Hello, all.
I launched two rockets on Saturday, both MAC Performance kits. One was my 3" Scorpion, and the other was my 4" Radial Flyer (which was my L3 cert bird).
The Scorpion had a single RRC2+ with one charge for each event. Because the maximum motor delay was too short for this flight, I emptied it, and had no motor back-up. Three potential points of failure: only one alt, e-match, no back-up.
My Radial Flyer has two alts: StratologgerCF for primary and RRC2+ for back-up. Primary and back-up charges at each end, with the back-ups having 33% more powder than the primary. Full motor back-up (and not a VMAX).
So which one failed to deploy at apogee? No-brainer, right! The Scorpion!
Only, it wasn't. Scorpion flight was perfect.
I am at a complete loss as to what happened with my Radial Flyer. I used the same set-up I always use. Same everything. Two alts, two charges, motor back-up. And I got no apogee separation.
The chute was not over-packed. In fact, the tiny 18" TFR inside a 4" tube is quite manageable. And no different from what I always do.
And yet, no separation. Rocket came in ballistic, main deployed at extremely high speed, main chute ripped off the shroud lines. Rocket core sampled. Both alts, batteries, charge wells, sled -- totally destroyed. So I have nothing to download; and because the AV bay was about a foot down in the ground and the charge wells sheared off, I couldn't see if the charges blew.
But even if both alts failed (and they didn't, because the main deployed), the motor back-up should have done the job.
Again, this is my "always" set-up, with ten flights under my belt on this bird. I know the charge amounts can separate the tubes and break the three #2-56 pins. Drogue was not tightly packed (no different from always).
What the heck happened?
I launched two rockets on Saturday, both MAC Performance kits. One was my 3" Scorpion, and the other was my 4" Radial Flyer (which was my L3 cert bird).
The Scorpion had a single RRC2+ with one charge for each event. Because the maximum motor delay was too short for this flight, I emptied it, and had no motor back-up. Three potential points of failure: only one alt, e-match, no back-up.
My Radial Flyer has two alts: StratologgerCF for primary and RRC2+ for back-up. Primary and back-up charges at each end, with the back-ups having 33% more powder than the primary. Full motor back-up (and not a VMAX).
So which one failed to deploy at apogee? No-brainer, right! The Scorpion!
Only, it wasn't. Scorpion flight was perfect.
I am at a complete loss as to what happened with my Radial Flyer. I used the same set-up I always use. Same everything. Two alts, two charges, motor back-up. And I got no apogee separation.
The chute was not over-packed. In fact, the tiny 18" TFR inside a 4" tube is quite manageable. And no different from what I always do.
And yet, no separation. Rocket came in ballistic, main deployed at extremely high speed, main chute ripped off the shroud lines. Rocket core sampled. Both alts, batteries, charge wells, sled -- totally destroyed. So I have nothing to download; and because the AV bay was about a foot down in the ground and the charge wells sheared off, I couldn't see if the charges blew.
But even if both alts failed (and they didn't, because the main deployed), the motor back-up should have done the job.
Again, this is my "always" set-up, with ten flights under my belt on this bird. I know the charge amounts can separate the tubes and break the three #2-56 pins. Drogue was not tightly packed (no different from always).
What the heck happened?