Then I prepped the Sky Hook for flight and got it on a rail.
There were multiple delays due to problems with event launch electronics, and repeated openings and closings of high altitude launch windows not coinciding well with times when the right side was hot to fly.
As a result, Sky Hook was on the rail waiting to fly for four hours.
The onboard camera battery died despite me turning it off when I could.
I replaced the battery in the pad camera and deleted some clips from its memory, but that camera struggled with the extended delays as well.
Finally, one minute before the final closing of the high altitude window, Sky Hook was launched.
It shot into the sky pulling 60G's accelerating at the rate of 1000+mph per second.
The speed was explosive and the flight path was arrow straight.
First two pictures were at 0.3 second, about 80ft off the pad and already 370mph.
Second is a closeup, showing 6ft of intense flame, close to 400lbs of thrust.
Rocket is 4ft long, 54mm minimum diameter, 7lbs at liftoff.
Third pic is video screen grab, which shows change in smoke pattern as the rocket passes through mach at
0.6 seconds into flight, 330ft up and accelerating past 760mph.
There was a very pronounced boom as the rocket blasted through mach.
Fourth pic is at 1.3 seconds, at about 1500ft and about to hit mach 2, over 1500mph.
Last pic is a RockSim chart of predicted altitude, speed and acceleration.
Unfortunately, the rocket was not seen again after liftoff.
There was a tracker on board.
The rocket was supposed to fly to about 13,500ft and separate for a drogueless recovery, deploying a 3ft main at 700ft.
It turns out someone else at the field was using a tracker with the same frequency, so that wasted the first two hours of searching, until that was turned off.
Then I walked for another couple hours, until it got dark, chasing faint tracking signals that never became strong.
Flew the Turbine Rocket Saucer at the night launch on 6x D11-P engines.
Then came back on Saturday and walked the field for another three hours in the rain.
Walked back and forth through chest deep grass in a wet gully where the signal mysteriously seemed to lead to and then die.
Thanks to Howard G. for helping in the attempted recovery.
Last pic shows the K1440 54mm 6grain motor next to the rocket, half the length of the rocket and 60% of liftoff weight.