The year hasn't exactly gone to plan, but it's not over yet!
1) Get my L2 (with any luck that will be checked-off this weekend)
I tried for my L2 at 2 launches this spring, first time I missed one too many questions on the test (my bad for not refreshing myself on the memorization questions first, was too busy finishing the L2 rocket), the second time the motor eject failed and my L2 rocket was destroyed. Meanwhile my Dad leap-frogged me and got his L2 at XPRS last weekend, but not after an AT J250W DMS motor CATO almost destroyed his rocket on the pad on his first attempt, we managed to re-build the rocket and fly it successfully the next day on a replacement motor (he only attends this one launch each year so it was his only chance, I knew I still had more chances this year so I focused on conservative first-flights last weekend). I do plan to try for my L2 again at October Skies in 3 weeks now that I've successfully flown my re-built L2 rocket, this time with a CTI motor.
2) Do a successful DD flight (0-for-1 so far, likely won't do DD on my L2 attempt since I'm having e-match troubles)
I'll call this one done, all 3 of my flights last weekend were DD (no motor eject on any one, I'm through with that after all the motor-eject-related failures I had earlier this year) and all 8 charges (one was redundant DD) went off exactly as planned. The actual chute deployments didn't always happen due to the charge firing, and I had some chute tangles and a melted chute, but those could have happened regardless of DD, I clearly need to improve the consistency of my technique there. But I finally found e-matches I can trust, though I'm half-way through that batch between these flights and ground testing now, so I have to start building up trust in the other batch I've received since.
3) Do a cable-cutter style DD flight (for a rocket that doesn't have space for more traditional DD)
I don't even have a rocket for this right now (it was destroyed by an early AT EZ motor eject in April), and all of my ground-testing with a hot-wire cable cutter have been unsuccessful, so I've basically removed this item from my to-do list for the near future. I'm planning to re-build the rocket I lost in April, and I'll try to go back to a "proper" 2-charge DD when I do so (it helps having more trust in DD and charges now, the original thinking here was to just do motor eject for the drogue and a cable-cutter for the main, but as motor eject is no longer an option for me that makes the cable-cutter less appealing as well. All that said, John Beans' new Chute Release thing looks quite interesting and I'll likely consider that over a hot-wire cutter, I may do altimeter drogue deployment as well as his Chute Release for a single-separation deployment strategy, maybe even for my night-launch rocket.
4) >1 mile (5195' max right now, on whichever rocket I've successfully done DD on first)
Haven't made any progress on this one yet (max altitude is unchanged), but one of the two rockets I flew for the first time last weekend will be difficult to keep under a mile with any I+ motor, so I suspect this will still happen at my next launch, and once I have my L2 even 2 miles should be pretty easy with this rocket.
5) First night launch (just published my build thread for that rocket this morning)
Having lost all of the rockets in my fleet in March/April and then breaking my wrist in June means I haven't even started building this rocket yet, I missed XPRS's night launches and there's basically no way I'll have this ready to fly by October Skies which is my last night launch opportunity this year. So this will probably turn into a fall project and I'll shoot for Dairy Aire 2016. Effectively the new goal is to have my fleet up to 4 by the end of this year, including starting/finishing this rocket and rebuilding the rocket I lost in April (the one I lost in March was re-built and flown successfully last weekend).
6) Better shots of launches (picking up an Olympus SP-100 today, and waiting for this year's Sony action camera to come out for higher frame rate pad video)
This one is a definite check, I've loved the SP-100 and have gotten some excellent hand-held video with it, and the Sony FDR-X1000V has been a great pad cam. Unfortunately for XPRS last weekend I managed to leave the SP-100 (and a whole crate of stuff I had planned to bring) at home
, and for 5 launches with the FDR-X1000V at the pad once I forgot to start it and once I had left the SD Card in my computer back at camp, so I only got 3 of the 5 launches but one of the ones I did capture was the J250W CATO which was interesting to watch, and the successful L2 launch which included a very hesitant ignition of the second J250W motor just for extra suspense.
And if I manage to take care of those, I'll probably try my first FG kit later this year, to start thinking about > mach 1, higher altitudes and perhaps my L3 more like 2016!
So the order hasn't exactly been maintained, after losing all of my rockets March/April and thanks to a Rocketry Warehouse Happy Hump Day sale I wound up with a FG kit much sooner than I expected, and it flew for the first time last weekend. I'm still a bit leery on the > mach 1 part, but higher altitudes is definitely something I'll be doing with this rocket now that it's in my fleet.
