REWARD: Information Leading to Return of my L3

That same day my Formula 150 got dragged by its chute for at least a quarter mile. So if it came down in an open field it may have ended up much farther downwind from where it landed.

Maybe someone has a camera drone and would be willing fly it over the search area... Hope you find it.

Man if I was near Higgs I'd take off work and help. That big a rocket is just temporarily out of site, not lost. Head back there and expand your search area in that direction line and keep going

rstaff3 said:

Based on comments from people who performed shock/vibration testing professionally, the vast majority of failures come from interconnect wiring. That was before SMTs so I have no reason to suspect that this changed. Strain relief on all wiring is critical.

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^^^ THIS ^^^

Zip ties are your friend. Use lots of them to anchor the wires and connectors to your sled, and tape the battery connectors together so that the tape actually wraps around the wires preventing the pins from coming out of the connectors. The few times when I've lost an Eggfinder signal in flight it's been because I was lazy and didn't do that, or didn't find an alternative way of securing the connectors and wires. On the sustainer of my Double Shot, I made sure that nothing in the TRS's nose-cone bay was gonna come loose... and I got signal from 5 1/2 miles away when the admittedly loose shear pins came out at apogee (14,200') and it drifted away under main. Yes, I got it back.

Here is a document showing the updated area of expected landing:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...&ll=39.05094354877484,-75.83206774999996&z=13

blackbrandt said:

Here is a document showing the updated area of expected landing:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...&ll=39.05094354877484,-75.83206774999996&z=13

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Well, I don't know if you've done this already but it's time to call the police and report it stolen. There's a road running right through the middle of that possible recovery zone meaning someone could easily picked it up and run off with it. It's not a very nice thing to suggest but I've seen it happen before.

I really hope you get this back ...

People are about to start plowing, so if it's in a field, it will be found. If it's in a tree or a creek, probably not.

I lost my X-Celerator in the same general area. Searched for days and never found it. It was even seen coming down with binoculars, but to no avail.

DAllen said:

Well, I don't know if you've done this already but it's time to call the police and report it stolen. There's a road running right through the middle of that possible recovery zone meaning someone could easily picked it up and run off with it. It's not a very nice thing to suggest but I've seen it happen before.

I really hope you get this back ...

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Are you actually being serious about this? We already drove the roads throughout that area and didn't see a single thing.

People around there know that they launch rockets at Tommy Higgs' place. If someone finds it, they'll either call you or Tommy. If they call Tommy, he'll call Bob Utley. Does Bob have your contact info?

blackbrandt said:

Are you actually being serious about this? We already drove the roads throughout that area and didn't see a single thing.

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Sadly...I am. Wouldn't have believed it myself had I not seen it with my own eyes. Had a rocket land next to the road several years ago in Three Oaks and everyone on the flight line watched in horror as some random white car stopped, picked up the rocket and drove off long before the owner had a chance to get it. Never saw that rocket again. At LDRS 30 I remember one poor soul trying to find his bird and then noticed his tracker started sending signal again which meant it was off the ground and started moving down a roadway at 60mph or so - away from the launch. So yeah, I'm serious. Now that I think about it more, maybe not report it stolen but surely contact the local authorities.

There was a guy at my local field that recently flew a L3 cert bird and for some reason the telemega stopped reporting at apogee(they think the ejection event severed power somehow). He used the available wind data and the descent rate data of different recovery configurations and it turned out it landed pretty much exactly where the predicted spot for drogue and main out indicated(don't recall if it was both out at apogee or not). Either way the backup flight computer did it's job, just no tracking.

The landing location was in the closest housing development to the field and it landed in somebodies yard. They didn't know what to do with it so they reported it to the police who held onto it. The owner called in the missing rocket to the police and was told they had it. He got to go break it out of jail.

Moral of the story is it probably wouldn't hurt to reach out to the local authorities just in case.

So I guess... call the local police station and say "Hello, I lost a large rocket at a rocket launch, and I just want to ask that if anything turns up can you contact me"?

This actually happened to me, not a rocket but a quad copter. Had it runaway and lost it, WIFI interfered with the control signal. Found at the local police station.

Trying to figure out the right thing to say to the police station.

How about...Any body turn in a 13' tube, pointed on one end, fins on the other in black?
No? If they do, please call me at....

Would it be safe to assume the local authorities are aware of an event like LDRS happening in their back yard? I assume for an event of this size, they are informed, as well as the fire department & maybe also 'state' police..

God speed on getting it back!

Hey, Matt, if you do call, and they don't have a rocket that sounds like your L3 kit, but they do have one that sounds like a 4" FWFG split-fin job, would you let me know?

BTW, everything about the launch is legal, right down to the FAA waiver, so just tell the police the truth.

Bat-mite said:

Hey, Matt, if you do call, and they don't have a rocket that sounds like your L3 kit, but they do have one that sounds like a 4" FWFG split-fin job, would you let me know?

BTW, everything about the launch is legal, right down to the FAA waiver, so just tell the police the truth.

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Ill ask if any rocket-shaped objects got reported.

blackbrandt said:

Ill ask if any rocket-shaped objects got reported.

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"I'm looking for a thing that's pointy on one end, and bigger on the back end.. and solid. Probably lost around this area, with some stretchy stuff attached to it,"

"sure we got one of those.. stop on down"

And then they hand you this

So I've called around to 3 different police departments and finally think I got the right one. The problem is I don't know which county the rocket landed in.

I'm waiting to hear back from the Caroline County department.

blackbrandt said:

So I guess... call the local police station and say "Hello, I lost a large rocket at a rocket launch, and I just want to ask that if anything turns up can you contact me"?

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LOL yeah I was just pondering that myself. I donno, just explain the situation and tell them it might be stolen - ?

djs said:

"I'm looking for a thing that's pointy on one end, and bigger on the back end.. and solid. Probably lost around this area, with some stretchy stuff attached to it,"

"sure we got one of those.. stop on down"

And then they hand you this

View attachment 317107

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I wish someone would find one like that for me, without the stretchy stuff.
I lost my apartment key sometime in the last 2 months.
Fell off my caribiner hook from my belt loop.
Now I can't sneek in late at night (I wish)

Keep you hope high Matt. I don't think someone just picked it up and ran off with it.
That's kinda of a big rocket to be hanging out of your back pocket.

Considering it's already a royal PITA to load in the back of a car dissasembled, I'd be amazed it someone could get it in their car.

blackbrandt said:

Considering it's already a royal PITA to load in the back of a car dissasembled, I'd be amazed it someone could get it in their car.

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Car? I'm betting its in a late model Ford F-150.

So all this has me thinking that anything that I fly that goes out of sight (regardless of tracker) should have one of those stainless steel dog tags that you get from the machine at Wal Mart on it somewhere.

Banzai88 said:

So all this has me thinking that anything that I fly that goes out of sight (regardless of tracker) should have one of those stainless steel dog tags that you get from the machine at Wal Mart on it somewhere.

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That is an excellent idea!

I hate to say it, but I have bought rockets off craigslist... Once, found a PML Aries or some such with a 29/180 (rousetech). Met the guy, asked him where he got it, told me that it was found in the vicinity of our club's launch site (he didn't know we fly up there, but I did), then told him "well, I know for a fact that this isn't yours and you're trying to benefit off of someone's misfortune of losing their rocket at a rocket launch... so, I'll give you $10 instead of the $50 you're asking to give it to me and go home"... Then I contacted the local club to see if anyone was missing a rocket with said casing. A few years went by with no response so I observed a fellow flyer's L1 cert flight using said casing, then told them to keep it after he succeeded.

Just keep looking. I am sure you will come across it. Looking at the map, you have a lot of crooning to do -- better be sure you're looking up.

I'm watching the Goldsboro area Craigslist as well.

You go Matt. I'm cheering for ya.

Maybe put a "reward if found" ad in Craigslist? Not sure what category would be appropriate...Doesn't cost anything though.

I'm debating on the risk/reward of craigslist. There is the chance that someone sees it and returns the rocket honestly. There's also the chance that said person sees the value of the rocket from the reward offered and steals it.