he was at NOVAAR all day Saturday. He said it went pretty well since the wind was blowing down the long length of the field. A lot of people walked a long way, but they did get their rockets back.

I was at Ben's house, Mitch stopped by and we ground tested my L3. We also mixed up 6Kg of Tigertail. Mitch has the photographic proof we were ground testing out in the snow!
 
I made two flights on Saturday before we closed up shop. I put my 17 pound rocket "Redbird" up on an experimental K400 Red. The takeoff was nice and slow, with apogee at 4,022 ft. You can see the ground and onboard video here:

[video=youtube;koXWEQXMMGI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koXWEQXMMGI&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Sparky
 
That was a very cool flight. I remember thinking that I could still follow it without my prescription sunglasses so it probably wasn't too high. How far away did it land? I didn't keep track of the whole flight but I remember you coming back with it.
 
Less than 1/2 mile away, just over the first hill when walking down the dirt road. That's about right for a flight to 4,000ft and little wind. If the weather cooperates next month, I'll put my Level 3 project up on a full "L" motor to about 7,000ft.
 
Less than 1/2 mile away, just over the first hill when walking down the dirt road. That's about right for a flight to 4,000ft and little wind. If the weather cooperates next month, I'll put my Level 3 project up on a full "L" motor to about 7,000ft.

Not sure about the Mar 15/16 launch but I intend to get my L3 cert flying the 27-29 weekend. Hope the wind isn't too bad then. I'm thinking 6,000 to 7,000 ft for that one.
 
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