FVR April Launch

[jimmyk]

Cloudy, a little windy, and some drizzle, but our spirits were not clouded as a large showing came to the Fox Valley Rocketeer's first launch of the year.

http://kalemis.com/rockets/04182009/index.htm

First up was my Red Max. The parachute got stuck but the rocket didn't sustain any damage. Oh, oh, not a good way to start the day. I stuck with the German theme and flew my V2. Perfect flight. The rest of the day was a breeze, except for the ending.

I flew my favorites on the large field, Madcow Momba, upscale BBZ, Bucky Jones, Kraken, Madcow Batray, Mean Machine, Snarky, two stage Corona, and my Semroc 1B. It's first flight was wonderful, all four C6's lit and had a perfect flight. At the end of the day I tried it again - big mistake. Only two engines lit. As you can guess, altitude was very low and it nose-dived before ejection. The rocket is destroyed, but I always wanted to rebuild it as a single engine, so this is my opportunity.

Nonetheless, a great group of folks and a lot of fun. Can't wait till next month!

James.

[judo]

Dang! That's a whole lotta rocket for one flyer. I beat myself sensless when I fly six.

[jimmyk]

LOL - I try to do 10 rockets in our four hour launch day. I usually prep most rockets at home while I inventory engines.

[GuyNoir]

Your first Saturn 1B flight was great!

In addition to your pictures, Ric Gaff also snapped a bunch:

http://albums.phanfare.com/4869767/3776830

I had a nice flight of my 4" dia. paper V-2, and a decent enough flight for my "Eye In The Sky" 2" mailing tube, Pencam carrying D12 bird. Jeff Hallett, the FVR webmaster, is working to post the video.

Folks interested in coming to fly with us (our motto: "We just fly.") can check out our launch schedule at:

http://www.foxvalleyrocketeers.org

Oh, and we will be at the NSL 2009 at Bong Field in force!