L2 Certification Rocket Gallery

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I got my L2 at LDRS 19 in Orangeburg, SC on a J350 provided by Aerotech. The Great Googly Moogly is an 8" x 75" scratch built rocket that I began building before even getting my Level-1 cert. More here.

There's a video on MyPlanet.

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Don't be to hard on yourself John, I know how you feel. Besides, if every flight was a success, there would soon be nothing to work toward. When I saw this thread, I chuckled to myself wondering if failures were allowed - Low and behold!
My first (and so-far only) L2 attempt was at MWP8 last October. My flight was with my 4" scratch-built looks-like-a-darkstar-but-it's-not rocket. I actually started building this before that came out. My up part was perfect, drogue popped at apogee, main popped at 400', prettymuch textbook flight. With the exception of tying off my main shorter on the shockcord than my shroudlines were long. Oops. Main never left the tube and the whole thing ate farmland. Felt pretty dumb for a while, but got over it and got back to work rebuilding it.

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My first L2 cert was in 2003 at NSL in Clarks Summit, PA. The rocket was a Public Enemy Extreme Performer on an Aerotech J350W. I believe the altitude was around 3,000ft.

My L2 recert was in May of 2010 at Fentress Field in VA. The rocket was a Performance Rocketry G3 on a J315R. It flew to 3,405ft. The onboard video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zowhy-iSpt4

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Here is my L2 rocket. It is an extended LOC I-ROC. The flight took place at METRA in September of '08. The motor was a J350 and the rocket weighed in at 9 pounds on the pad. The flight went to 1,988 feet with perfect dual deployment with main at 700 feet. The rocket was lost 3 weeks later at Amesbury, MA trying to replicate the flight.

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Here's mine, the Allons-y, a 4" scratchbuilt using the old Missileworks RRC2. It flew for my L2 on an AT J350 to 3079 feet back at Midwest Power 3 in 2005.

She had 38 flights in all, mostly on I motors, before I lost her in the swamp at Bong.

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I certed on my scratch built Pro Star at NARAM 52 a few months back on a J90. It flew to about 7500 feet. Didn't get a launch pic though.

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Mine was at Red Glare with my Thor 4 on a J350. Landed about 75 feet from the pad. Everyone said I should have to make that "long walk" to earn a L2. I didn't get what they ment at first but I have since make many a "long walks"
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Mine was my 4 inch AMRAAM on a Cesaroni Pro75 L2375 White Thunder. I flew it at NCR's Mile High Mayhem 2009. Landed about 3/4 mile from the pad, and did 11,700 feet at mach 0.95:


 
Here's my L2: I stretched my BSD Horizon (my L1 rocket) with a LOC avionics bay (PF MAWD) and payload section. Took two tries, both on AT J350W reloads.

Flight #1 went to 3797', but the main chute didn't deploy (bp charge was just a tad too small despite successful ground testing). The rocket landed safely in the soft dirt and was undamaged.

Flight #2 (with a bigger bp charge) went to 3708', and recovery went as planned.

And yes, those are Stickershock flames. :)

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Here's my scratch built, Kraken inspired, 3 inch Blue Tube L2 rocket.

54mm motor mount.

First L2 attempt in August 2011 on a J540R-L ended with a huge zipper compliments of too long a delay and a heavy Kevlar shockcord.

Sliced almost all the main airframe.

I cut the offending section away, turned the fin area into an anti-zipper arrangement, built a new airframe complete with forward mounted Raven2 and was successful in October 2011 using a J350W and 54/38 adapter.

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I used the LOC Door Knob, 7.5" diameter, 66" long, 10.5lbs. Flight was on a Cesaroni J760-WT.

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Only took four tries, but at least I used the same rocket each time. Only about 6" shorter than when I started. 3/3/2012, Asa, Texas.

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These are some dated photos, as my NAR Level II happened back in 1999, but here is my Public Enemy 4" Extreme Performer on a HyperTEK J300 (hammerhead tank):

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I got mine on Sept 29th, 2012

Flight took place at Oregon Rocketry's annual Fillible's Folly Launch held just outside Sheridan, OR. It was a fantastic day and field for this flight.

The rocket was my tried and true WAZZU rocket, a 38mm Binder Design Excel plus. I didn't keep records when I first started launching, but I'd guess this is at least this rockets 15th flight. The motor was an Aerotech J350W. I flew this as a dual deploy flight using my Perfect Flight HiAlt45 altimeter with motor backup (using the long delay grain). While OpenRocket simmed this flight to 3,466 the altimeter reported a mere 2,985. 24" chute deployed on top and the main popped out at 1,000. There was an issue with the main chute not fully inflating properly, but the rocket landed with no damage, ready to fly again.

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PR Little Dog DD (now sold by Rocketry Warehouse), an amazing little fiberglass kit that is durable and flies great.

Flew this at XPRS 2012, graciously proctored by Tony (tfish). CTI J357, Raven 3 with redundant charges, BigRedBee transmitter:

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Flight went perfectly:
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Out on the playa, recovery vehicles are a necessity - and fun, too!
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How high did you go? ...6217', quoth the Raven.
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The hardest part of this was generating a dead-reliable parachute packing method and deployment sequencing. After about a dozen ground tests, here's the final sequence; the parachute goes to line stretch cleanly, and stays clear of everything else:
[YOUTUBE]EQT6NaEEYL0[/YOUTUBE]


All the best, James
 
[video=youtube_share;qfXUorFS7IU]https://youtu.be/qfXUorFS7IU[/video]Got mine on the first try at Airfest this year. Rocket was a scratch built 7.5" upscaled Gizmo on a J800. Didnt get it painted for the cert flight but it's going to get some paint soon.Airfest Level 2.jpg
 
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Got mine on the first try at Airfest this year. Rocket was a scratch built 7.5" upscaled Gizmo on a J800. Didnt get it painted for the cert flight but it's going to get some paint soon.

Congratulations, Bill! Nice flight. I hope the blackened area was from a controlled burn...
 
There are some great flights here! You guys are inspiring me!
 
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