MMMSC September 8th Launch is Canceled For RC Air Show

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Sorry everyone

[jsargevt]

Sorry everyone

Aw man! Looks like I'll make plans to head to the air show!

[kmf04040]

That's too bad. The next time my work schedule meshes with MMMSC's launch schedule won't be until October.

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Who is going to the air show to help launch and man the booth?

[mainer]

I'm still in for the 8th, I'd like to launch and man the booth but not at the same time!

[SAC of MMMSClub]

ya, but if we put the booth way out on the field hmmmm?

[Sully]

I could be there 10:30-2:30 on Thursday or Friday. I can bring rockets for display too, although most of ours are a little "weathered" from flying. Our Lava Lamp is a fun-looking one, though, with a unique look that people seem to like. Let me know if these times would help.

John Sullivan

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Hi John,
Friday would be good and time is great if you can do longer great. Bring stuff to display it will be great and display stands / racks too.

We still need DD rockets to launch, so sim out a motor for 2500 feet alt. and set DD accordingly. Let me know what motor you need for this as we will have to get them ahead of time and time is now!

Oh this is sooooo much fun.

Scott

[Sully]

Hi John,
Friday would be good and time is great if you can do longer great. Bring stuff to display it will be great and display stands / racks too.

We still need DD rockets to launch, so sim out a motor for 2500 feet alt. and set DD accordingly. Let me know what motor you need for this as we will have to get them ahead of time and time is now!

Oh this is sooooo much fun.

Scott

Just sent an email with (excessive?) options listed. I'm planning to show up with rockets and hang out until I have to leave for work (2:30). Getting to launch on a free motor would be icing on the cake!

[awseiger]

Hi John,
Friday would be good and time is great if you can do longer great. Bring stuff to display it will be great and display stands / racks too.

We still need DD rockets to launch, so sim out a motor for 2500 feet alt. and set DD accordingly. Let me know what motor you need for this as we will have to get them ahead of time and time is now!

Oh this is sooooo much fun.

Scott

My DD EZI-65 is definetly capable of such things... I'll sim it up and toss you an e-mail.

How is launching at the airshow going to work anyway? Do we have a pre-determined time-slot or is more of a standard launch setup?

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Well just got word from FAA, NO Launch on Fri. Sept. 7th. due to TFR for POTUS in Portsmouth NH on the 7th.

So We will be launching on SAT. and SUN.

We have specific times and windows that we have to do this in so Pads and Rockets will be all set up and ready as we are the intro to manned stunt flight.

Scott

[KennB]

Well just got word from FAA, NO Launch on Fri. Sept. 7th. due to TFR for POTUS in Portsmouth NH on the 7th.

So We will be launching on SAT. and SUN.

We have specific times and windows that we have to do this in so Pads and Rockets will be all set up and ready as we are the intro to manned stunt flight.

Scott

In the spirit of "The Show Must Go On", will all the other aspects of the show and our booth still be happening on Friday?

[Sully]

Per Scott's email, yes, we will have a booth set up. I also suggested we request Air Force One to buzz the field and maybe some Vice-Presidential wing-walking to make up for the lost entertainment. We'll see.

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Hi All,

I have had to cancel our attendance at the Air Show for Sun. as we had to completely tear down due to high winds. I have also developed a problem with my injured leg and all the walking and hauling has

made it mad and it is in full revolt. So not wanting to spend any time in hospital I am going to lay low on Sun. and let it rest and let the swelling go down some.

Thanks
Scott

[Sully]

Hi All,

I have had to cancel our attendance at the Air Show for Sun. as we had to completely tear down due to high winds. I have also developed a problem with my injured leg and all the walking and hauling has

made it mad and it is in full revolt. So not wanting to spend any time in hospital I am going to lay low on Sun. and let it rest and let the swelling go down some.

Thanks
Scott

Scott....Rest up and I hope you feel better. It was fun to hang out with you and Kenn yesterday, sorry I couldn't stay longer. I hope today went well and you got to launch a rocket or two before the weather turned.

Thanks for working so hard for the club and getting rocketry into the schools!

I won't be at the launch next week 9/15 (working) but I'll get in touch to arrange a time to pick up my rockets from you.

John

[KennB]

Scott....Rest up and I hope you feel better. It was fun to hang out with you and Kenn yesterday, sorry I couldn't stay longer. I hope today went well and you got to launch a rocket or two before the weather turned.

Thanks for working so hard for the club and getting rocketry into the schools!

I won't be at the launch next week 9/15 (working) but I'll get in touch to arrange a time to pick up my rockets from you.

John

John,

It was great to spend time with you, too, yesterday. The atttendance difference between Friday and Saturday was night and day. There were the promised thousands of people with crowded roads and everything. Your rockets continued to be quite the hit with the Lava Lamp getting lots of attention.

As far as launching, things didn't go so well. After getting two pads set up we had to improvise a bit. We had a 1010 rail and a 1515 but all of the rockets offered for flight only had 1010 buttons. Normally, you can get away with a 1010 button in a 1515 rail but time and nature worked against us. The show gave us the command to set up an hour or more before we would fly. The breeze was pretty strong but, on average, was below 20 mph. It was enough, though, to knock the rocket and the 1515 over dislodging one of the buttons. When all the RC flying was done and the human flyers had finished their things (and after I reminded the announcer there were rockets to fly) we tried to launch the one remaining. The launch control button was pushed but no ignition took place. As we had a very limited time, we could only check the hook-ups and they all seemed fine. Another try and no light.

We had to scrub the early afternoon launch. Upon further investigation it was found the e-match had no continuity; that never happens. The damaged rocket's ignitor was perfect but the bottom line was we got nothing in the air.

The wind had picked up greatly later in the afternoon so the evening activites were canceled by the show. Still, we had a very good weekend as far as getting the club's information out to a lot more people. I'm sure we'll have many more spectators at the coming launches. As a note to everyone, if you have any skill level 1 or 2 kits you'd like to donate for the raffles, I think that would be a great way to interest the new visitors we will be getting.

Scott, I hope you have a restful and refreshing Sunday. Thanks for the early heads-up as to tomorrow's status.

See everyone in two weeks in Amesbury.
Kenn

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Hey Kenn,
Or anyone

I do not remember the name of the gentleman who is builds all the upscales of the Mars Landers that comes to MMMSC launches and came and displayed and educated everyone on the Mars Landers he builds.

I want to make sure he gets the word we are a NO GO for today at the air show.

Scott

[KennB]

Hey Kenn,
Or anyone

I do not remember the name of the gentleman who is builds all the upscales of the Mars Landers that comes to MMMSC launches and came and displayed and educated everyone on the Mars Landers he builds.

I want to make sure he gets the word we are a NO GO for today at the air show.

Scott

PM sent

[billspad]

The launch control button was pushed but no ignition took place. As we had a very limited time, we could only check the hook-ups and they all seemed fine. Another try and no light.

We had to scrub the early afternoon launch. Upon further investigation it was found the e-match had no continuity; that never happens. The damaged rocket's ignitor was perfect but the bottom line was we got nothing in the air.

We tested almost everything when we were setting up including burning a piece of nichrome in place of the igniter to make sure we were getting good current at the pads. The relays can't check continuity but I had my multimeter out at the pads. However, I didn't think to check the igniters because electric matches always work. Almost always.

Scott, unless there something exotic inside the Pratt relay boxes, I know how to add a local continuity test button. And if they ask you to do it again and you've forgotten what a pain in the butt it was by then I have some suggestions on what we should have done. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Personally, I had an enjoyable day. The FAA briefing for the stunt pilots was thorough and interesting. Scott and I had a great spot to view the stunt flights. We weren't any closer to the runway than the spectators but we were quite a way down it waiting to launch the rockets. At the end of his act the first pilot came down the runway with his wings perpendicular the ground maybe 100' off the ground. After he cleared the crowd he started to turn towards us before he leveled out. I swear I could see his face in the cockpit. If my reflexes were quicker I would have hit the ground. He went in front of us and not over but it was still way cool. The RC jets were also very impressive. I want one but the $10K to $30K they cost is a little out of my price range. Even more so because I'd need to buy a new one every time I tried to fly it.

[eggplant]

Did you guys get anything in the air? Any pictures?

[KennB]

Did you guys get anything in the air? Any pictures?

See post #16.

[eggplant]

Oh, that is too bad to hear!

[billspad]

See post #16.

But there are pictures.

[awseiger]

I actually went and tested both igniters that were out at the pads. Both of them checked out at 1.6 ohms.... Something is awry. Ah well, it happens. Scott, I'll be e-mailing you about a brainstorm my Electrical-Engineer friends and I had that allows a continuity check of the igniter through the relay. If you don't mind I'd like to verify it's operation this weekend. If it works, I'll build the club up a few and donate them.

It was a shame those rockets didn't actually go off. People were extremely inquisitive during the long "walk of shame" back to the tents. It was good to see how enthusiastic people were about rockets though! I'm almost sure we will get, at the very least, 5 or 6 new faces at the next launch.

[billspad]

I actually went and tested both igniters that were out at the pads. Both of them checked out at 1.6 ohms.... Something is awry.

Wasn't there also a problem with one of the high power pads at the 8/15 launch? I definitely heard the relay pull in when we checked it before and after the attempted launch and it did burn the piece of nichrome on the first test. You might want to check for a loose wire or bad contacts on the relay.

[SAC of MMMSClub]

Yes, The &^%$# electric match did not fire, They almost always fire and rocket motor may not light after that. So Murphy's Law is still in effect.

No shame, We did and it did not work. We "did" there was no "try"

We spoke to manny people and showed them little rockets and big rockets and educated people who did not know we existed.

Time well spent

Scott

[dlazarus6660]

Yeah, while you boys were out playing with your 'rockets', us men were holding down the fort manning the booth giving away the brochures. I gave away about 100 at least! My throat was sore when I got home from all the pitching, er talking I did. Too bad it didn't fly, it would have made a good impression.

[SAC of MMMSClub]

I would tell you how insensitive your "holding down the fort" comment is but, I was kinda glad that the rocket did not go.

We might have found a lost indian tribe in the infield of the airport.

I had not looked to closely at the airport grounds, other than there was nothing in that area we would hurt by lawn darting one.

BUT if you look at Bill's photo of me the brush behind me looks like it is just low brush but it could have been hiding some deep S%@t ditches out there.

We could have been hours finding those rockets in area with WW2 era landscaping for drainage. Hey, where did you go?










Down Here!
You wouldn't happen to have a splint with you?

[dlazarus6660]

I would tell you how insensitive your "holding down the fort" comment is but, I was kinda glad that the rocket did not go.

We might have found a lost indian tribe in the infield of the airport.

I had not looked to closely at the airport grounds, other than there was nothing in that area we would hurt by lawn darting one.

BUT if you look at Bill's photo of me the brush behind me looks like it is just low brush but it could have been hiding some deep S%@t ditches out there.

We could have been hours finding those rockets in area with WW2 era landscaping for drainage. Hey, where did you go?










Down Here!
You wouldn't happen to have a splint with you?

I was glad it did not go either. I was thinking of the wind and where it would land. In the parking lot maybe. If the rocket hit a car, it would upset the owner and give the club a blackeye.

[billspad]

I was glad it did not go either. I was thinking of the wind and where it would land. In the parking lot maybe. If the rocket hit a car, it would upset the owner and give the club a blackeye.

I'm confident that if either of them had flown they wouldn't have landed in the parking area. The wind socks told us which way the wind was blowing and in the worst case with the main chute opening at apogee I don't think they would have made it to the other runway at the opposite end of the field. As Scott said, recovery would have been a challenge.