(Terrible) video of my first ever build/flight

Model: Hydra One
Motor: C6-5

[video=youtube;jOeznFU-Aos]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOeznFU-Aos[/video]

First of all, excuse the lack of countdown. Because of the remote location there was no one around for miles, and I was (unfortunately) by myself as I was visiting my parents that weekend and they were at work, plus all my friends have moved away from the area now.

I was wondering...is that spin you see the rocket have on its descent a sign that perhaps the chute is too small. It looked a little fast to me and was worried about the health of my fins?

Or is that about normal?

Chute is 18"

Ben

What's so terrible? Rocket, camera and a nice day. Doesn't any better then that. Looked like a good flight too.

The spin has to do with the placement of the chute on your cord. Move the chute further away from the nose cone. ? Decent rate looked a little fast, try a 20"

Nice video actually. Great job on zoom, I'm terrible trying to find the rocket on the zoom screen.

Get in habit of doing a count down on every flight--- solo or not, it is good practice. Not bad idea to do what they do at "real launches", and say (to yourself or outloud while you actually LOOK) something like "sky is clear" (your check for aircraft), "field is clear" (no little kids in the recovery area to whack), "5,4,3,2,1, launch".

Thanks for showing this!

Tom

Ah, thanks for the tips. In hindsight I realise that the chute is way too close (my kevlar just passes the end of the BT and the elastic is about 15" long). Really pleased with this build though considering it was my first ever I jumped in at the deep end with this model, but it's paid off.

I launch alone, also. It is just me, the cattle, flocks of geese and ravens. I always do a count and scan the sky for coast guard helos and flying pigs (ravens) before I launch. I did notice in the video that you appeared to be sitting on the ground. Not good. If the rocket went wild and was flying all over the place it will be hard to move out of the way. Seen that happen. Other than that it was nice video and rocket.