Michiana Three Oaks Launch April 9th - 10th

rockdoc said:

That be me, passing out the LPR to the kids, want the kids to have some fun too.

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Thanks again, those rockets will get a bunch more flights from my kids!

cheers - mark

Great photos so far!!!

A few teasers from my camera:















More to come asap....

-Eric-

ECayemberg said:

Great photos so far!!!

A few teasers from my camera:

More to come asap....

-Eric-

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Great shots Eric! And you got mine as well! I think I have a new profile pic...

markg said:

View attachment 288483

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It is not every day you see a falconer at a rocket launch. I assume that is an American Kestrel? Awesome!

Buckeye said:

It is not every day you see a falconer at a rocket launch. I assume that is an American Kestrel? Awesome!

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That's Brian. I've known him for years. He had a L3 at one time but no longer flies rockets due to a medical condition. I remember seeing him get his L3 at LDRS 27 in Argonia. Really neat guy and next time you're at a launch make some time to talk to him if you haven't done so already.

I saw that same bird a few months ago when Brian came to a launch and what I remember is how intense that birds stare seemed to be.

-Dave

noffie79 said:

Great shots Eric! And you got mine as well! I think I have a new profile pic...

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Thanks Ryan! More to come... got a few of both the ascent and descent of your L2 flight. Congrats; great job, great to see you!

That's great. Can't wait to see them along with all the other shots you got. Thanks again and it was great to see you guys again as well!

A big thank you to Gary, John, Paige, Andy, Brian, Tom, Chelsea and all the others that made a great Midwest Blast I!!!! Thanks guys and gals; you rock!!!!

The camera was out when convenient...I took several photos but missed a whole bunch of really great flights. Here's a look into the ones I took!

The weekend started for us with son Cody and his Leviathan on a CTI G106 Skid. Little motor made that bird scoot!


Ryan "Noffie" had a nice Madcow PAC-3 for his L2 attempt. Nailed it on something like a CTI J285 Classic. Well done, sir!






Tom C flew his Rainbow Eclipse on a Sconnie L530 Sparky. Took the thing to 9500' on a tower of sparks.





Brandon finished up his Loc Viper III minutes before leaving for Midwest Blast....took it's maiden voyage on three Estes E9's.



A husband and wife rocketry team drag raced PML Bumble Bee's on I180 Skids (I think) for a perfect drag race. One utilized apogee ejection of main chute while the other tethered the main for a burrito dual deploy!



Tom flew his newly refinished 4" Patriot on the trusty Aerotech I211W for a solid flight!



A transition rocket rips a hole in the sky with White Lightning propellant! A J570W if my memory is correct!



A 4" rocket with prismatic fins leaps off the D pads with a CTI L820 Skid. Ground fire ensues! Thanks to all those who melted their shoes/pants with me to extinguish the stubble.



Da Bruiser leaves the pad on an AMW M1850 Green Gorilla. Took two tries to light, but flew well once it left. 6350' apogee, landed within 200' of where it landed in December.





A beautiful 4" PML Amraam rides atop White Lightning...maybe a J350 or I284. Nicely done!



...and thus ends the collection of photos from Saturday. Sunday photos up next...

Here's 20 from Sunday. Another perfect day for flying. 83 degrees for the second day in a row...darn near melted us Wisconsinites!

My boys started their day off with a B6-2 drag race: Estes Sizzler vs. Estes Helios. One went faster/higher, the other landed closest to the pad...both winners! 5 and 7 year old boys prepped the rockets...proud Daddy moment!



Tom C flew "Sherman"...a tank of a Minie Magg on a Loki I405LW. Coughed big time near burnout, I actually thought the motor snuffed itself out and that we were heading for a ballistic recovery, but motor ejection functioned as planned, and Sherman landed softly in the soupy mud puddle behind the pads.



I flew a Rocket R&D Brutus EXT on a Sconnie I240 Sparky:



A cool looking rocket vaulted skyward courtesy of a CTI K780 Blue Streak!



Tom M and I both debuted Blue Angel schemed rockets at Midwest Blast 1! His looked way better than mine!!!

Tom's version on an Aerotech K1275 Redline. Got stuck in a tree but retrieved successfully!



Ironically, a Thoy Falcon makes its first flight on a Vulcan J250 Low Smoke in 2016. Also a bit odd, this motor cato'ed in Bob's Laser Loc 2.1 in December....this time the slightly reconfigured Vulcan single use performs as intended and takes the Falcon to 5590'



Jay C. puts up a Loc 4-29SS on a pair of G76 Mojave Green's. One lights first, then the other, but she comes in hot. Jay, you plug those two unused tubes?



Several Punishers were on hand...this is quickly becoming a very popular little hot rod! Here, Dan's leaves on a Loki J528LW breaking a mile for the first time!



The elder and younger clan with two classic Loc ships: Magnum and Top Gunn:



Magnum on a Kosdon K600 Fast. More "go" than "show", always loud and brutal. Love love love Kosdon Fast!



Tom's Top Gun on an Aerotech K550W...a very classic combo. I was astounded at how much altitude this big bird got on a lowly 4 grain K motor...this rocket weighs the same as most 3" dual deploy glass rockets though. Performed way beyond my personal expectations!





Back out on the D pads, the Skylab Saturn blasts off quickly on an Aerotech J800 Blue Thunder. Nice flight and exciting ejection charges...apparently in line with my "blow it out or blow it up" motto!



CTI Smoky Sam in really cool finished 4" bird. Nice!



Burnin' from the wrong end!



Tom M's other rocket utilizing the fly-away launch guides. Absolutely stellar launch! Unfortunately landed atop a tree along US-12, but I'm sure hoping it finds its way home in the short term!



Young Mr. O exhibits a toad along with his friend in the creek!



Dan (I know you're watching) saw mention that there'd be a few M's flying at the launch, so came out with his son on Saturday to enjoy the great flying weather and fly some rockets of course! They enjoyed themselves so much on Saturday that they came back on Sunday. Here, Dan flies his sweet Binder Design Lightning Bolt on one of his sugar motors! By the way, loved the sparky sugar motor on Saturday!



I was fortunate enough to TAP a L3 flight at Midwest Blast 1...thanks to Brian Z for the opportunity! Brian does A LOT for Michiana Rocketry, provided recovery support, help at the field, food, drink, and shelter, etc. It was an absolute pleasure to witness Brian's flight!!! So, M1297W in a superbly finished Madcow 5.5" glass Pike. Nice plume of white smoke and bright light from the White Lightning fire! Successful L3 Cert and Recovery with only minimal dramas.





We had to load up and hit the road for the long-ish ride home around 3...we pulled out as Randy M. launched his ginormo Big Bertha on a Loki L780 Spitfire...it was a stellar flight and Randy's first flight since having knee replacement(s)....great flight and great to see you back on the range! Alas, no photo as we were all loaded up. Wanted to stay for John's Ultimate Wild Thang on the AT M2500T, but again, had to go! It was a fantastic weekend and dare I say "perfect" flying weather!!! Thanks Michiana crew for all you do...had a blast and look forward to returning in the future!

-Eric-

Nice pictures Mr Eric. As always glad to see your clan and talk vintage (yes I am) rockets.

Wow nice picture of my lightning bolt and that's my 3" punisher too! It was a Loki j-528 in the punisher put it up to 5748ft . My highest flight yet.

We had a blast at Midwest blast! Thanks to michiana and everyone else who helped . We met a lot of nice people and saw some awesome rockets .this was our first trip down to three oaks and won't be our last. My son took close to 100 videos on his iPad and wants to make a movie I will post a link when he finishes it.

Fantastic pictures Eric. Bravo!

For some reason I thought the Top Gun was a cluster, no?

dixontj93060 said:

For some reason I thought the Top Gun was a cluster, no?

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Yes, 7 * 54mm mounts. My Dad prefers low n' slow, this was his flight and thus his style....he fabricated a plate that plugged all but the core for this flight. I'd have filled 'em up:wink:. It was a really nice flight; I was honestly floored at how high this thing went on a single K motor! It was funny watching it descend in the calm breeze, too. Maybe 500' up or so, the warm temps, hot sun beating on the dark dirt must've created rising thermals, as the beast stayed still (or even ascended slightly maybe) for a while under (only) a 70" chute....amusing! MWP will likely see a drag race of old school light weight Top Guns on 4G White motors...and maybe a stout new Top Gun loaded with 1 core motor and 3 separate air starts!

All that said, he took top altitude honors for our group this weekend, beating my top altitude by 3200'!

-Eric-

ECayemberg said:

Yes, 7 * 54mm mounts. My Dad prefers low n' slow, this was his flight and thus his style....he fabricated a plate that plugged all but the core for this flight. I'd have filled 'em up:wink:. It was a really nice flight; I was honestly floored at how high this thing went on a single K motor! It was funny watching it descend in the calm breeze, too. Maybe 500' up or so, the warm temps, hot sun beating on the dark dirt must've created rising thermals, as the beast stayed still (or even ascended slightly maybe) for a while under (only) a 70" chute....amusing! MWP will likely see a drag race of old school light weight Top Guns on 4G White motors...and maybe a stout new Top Gun loaded with 1 core motor and 3 separate air starts!

All that said, he took top altitude honors for our group this weekend, beating my top altitude by 3200'!

-Eric-

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OK, I get it.

I'm planning on having a fleet of "Cardboard Classics" at MWP this year (LOC and other).

I may sneek to MWP as a flyer (as they like only one vendor) maybe the Brutus will be flying.

Just putting up a few photos of behinds the scenes at MIDWESTBLAST1:


DA PIG ROAST, Best food ever at a rocket launch


Michiana Rocketry new digital wireless Wilson FX control panel was on site ready for business (what a beauty, thanks Brad and Dan)


Flyers cars lined up all the way to main road at 9 am


As soon as the waiver opened at 10 am enthusiastic flyers were underway


A look at Vendor Road, Thanks again to Red Arrow hobby, Impulse Buy's, and Countyline Hobbies for providing much needed rocket vendor support at MIDWESTBLAST1.

Thanks for all that came out, and especially thanks for all the volunteers. My email has been burning up with all the nice comments from attendees. Hopefully we will do this again next year, get ready for MIDWESTBLAST2.

Cool pics Eric! Looks like a good time was had by all.

[video=youtube;huscs_ODY3o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huscs_ODY3o[/video]

Good show, mate! Thanks for the excellent videography!!! (and for not showing numerous misfires with Green Gorilla propellant!)

Awesome video Justin! I'm so happy that my cert flight was successful and so many great people were there to get pictures and video for me. My dad made a comment when we left that he's so impressed with just how nice everyone is and likes how so many people are helpful and happy to see others succeed when their flights go well. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Great Video Justin! Not sure how you had time to fly, video and retrieve rockets from Trees!

Nick@JET said:

Great Video Justin! Not sure how you had time to fly, video and retrieve rockets from Trees!

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Glad you all enjoy the videos.

I took the time to fly on Saturday, but Eric and I waited until later in the day Saturday to begin the tree recovery process. Eric was kind enough to offer a hand and wanted to head out before he flew the Bruiser, which I really didn't want to do. The weather was too nice to NOT fly, and I was very confident the rocket wasn't going anywhere. Besides, we knew exactly where it was!

awesome video! im not sure if you have sound filters but it seems the sound shows how calm the winds were. i havent been to three oaks since the mid/late 90's and there was always a good breeze blowing which came through my videos.

oops, i forgot to mention:
AWESOME pictures,too! love the sparky drag race!
and kids with frogs!

tomsteve said:

...im not sure if you have sound filters but it seems the sound shows how calm the winds were...

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The camera I use does have a wind mic muff, but that really begins to work in 10+ MPH winds. You are not hearing any wind in the videos as there were none!

rfjustin said:

[video=youtube;huscs_ODY3o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huscs_ODY3o[/video]

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Good video. I am surprised to see the 1010 rails whipping around so much??

Buckeye said:

Good video. I am surprised to see the 1010 rails whipping around so much??

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I may be wrong but D2 pad is a 1515 rail.

I mean the videos on the B and C rails. They are moving more than I would expect.

Buckeye said:

Good video. I am surprised to see the 1010 rails whipping around so much??

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The D1 pad is a really long 1010 at 12' I think. When you have a 1" rail that long with a rocket that big they will always wiggle some. The D2 pad is VERY stout and that's a 1515 and same thing...long rail, big rocket, some wiggle. I didn't really see anything in a true full on whip. Where in the video time wise do you see a whip?

-Dave