Your most embarrassing launch at a rocket shoot

Most of us has had a launch or two that makes you want to hang your head in shame or quietly Disappear and run home!! This is an opportunity to share your not so greatest moments.

Mine came several years ago at a D.A.R.S. launch in Dallas Tx. I built a Lance Beta mid power kit that was kind of a scale missile design.It looked good and I could not wait to fly it at the next launch on a G-80. It came time for the launch and my rocket was on the pad. 3,2,1,Blastoff!! For those with a weak constitution please do not read any further.It lifted off kind of slow and at about 200 ft. it began to fly in horizontal circles and looping around all over the place.Parents began gathering their children and ran for cover :shock: I stood there horrified at the spectacle my rocket was causing.At last it became somewhat stable and flew in a low arc away from everyone and the parachute deployed.To add insult to injury it drifted into the side of a large water tower and busted off the fins.I was very relived that no one had got hurt!!

Well, mine was about a year or so ago at one of our clubs research launches..I had my 4" Excel + that I had flown earlier on a commercial motor and wanted to burn this EX motor I had..As I was assembling the motor I had kind of a struggle getting the nozzle in..But, it finally 'popped' into place and I put the c-ring in to secure it..Forward closure was previously placed..Loaded it up and out the the far high power pad..It was a 'K' something with Tom Binford(Rocketjunkie) white propellant..3,2,1..Liftoff..Awesome flame, nice roar..Then at about 100 feet or so..Wil cart wheels and loops..Rocket separates at the coupler..spins a couple more time and the nose cone is pulled out due to centrifugal forces and the parachute deploys softly landing the approx 200 foot high flight..

Any ideas what I did wrong?

Well, since this isn't a 'Guess Where I crewed up' thread, I will tell you!LOL I put the nozzle in upside down! DOH!

It was one of those SPECIAL flights!:rofl:

LCO: "Are you sure that A8-3 is enough to lift that Big Bertha?"
Me: (in front of my student group, who'd built it) Sure. I've done it before.

Result: Comically underpowered loop directly into the club's equipment trailer.

This LDRS - my one man drag race were I lost. Neither rocket left the pad.

I used AT first fires, but was having trouble getting them to fit in the nozzle. Didn't get far enough inside to light the motors.

I don't embarrass easily so even the most awful experience was more of a disappointment than embarrassing. Here is something I posted a while back though. THIS would have embarrassed me to the nth degree.

I shot a rocket into the air,
and it made me s--- my under ware.
It looped over and chased me down,
Until my trousers were completely brown.
It curved around and it was hot,
For all the cars in the parking lot.
It binged and it banged as it took out the windows,
Then headed towards a rocket vendor.
The trailer was big, doors open wide,
How could there be any luck on my side.
Rockets a plenty, motors galore,
That rocket dove in like a Siberian boar.
The display was awesome and the damage was done,
I had ruined the day for everyone.
As I drove off the field I had hoped in vain,
That nobody there would remember my name.

Thank goodness this is not a true story.

On the day that I joined the club, flew a bt80 on an E, it got a little tangled in the shroud lines somehow, and came down (with 24inch chute fully open at least) right on top of the car of the guy in charge of memberships. Somebody yelled "you're never getting your membership card now".

Does this count? Not a launch, but at the launch... It was time to head back to the hotel for the night. Folks were taking down their EZ-up shelters. I was about ready to go or I was going to go. Either way, I began to pull out but I had the shelter frame too low to the 4Runner. The frame got caught and started to get pulled and bent. I saw this and started to back up. Didn't quite get it into park and went to get out of the truck. It started to go back more! I jumped back in to stop but... I accidently hit the horn AND the gas and went back farther knocking some rockets around and tearing more things up until I got the brake OK. There were people right next to me as this happened just staring. Luckily no major damage was done but I felt a bit flustered. Gave me quite the laugh later!

Mine was one of 2:

1) New camera rocket. I diligently put everything together. Loki Sparky motor. Saw the RSO. Went to the pad. Turn the camera on. Countdown. 2 inches off the pad, the thing turn from a rocket into a fountain of sparks out the nose and a flaming burning mess. oops, did not fully engage the from ring.

2) My brand new AT Chetah. Went through my mental check list, motor - check, igniter-check, dog barf - check. RSOed. Countdown and a beautiful flight, except there is something floating beside the rocket at apogee. Hmm it is yellow. Not checked - attaching parachute to shock cord.

We all make mistakes. The longer you do this, the more you will make but hopefully they will lessen over time.

People think I should be embarassed by this but I made the motor and it worked great.
1100 lbs for 13 seconds. The rocket spiralled until it burned off enough weight to be stable.

Mark


[video=youtube;Wy-64DAVaxc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-64DAVaxc[/video]

MClark said:

People think I should be embarassed by this but I made the motor and it worked great.
1100 lbs for 13 seconds. The rocket spiralled until it burned off enough weight to be stable.

Mark


[video=youtube;Wy-64DAVaxc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-64DAVaxc[/video]

Click to expand...

Agreed. I have done that. I whould have check rocksim first. Nice sky writing.

I just built the motor. I told him I would never make him another.

Mark

At Nerrf this year - expecting to launch on one motor - not available at the site... Picked up a different motor - forgot that dropping from a F to an E I would have to drop a bunch of the delay charge.... nosed behind the flight line... Pretty embarrassing. however - has been rebuilt and has been reborn. will be going up on the same motor soon - drilled out this time.

I was giving a demo of my wireless launch pad at Fire and Ice 2012 in March.

There were about 50 people, I was quickly explaining how it worked, how the transmitter worked, and I had a 3 cluster rocket ready to go......or so I thought.

Only one engine lit, it went up about 50 feet, landed in the snow, then ejected the streamers.

The Range Officer said over the PA:

"Nice Demonstration *snicker*"


At least I kinda laughed with the crowd and said I was retiring that rocket anyways.

My most embarrassing launch made at a public event? Hmm, that's going to be tough, because I have so many worthy candidates.

I could point to my very first attempt at launching a model rocket. It wasn't at a "public" event but I did have a witness. (My very first opportunity to attend an actual scheduled launch event didn't arrive until 35 years later.) My friend and I set up the launch pad from my Starter Special at one corner of a large vacant field at the edge of our development. It was to become "our" launch field. With much anticipation and ceremony I slid my just-built and freshly painted Astron Alpha down the launch rod of my Electro Launch, connected the clips to the igniter and urged my friend to back up to a safe distance. I shouted a loud countdown from 10 and then hit the launch button. After a few tense moments, the motor lit!

Elation was instantly followed by "What the...?" as I saw my Alpha struggle up... up... up off the pad, climb another 20 feet, and then simply fall back to the ground, breaking a fin in the process. As a perfect visual punchline the ejection charge then fired and pushed my neatly folded and carefully packed parachute out across the dirt. Well, that was it for that day. Back in those days (1967) we could only afford to buy a handful of Estes motors a year, so our "launch events" were usually just single shots with no repeats. We had to conserve our precious and difficult to obtain rocket motors. Later, when my older brother finally found out about it, he commented that I "could have just taken it and thrown it higher than that." His comment really got to me, because I knew that he was right.

I never did figure out why my rocket had such poor performance that first time. But several decades and many launches went by before I made another attempt at launching a rocket on a regular (Series I) 1/2A6.

Following that underwhelming start, it would be another month before we returned to the field for my second launch attempt. In the meantime I had sent in and received another order from Estes, which included some B.8-4 motors (equivalent to B6-4). That second launch couldn't have been more different. We were both cheering and whooping as we spotted the tiny, tiny dot of my Alpha's parachute way, way up there in the big blue sky and watched my rocket gently touch down at the far end of the field.

Now there was no second-guessing; now there was no doubt. After having dreamed about launching tiny rockets for years, during which time I had not even been aware that the hobby existed, I had finally actually done it. I was on my way.

When you launch with a club there is always a chance for public humiliation. I was launching my new Photon Disruptor,launch officer announced on the bull horn my name,rocket,engine ect.. coundown,launch! stuck to the clothespin on the launch rod,fired an chute popped on the rod.

I think Cato's are embarrassing, but other flyers don't think so. I once destroyed a Vaughn Bros 38mm Javelin on an Aerotech I-300
Cato in Orangeburg SC.
The igniter went in loose but I fear it was dipped too many times and clogged the nozzle.
The casing is ripped open..fins everywhere.. and EVERYONE even from tents, came out to pick up pieces and try to figure out what happened. The most interesting launch of the day it seemed.

#2 I was traveling from Atlanta back to Orlando to marry my girl and stopped in Perry GA for a SOAR sport launch.
I left my Altimeter in Atlanta and borrowed an Altac by cutting my connectors off and screwing the wires down.
I think I was in "Wedding Performance Coma" when I exchanged a J-415 for a J-135..Hey! there was no wind!

That PML Eclipse was never seen from again up..up..and away with all the Rocketman chutes and Hardware...altimeter was a vendors demo and he forgave me.

This was the famous field that some guy came to with many kids in his Van and was observed by the landowner starting the field on fire and Leaving in a Panic..:y:

I have certainly had my share of embarrassing launches. From cato's to core core samples...being on the 'C' rack next to J powered rocket hooking up my E...odd-rocs lobbing themselves to 10', plopping, and ejecting on the ground. But this one always comes to mind.

I was flying my NCR Archer on a G-something (G35?) from my own pad. The pad was quickly thrown together from pieces of 2x4, a drill chuck, and a flat blast plate made from plywood and a ceramic tile. The key attribute in this case is the flat part. The rocket ignited quickly, sucked itself onto the tile and sat there bar-b-q'ing itself. That day, I learned about Bernoulli lock!

Way back in high school, my friend and me launched some rockets for a science class at the football field. When I lauched my Centuri Gabriel it came down to earth but got caught on the power wires and dangled like a pine scented car freshener from the rear-view mirror, causing much laughter from the audience.

Travel to Phoenix from Minneapolis to fly at Rainbow Valley.
Prep / launch 2 stage composite powered model.
Beautiful launch, beautiful apogee, beautiful arc over, beautiful descent, beautiful core sample.

Forgot to arm the upper stage.

In a thread two or three years ago I mentioned that I have never personally witnessed a cato. Well, after eight years as a BAR and four more years of launching rockets as a kid, nothing has changed -- I still have never witnessed one. Not in any of my rockets, and not in any other person's rocket either. I have no explanation for it; a cato just strikes me as a pretty rare event, at least around here anyway. Go figure. Buy hey, if you want to have a cato-proof launch, be sure to invite me!

"Just say no to Balsa wood fins!!"

WHY??? :confused2:

Mine was Mid West Power 8(?).

LOC 429 SS on 4 AT metalstorms. I had a zipper on the rocket the year before, so when I patched it, I converted it to dual deploy. Worked great. Now back to MWP. Load the motors, wire the igniters, prep the altimeter, connect all the charges, load the rocket on the pad. Recheck igniters. Launch rocket. What was missing here? How about arm the altimeter!!!! Plus to add insult to already injured, only 1 or 2(on same side?) motors lit. Rocket exited stage left in a hurry. Wildman said the farmers found it next spring AFTER they had driven over it with the soil finisher. Not a scrap to be saved. Not even the shock cords!
Lesson learned; checklist for complex rockets!

Adrian

I flew my Fliskits Frik-n-Frak at NARAM last month. In front of plenty of people. With Jim Flis in attendance. When the button got pressed the first stage sat on the pad while the second stage happily launched as a chad staged saucer with, um, interesting flight characteristics.

Since I hadn't flown in a year I forgot something important and neglected to tape the motor in.

No damage except some scorching. I got it right the second time.

I was doing a demo launch for local police who curious about HPR safety. I was using a 5" diameter red crayon rocket on an 'I' motor, something that had flown 20 times. Slid the rocket on the rail, armed the Magnetic Apogee Detector, and started walking back to the LCO. The MAD pops the 'chute on the pad!

Non-flight embarrassing moment (circa 2000): https://www.spaceportservices.com/video/crazy_chuff.wmv
Note to self: motor retention is not just for flight hardware.

jsdemar said:

I was doing a demo launch for local police who curious about HPR safety. I was using a 5" diameter red crayon rocket on an 'I' motor, something that had flown 20 times. Slid the rocket on the rail, armed the Magnetic Apogee Detector, and started walking back to the LCO. The MAD pops the 'chute on the pad!

Non-flight embarrassing moment (circa 2000): https://thrustgear.com/oldtests/video/crazy_chuff.wmv
Note to self: motor retention is not just for flight hardware.

Click to expand...

I get an error message at that url saying it is unavailable. IS there a different link we can use?

7' tall rocket scratch built for level 2 launch? ~ $300.00

CTI J330 reload? ~ $60.00

Hotel and trip to Nebraska with family? ~ $400.00

Remembering that you forgot to take the rubber band off of the main parachute as it falls back to earth? = Priceless!

Probably have to be the time I launched my clone of the Centuri X-24 bug - it lauched beautifully, kicked the motor out at ejection, transitioned into glide mode and proceeded to home straight in on the elderly owner of the property where we fly! fortunately, he sidestepped it - He was a rocketeer himself, competed in NAR contests for many years, and, sadly, passed away a couple of years ago. No harm, no foul, but plenty of good natured ribbing from the rest of the gang.

NSL 2009 Bong Recreation Area
PML Endeavour CTI 38mm 6XL J520 Skidmark dual deploy BlackSky AltAcc



Straight boost, arched over, no separation, no main, fully ballistic recovery into the runway just missing a parked car. The shell of the fin car survived but the rest of the airframe and altimeter bay was at the most 3" square confetti. Both e-matches were recovered unfired.



Still can't quite look Bunny in the eyes after that flight for at least not tilting the pad slightly more down range.

I don't think we should be embarrassed about this stuff. After all, it is what keeps this hobby interesting isn't it?

MarkII said:

In a thread two or three years ago I mentioned that I have never personally witnessed a cato. Well, after eight years as a BAR and four more years of launching rockets as a kid, nothing has changed -- I still have never witnessed one. Not in any of my rockets, and not in any other person's rocket either. I have no explanation for it; a cato just strikes me as a pretty rare event, at least around here anyway. Go figure. Buy hey, if you want to have a cato-proof launch, be sure to invite me!

Click to expand...

I did a static display for the local Discovery Center on one of their Boise Astronomical Soc. events. I had one of the very new then I195 BJ motor that I fired for a display. I knew of the possiblity of a mishap and had surrounded the motor with a 2 foot length of 1/4" thick 4" steam pipe. When I was assembling the motor I had to open the nozzle. I was curious about that, the only 38mm motor I ever used that wasn't drilled was an H123. Well, the nozzle was too small causing an overpressure that split the case halfway down and spit the aft enclosure into a duckpond that was littered with Miller Genuine Draft lids... they are the same gold as an AeroTech enclosure. Being it is a duck pond I wasn't about to go looking in a bacterial cesspool AeroTech replaced the case but not the aft end nor the load even though they were clearly at fault for providing me a load with an undrilled nozzle.

Then there was my NCR Eliminator at the first Las Vegas Turkey Shoot. I got an H97 that was from a batch that would ignite then have most of the upper grain crumble and clog the nozzle, putting out the fire. It flopped on the playa from about 100 feet, very embarrassing:blush: I never got a replacement for that one, either.