Who Used Chute Release for L1, L2, or L3?

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When I did my L1 last August something similar happened to me where the parachute got tangled, but the rocket happened to survive. The guy evaluating told me it didn't count so I had to redo it the next month and thankfully it went fine. Was he wrong with the ruling that is was unsuccessful?
 
When I did my L1 last August something similar happened to me where the parachute got tangled, but the rocket happened to survive. The guy evaluating told me it didn't count so I had to redo it the next month and thankfully it went fine. Was he wrong with the ruling that is was unsuccessful?

I have seen an L1 attempt denied because the rocket came down very fast and was fortunate to survive damage. The witness decided that the failure would have resulted in an unsafe flight in many cases. In that case, the flier was able to re-fly successfully the next day. None of this involved the JLCR, just a standard parachute tangle.
 
When I did my L1 last August something similar happened to me where the parachute got tangled, but the rocket happened to survive. The guy evaluating told me it didn't count so I had to redo it the next month and thankfully it went fine. Was he wrong with the ruling that is was unsuccessful?

No, he was correct to do that. The requirement is that the recovery system deploy and the rocket descend at a safe speed. Both must be true, so a failure to deploy accompanied be a slow flat spin would also fail.
 
We had someone attempting his L2 where the chute deployed but did not fully open. The rocket had been fiber glassed and didn't get a scratch on it. He was granted his L2 certification. He wasn't happy with the result and flew it again. This time it was a perfect flight all around.
 
Planning to use my JLCR for my L2 attempt this coming weekend.

Have at least 10 flights on this rocket using the Chute Release on full house I motors so the baby J is right in the same ballpark in terms of thrust and apogee.

Don’t wish me luck...wish me success instead...as club member Ari K was known to say.

Speaking of Ari, many rocketeers don’t know that he is quite skilled at building extremely detailed model aircraft...in bottles.
 
I've heard of a message in a bottle, a ship in a bottle but never an aircraft in a bottle. I'll have to Google that.
 
When I did my L1 last August something similar happened to me where the parachute got tangled, but the rocket happened to survive. The guy evaluating told me it didn't count so I had to redo it the next month and thankfully it went fine. Was he wrong with the ruling that is was unsuccessful?

No. Kurt
 
We had someone attempting his L2 where the chute deployed but did not fully open. The rocket had been fiber glassed and didn't get a scratch on it. He was granted his L2 certification. He wasn't happy with the result and flew it again. This time it was a perfect flight all around.

It depends on that one. If a couple of lines were tangled in the chute and it more or less came down at a safe descent rate partially opened , I could see giving it out. A full streamering parachute should be a no-go. In this case the flyer had a better sense of Honor than the certifying agents.

I don't have an issue with burn holes and parachutes when the rocket comes down at a safe rate with the open parachute deployed. Of course the rocket needs to survive and meet the requirements for an immediate second flight option and be structurally sound. Any frank streamering should be a do-over regardless.

I had an MPR rocket, a rising star payloader, that had a stiff plastic parachute. I launched it on an F motor and at apogee deployment the parachute came out, the rocket was suspended underneath and the Chute canopy and lines were straight up and down above the rocket and still pulled taut. Darnedest thing. The parachute did not appear to be fluttering. streamering or spiraling around. The parachute lines and the canopy was straight up and down with the rocket and harness hanging underneath. It was coming down rather fast and as it came through 500 ft roughly, the lower skirt started quivering and gently the canopy filled open completely.
That was really strange and just meant I didn't have to make a very long walk to pick the rocket up.
It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. I did not use a reefing ring on the parachute. I believe it had something to do with the cold temperatures that day. Kurt
 
Used my newest JLCR today for my L2.
18” drogue attached to nose cone and a 48” main enclosed in a Fruity Chutes Chute Slipper in the usual 2/3 location on the shock cord. The JLCR held the Chute Slipper closed until it didn’t. Rubber band was apparently too loose. No harm done, just a slower descent and a longer retieval hike.

Polecat Aerospace Goblin 5.5 on an Aerotech J420R to 2089’.
Rocket has a nose cone av bay with a Missileworks RRC2+ alt and set up for DD using Cable Cutter but went with JLCR today...just because.
 
I flew my Junior L1 today on a CTI H90 classic with a JLCR and Eggfinder onboard. Flawless flight to 3500-4000' ish- my altimeter battery died and I couldn't get much out of the Eggfinder, so no exact numbers.

Here's the video- you can't see much, but it's something...
[video=youtube;Kk-dgoaMYLc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk-dgoaMYLc[/video]
 
I flew my Junior L1 today on a CTI H90 classic with a JLCR and Eggfinder onboard. Flawless flight to 3500-4000' ish- my altimeter battery died and I couldn't get much out of the Eggfinder, so no exact numbers.

Congratulations and so glad you didn't need the tracker. (You really will someday!) What kind of battery did you use with the Eggfinder? And again nice deal on the Junior L1. Best regards, Kurt Savegnago:grin::marshmallow::w::cool2:
 
Thanks!

I didn't have any issues with the tracker itself- all the issues were on the GSE side. I lost Bluetooth a couple times, the altitude readout never worked properly, and I couldn't get Rocket Locator to work, so I got an unhelpful map of an empty cornfield with no indication of where I was...

Sent from my LGL44VL using Tapatalk
 
Used the CR for my L1 on the weekend.

No descent video (I was enjoying the flight) but I could not imagine the walk for a main at 3100 ft apogee if I haven’t used the JLCR...


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Used the CR for my L1 on the weekend.

No descent video (I was enjoying the flight) but I could not imagine the walk for a main at 3100 ft apogee if I haven’t used the JLCR...


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Congrats! Sadly the time zones are the wrong direction for us to have been flying at a similar time... My flight was about 2am Monday for you.
 
I try to congratulate folks when they get an L-cert and mention it on Facebook or the forum, but now that Chute Release isn't such a new thing anymore sometimes it's hard to tell if it was used in the flight.

If you used Chute Release in your cert flight, could you please holler out your details?
Rocket (with diameter and weight, if you know them)​
Motor​
Altitude (if you know it)​
And of course L1, L2, or L3​

I was prompted to do this when I heard someone L3'd with redundant Chute Releases at LDRS, which may have been a first.

Hey John,

I LOVE the JLCR. It’s super cool.

I got both my L1 and L2 using it. I was using motor deploy on my L1 (I500) and then modified the rocket to use a few altimeters to control separation for my L2.

Quick and dirty details:
Scratch built 5.5’ x 3” fiberglass rocket.
3300grams
Single deploy controlled by 1) eggfinder TRS (also tracking) and backup StratologgerCF.
Rocket has a RunCam2 onboard.
JLCR set to 500’
Motor was ATJ570

The L2 attempt was successful to 5901’. At the end of the video you can tell when it releases and slows decent to ~20f/s. Although certified, it almost took out the Hutto power grid!

This rocket is now full dual deploy but I still use my JLCR very often in a number of my other rockets. It’s a wonderful device! Well done JB. Looking forward to your next contribution!

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


IMG_2617.jpg


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Last edited:
Hey John,

I LOVE the JLCR. It’s super cool.

I got both my L1 and L2 using it. I was using motor deploy on my L1 (I500) and then modified the rocket to use a few altimeters to control separation for my L2.

Quick and dirty details:
Scratch built 5.5’ x 3” fiberglass rocket.
3300grams
Single deploy controlled by 1) eggfinder TRS (also tracking) and backup StratologgerCF.
Rocket has a RunCam2 onboard.
JLCR set to 500’
Motor was ATJ570

The L2 attempt was successful to 5901’. At the end of the video you can tell when it releases and slows decent to ~20f/s. Although certified, it almost took out the Hutto power grid!

This rocket is now full dual deploy but I still use my JLCR very often in a number of my other rockets. It’s a wonderful device! Well done JB. Looking forward to your next contribution!

https://youtu.be/eJFwPVKdiGE

View attachment 341519


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Nice camera work and DashWare editing.
 
Hey John,

I LOVE the JLCR. It’s super cool.

I got both my L1 and L2 using it. I was using motor deploy on my L1 (I500) and then modified the rocket to use a few altimeters to control separation for my L2.

Quick and dirty details:
Scratch built 5.5’ x 3” fiberglass rocket.
3300grams
Single deploy controlled by 1) eggfinder TRS (also tracking) and backup StratologgerCF.
Rocket has a RunCam2 onboard.
JLCR set to 500’
Motor was ATJ570

The L2 attempt was successful to 5901’. At the end of the video you can tell when it releases and slows decent to ~20f/s. Although certified, it almost took out the Hutto power grid!

This rocket is now full dual deploy but I still use my JLCR very often in a number of my other rockets. It’s a wonderful device! Well done JB. Looking forward to your next contribution!

https://youtu.be/eJFwPVKdiGE

View attachment 341519


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum
Man talk about threading the needle with those power lines...nice video.
 
Hey John,

I LOVE the JLCR. It’s super cool.

I got both my L1 and L2 using it. I was using motor deploy on my L1 (I500) and then modified the rocket to use a few altimeters to control separation for my L2.

The L2 attempt was successful to 5901’. At the end of the video you can tell when it releases and slows decent to ~20f/s. Although certified, it almost took out the Hutto power grid!

This rocket is now full dual deploy but I still use my JLCR very often in a number of my other rockets. It’s a wonderful device! Well done JB. Looking forward to your next contribution!

Very cool. Great rocket, and really nice video work, too. Well done.
 
Your post got me researching the RunCam2. I like it. Can you elaborate on how and where you mounted it in the rocket? Also, did you use a drogue chute or drogueless?

No problem at all. I keep all my rocket projects at my office so I’ll shoot a few photos for you and post them back here tomorrow.

As for the second question, on that video I used electronics to control separation but it was a single event at apogee. At that point it was just the 4’ chute wrapped up with the JLCR but it kind of acts as a streamer. No drogue.

Now the rocket does use a drogue at apogee and has a second event for main.


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Your post got me researching the RunCam2. I like it. Can you elaborate on how and where you mounted it in the rocket? Also, did you use a drogue chute or drogueless?

Here are some photos of the rocket I'm working on now. Its almost exactly the same design as the one from the video (I guess that ebay is at home after all). The runcam2 has worked out pretty good for me. No complaints. Let me know if you have any questions.

IMG_3498.JPG
IMG_3497.JPG

IMG_3501.JPG
IMG_3500.JPG
IMG_3499.JPG
 
Here are some photos of the rocket I'm working on now. Its almost exactly the same design as the one from the video (I guess that ebay is at home after all). The runcam2 has worked out pretty good for me. No complaints. Let me know if you have any questions.

Really nice design and workmanship!
 
I didn't know that you could separate the lens and use an extension. I was thinking of putting this cam in a ICU2 payload bay angled downward on a Ceres Booster from the book "Make: Rockets" by Mike Westerfield. Using the lens extension will make it much simpler to mount in the transition.

Sent via the Rocketry Forum mobile app. 🚀
 
I used a chute release for my successful L1 today. It was on a Mini Magg which only goes about a thousand feet on an H but I was glad to have it - the wind picked up just before my launch and I have a bad knee so I'm really trying to keep the cross country hiking under control. I've only used it a couple of times before this but I really like it - especially for mid power - some of those rockets really go pretty high and there's just not a lot of options like traditional dual deploy available in that size range.
 
I used a JLCR today on a 125 ounce rocket burning a Cesaroni J316 Pink motor. The 48" chute popped out at about 800 feet just as it was set to do.

I also recovered a small fiberglass rocket that had spent a month lost out in the field. It will be interesting to see if the JCLR that was attached to it will boot up after being charged considering the rainfall it endured. The fluorescent pink paint of the rocket is now a faded orange.
 
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