NSL 2017 in Alamagordo, NM on May 27-29, 2017

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make sense. I thought NM would have higher waivers?? Less people live there. More wide open.

It all depends on what else is around. My home club in Utah has a 10,000' waiver, and for our summer bash (Hellfire) we have call-in windows to 25,000'. The issue that we have is the military "owns" most of the airspace in Utah. The 25,000' waiver is on the salt flats, where we are using the 5 mile wide corridor that commercial airlines also use.

The combination of finding land you can use and airspace that you can use is a lot more challenging than you would think.

I'm also excited for a 12k waiver. I've got a flight that sims to 10k, so I thought I would have to wait until next summer. Wildman Darkstar Jr on a Loki K1127. Now just got to get the tracking sorted out!
 
I thought NM would have higher waivers?? Less people live there. More wide open.
As the info on the NSL page points out, this is near enough to Holloman Air Force Base to need coordination with them. It's in the third sentence on the NAR page for the event. Then further west is White Sands Missile Range.
 
make sense. I thought NM would have higher waivers?? Less people live there. More wide open.

It depends on where you are in NM. There are places where we can get waivers of 60k or more, but they're on BLM land out in the middle of nowhere where we would have to pay a fee to conduct an organized launch and there isn't a cleared space for large group parking.
 

Just over 7 hours for Sharon and I, so we are planning to attend. About two hours less than Hellfire, and no salt to deal with... I learned a lesson at my first Hellfire launch, when the ground elevation is over 4000 ft you have to adjust your sims, or your 54mm MD rocket might bust the waiver.
:eek: I think we can find a bunch of rockets that will stay under 12,000 ft. and we will probably bring them all.
Does anyone know what the field elevation is?



I'm also excited for a 12k waiver. I've got a flight that sims to 10k, so I thought I would have to wait until next summer. Wildman Darkstar Jr on a Loki K1127. Now just got to get the tracking sorted out!

Dang Bill, now you got me thinking. Chris is coming with his LOKI motors, and I have a couple of Darkstar Jr's, but my thinwall Blackstar Jr. would bust the waiver easy with that load. Maybe I should just pick one up and bring it back to Eagle Eye and our 50k waiver. I better get ahold of Chris and make an order pretty soon. Sharon is always looking for more CTI motors....
If you need some tracking, I've got several Eggfinders and RF beacons I can share, the N/C off my old Blackhawk 54 might work on your DS Jr. and it's set up for an Eggfinder.
 
Safe Journey Wayco and Sharon.. consider this a shout out from the San Diego mob

Kenny
 
Safe Journey Wayco and Sharon.. consider this a shout out from the San Diego mob

Kenny

Hey Kenny,we will be seeing you at Holtville Havoc won't we? Hoping to make that dusk launch with Warp core Breach and a J520 skid. Sharon just put a new battery in her Funk Saucer, man is it bright! We just happen to have an H123 in stock, keeping it under the 125 gram limit.
 

Just over 7 hours for Sharon and I, so we are planning to attend. About two hours less than Hellfire, and no salt to deal with... I learned a lesson at my first Hellfire launch, when the ground elevation is over 4000 ft you have to adjust your sims, or your 54mm MD rocket might bust the waiver.
:eek: I think we can find a bunch of rockets that will stay under 12,000 ft. and we will probably bring them all.
Does anyone know what the field elevation is?



The field elevation in Alamogordo is ~ 4300 ft.
 
If you haven't seen the other NSL 2017 thread I started yesterday, online registration is now open. There will be walk up registration, but if you want to go on the tour to see the historic V2 launch complex at WSMR and the high speed test track at Holloman AFB, you'll need to register online before April 30 because Holloman needs time to do a background check on all tour participants.
 
Hey Kenny,we will be seeing you at Holtville Havoc won't we? Hoping to make that dusk launch with Warp core Breach and a J520 skid. Sharon just put a new battery in her Funk Saucer, man is it bright! We just happen to have an H123 in stock, keeping it under the 125 gram limit.

Wow!

I have missed seeing the Warp Core Breech .. it is awesome.

Should be a good time .. even day launch.

Kenny
 
I am beginning to plan for it. My wife and I would be driving from the Seattle area. We both have family in New Mexico and so would make it more than just a trip to fly for three days....

We've already got a family from your area registered -- does the name Juchems ring a bell?
 
Yes. They are a 4H family that flies with BEMRC. I need to get myself registered.

Added Sunday night: OK - registered now.
 
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There were only two M flights all weekend: Allan Howard (TX) L3 cert, and Gary Dahlke (FL). Gary also flew a K->J two stager (complex L).

Windy on Saturday, excellent weather on Sunday and Monday.

Last launch of NSL 2017. My scratch-built WindBreaker rocket on a CTI J381 Skidmark.

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There were only two M flights all weekend: Allan Howard (TX) L3 cert, and Gary Dahlke (FL). Gary also flew a K->J two stager (complex L).

Windy on Saturday, excellent weather on Sunday and Monday.

Last launch of NSL 2017. My scratch-built WindBreaker rocket on a CTI J381 Skidmark.

It would have been nice to see Allan's flight - it was a good build. I think there's video, and he's promised to fly it at our AARG launch.

Jim
 
We had a good drive out from Goodyear Thursday morning, although I was a bit surprised by the amount of traffic going through Phoenix at 4 am. Stopped in Tucson for some cheap gas, and arrived in Alamogordo around noon. Spent the night at the KOA and had a great green chili burger at Rockin' BZ Burgers. Man, that was some spicy green chili!
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[FONT=&amp]Friday am we drove out to the launch area and set up our trailer and tents.
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Spent some time with Chris and his gang at Chris's Rocket Supply, and picked up some motors we had pre-ordered with him. Around 4:30 pm we drove in to Patron's hall for dinner. Pretty good crowd showed up, and there was some nice artwork on the walls. The dinner was excellent and well organized. Our table was lucky with the door prize drawing, and half of us won rocket kits. I won an Estes Phoenix compliments of Flight Deck hobbies and SMRA.[/FONT]
Saturday dawned clear and calm, so Sharon and I prepped our first rockets. I had an old Apogee Aspire adapted down to an E9-8, and I added an Estes altimeter and a small L.L. Electronics tracker beacon. Sharon got her Wildman Wild Child ready with an H115 Dark Matter. The range did not open at 7 am, so I went over and offered to help with the setup. Around 8 am, registration opened up and we checked in and picked up some launch cards for our flights.
By 9 am the wind had started picking up, but I managed to get my Aspire off for the first launch of the day. Flew straight up to 1405 ft. and had an apogee event for the main chute. Sharon followed shortly thereafter with another perfect flight for her Wild Child to 4000 ft. It also fires the main out at apogee, so she had a long walk for recovery. I flew my dual deploy Argent next, also on an H115 DM.
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It has a Stratologger CF in the transition, which saved me some leg work. The wind caused it to weathercock a bit, but it still got 2403 ft. with a quick descent to 700 ft for the main chute.
Sharon flew her Wildman Interceptor on an I255 next, good flight and dual deploy recovery from 5500 ft.
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She recovered it out on Mesa Verde Ranch road, draped across the gate west of the launch area:
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After a quick lunch, I prepped my 5" Jart. It's a big rocket with a donut avbay that allows me to fly a 4 grain 75mm motor. This flight was on an L900 DM. The wind was gusting over 20 mph by then, so after a short wind hold, "Jughead" launched with a roar and lots of black sparky smoke. It weathercocked a bit, and ended up deploying the drogue at 10,332 ft. about a mile South of the launch area. I watched it through my binoculars and saw the fincan separate from the avbay when the main deployed at 1100 ft. My eggfinder sent telemetry for the N/C, payload and avbay, so we followed the GPS coordinates, which indicated that the shortest route to that half of the rocket would be from Alamotero road. We took the truck around to the bypass road and back in on Alamotero road for about a mile, walked in and recovered that part of the rocket. Fortunately, the CSI tracker was attached to the drogue shock cord, so we drove down to the end of the road and picked up the signal for the fincan. Met a couple of local guys that gave us permission to cross their property, and after a short walk recovered the fincan.
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It landed with a 12" drogue in a soft spot and only sustained cosmetic damage to the paint. By the time we got back to the launch area, it was after 3 pm and the range was closed.
The wind was still kicking up, and I was dubious that it would settle for the night launch. But around 8 pm it did, so I finished prepping my night rocket "Warp Core Breach". This is a scratch built rocket made from 4" fiberglass tubing. It has a translucent N/C with two separate lighting systems in it, and a Stratologger altimeter set for apogee deployment. Since I built it in 2014, it has made eight flights, mostly on the CTI J520 Skidmark. All of these flights went to around 2500 ft. The body of the rocket is wrapped barber pole style with two 15 ft. strips of superbright LED's, for over 300 lights that can be seen clearly after your retina's have been seared by the skidmark motor. I watched it launch Saturday night with light winds, and drift Northeast toward the traffic light at Mesa Verde Ranch road and hiway 54. The winds aloft were much faster than the ground winds, so I'm not sure if it cleared the power lines by the R/C field, but I walked the heading well past the lines and never found it.
Sharon launched her Funk saucer on an H100, recovered it and flew her Estes Snitch saucer on and 18mm D24 reload while I was wandering around looking for the glow that could be seen from 1/2 mile away for all my other recoveries of W.C. B. Never saw it, so I walked back to the launch area. Sharon and I returned and gridded the area that all the other rockets were landing in and even got some help looking for it from other fliers, with no luck.
Sunday morning we spent over an hour looking for the 44" white and yellow chute that carried it away, no luck again. So we went back to the launch and prepped our first flights for the day.
Mine was an Estes "D" region Tomahawk on an F35. The wind had finally settled, so this flight to 1400 ft. was an easy recovery. Sharon flew her Formula 38 on a G106 Skidmark and surprised the crowd with a very loud, fast launch to 3200 ft. Good flight and recovery just over the Western fence. My next flight was one of my first fiberglass kits, the Darkstar Jr. It has made 17 previous flights with one less than perfect flight when I forgot to turn on the altimeter. The backup motor deploy saved it, landing under a tiny drogue with no damage. This flight was weird. The I327 DM load lit instantly, but when the rocket left the rail it immediately turned West, heading toward the big house over there. Using my Com-spec receiver, I tracked the beacon in my rocket past the house, finding another HPR rocket along the way. I marked the position of the other rocket on my phone, retrieved my rocket and came back and picked up a 4" Patriot named "Skud Buster" and returned it to the owner, who turned out to be a past president of a club I used to fly with. That was a long recovery! Over a mile round trip.
Meanwhile, Sharon made two attempts to launch her 54mm Dark Jart. After two burnt igniters, she pulled it off the rail and put it away. Then she spent two more hours looking for W.C.B.
When I got back from my long recovery, I set up my 4" X-Celerator "Rapiddity". Big green and orange rocket with redundant altimeters and my trusty CSI tracker beacon. It flew great on a K675 Skidmark to 6525 ft. By the time I had recovered it, it was time for the V-2 mass launch. Sharon and I both had V-2's, hers was named "Drunk V2" after a build session in front of Wildman's trailer at Airfest in Kansas. There was a margarita machine involved....
My entry was a larger 4" kit that I built much later in a MUCH more sober condition. It was loaded with a K454 Skidmark, the largest motor I had ever put in it.
The scheduled 1 pm launch actually got off about 2:30, with lots of smaller rockets going off together, two each of the smaller HPR rockets launching together, and my "R2-V2" launching by itself, followed by a larger V2 flying on a J motor last. Mine flew to 6695 ft. and I recovered it a half mile to the South. The launch was closed when I got back.
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We spent some more time visiting all the vendors, and picked up various stuff from everyone who supported the launch. Ended up in Chris's trailer again, drinking German dark beer. I think we picked up a K750 and another I59 that evening, but since I drank TWO beers, and had to be helped back to my trailer, I might be mistaken....
Monday morning we started breaking down the campsite before it got warm. We went out again to look for WCB, extending our search pattern further toward Alamogordo, but found no trace of the rocket. Then I prepped my last rocket, "Reduke". This was a clone of my L1 rocket, an LOC kit, Nuke Pro Max. It has several flights on my favorite long burn motor, the AT I59. I walked over to the LCO Thomas, and asked if I could make my last flight when the range opened, and he said bring it over and we will do it now, So I flew Reduke as the first flight of the day Monday, and it was my last flight at NSL. Sharon and I recovered it just outside the fence Southwest of the launch area. It flew to 6700 ft.
It's been several years since I lost my L2 rocket "Energizer Bunny" at a ROC launch in lucerne dry lake. After extensive searching, I offered a $100 reward for it's recovery, but it was never found. Several people contacted me after they searched for it, but no luck. I'm offering the same reward for the recovery of Warp Core Breach. Here is a track of the area I have searched:

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Sharon's grid covered more of the area to the North, toward the R/C field. If anyone wants to search for it, I would suggest going further East toward Alamogordo. Most of the rockets that flew Saturday night landed South of the R/C field, but mine could have cleared the power lines running North-South on the East side of the field.
We left contact info. with Gloria, the treasurer for the club, or you can PM me and I will send it to you. Good luck!

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Thanks for the detail report was so busy flying that weekend I never get see what other are doing....

I lost the upper stage of my Double Shot on Sunday at Lunch time... main deployed at apogee and it caught a thermal. Never did lose altitude. Lost GPS lock over Almorgodo as it drifted out of view. Any anyone finds that 5' green rocket, black fins, and nose cone with green parachute I'll certainly provide a reward and work with them to ship it back. Probably laying on mountain side.
 
Hey neighbor! That picture of our campsite with your California flag behind it reminded me how I felt bad starting my generator at 5 am to make coffee. We always look forward to your video journal of launches. I know how you feel, so busy flying rockets, some of the events just race by you. Hope you find your Double shot sustainer, both of our rockets headed off in the same general direction. Maybe someone will get lucky and find them...
 
Update on my lost rocket, some students from NMSU AIAA chapter found Warp Core Breach Northeast of the R/C field. It looks to be in good conditions, if a bit dirty.
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I'm communicating with Jim Basler, who has the rocket, and will update on it's condition when I get it back.
 
Warp Core Breach is home! Came home from ROCstock last weekend to find a big box full of rocket. Jim Basler wiped some of the dirt off it and packed it up with bubble wrap and stuffing paper to arrive here in excellent condition. I had to work a bit to open up the nose cone, but when I added a 9v battery both lighting systems came right up and the Perfectflite Stratologger beeped out over 2700 ft., about 500 ft. higher than it normally flies on the J520 Skid. Probably why it drifted farther than normal that night.
I charged up an extra LiPo battery and connected it to the controller for the spiral wrapped LED's, and they lit right up too. Couldn't get the Para-light to respond with new batteries, but I have been thinking it takes up too much room, so if I eliminate that, there will be more room for the new chute.
Major thanks to Jim for getting my rocket packed up and back home, and I still need contact info. for the NMSU AIAA rocketry team that found it.
 
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