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The Onions i dont like onions at all BUT.... I love the smell. Tell me the whole weekend didn't remind you of TGI Fridays and french onion soup! I Loved the smell. :y:
 
WWOOOWWW...
That was one incredible weekend...
My wife and I both had a fantastic time....
Everyone of you guys are the reason,,,
There were so many insanely cool flights,,,,
It was one right after another,,, for 3 days......
I got 2 flights in that were really important to me.......

My 3" fiberglass scratch "Green Hornet"
went for a long ride on an Aerotech K 480 W to 11,373 ft.....
Recovery was at the back of the field almost to the far road....

My 54mm minimum D "Altitude Seeker"
went up on an Aerotech K 550 W and made 9615 ft.
and landed in the same area....
Thank you to the guys that found it first... lol

I am truly enjoying the Big Red Bee ham based tracker....
It was quite frustrating in the beginning,,,
Now it's half the fun of the flight.....
I find I am flying higher, with more confidence now that
I am following the tracker right to the rocket...

Connor,,,
What a nice young man you are,,, what a great head you've got on your shoulders.....
My heartiest congratulations on your level 1 cert......
You are certainly going to put up some super cool flights in your rocketry endeavors.....
And you will most definitely succeed in anything else you put your mind to in life....
You parents are sure proud of you as well......

May you make all the right choices in life Connor.....

Teddy

Teddy, that was me and Fred that grabbed your rocket, I'll reach out to Fred if he has the picture of how your altitude seeker landed on his rocket. Had a great weekend except for a few rookie mistakes (like never put a gwiz upside down). -Andrew
 
Thank you Andrew....
How much easier does recovery have to get....
There's 2 guys bring my rocket out of the fields.... lol...
I'd love to see that pic for sure....

Teddy
 
Dan did you remember to put the thumb screw in the fb to seal it? The video imakes it hard to see , but after the motor was out of the airframe , it was still burning hard . It looks like you just had a blow by.

Eric
 
Dan did you remember to put the thumb screw in the fb to seal it? The video imakes it hard to see , but after the motor was out of the airframe , it was still burning hard . It looks like you just had a blow by.

Eric

Hey Eric,

My best guess is that I had flow around the liner step of the fore bulkhead. I turned the bulkhead for spiral phenolic and the step was loose in the convolute liner that I used on this motor. The fore bulkhead did not have a through hole.

Sucks that it happened, I hate wasting propellant and motor cases. I'm getting quite good at it as of late.
 
...anyone find a silver 3" case around the away cell pads? The pictures I have seen (thanks David McCann!) suggest that the casing separated from the liner. If that's the case, I'd expect that the case would be found somewhere in the field.

The case probably has ~2' remaining with the nozzle still in the back end. I'd assume that the AeroPack retainer is still on the case as well.
 
We will be out there in a few weeks I am sure more than a few people will be walking the rows around those pads looking for stuff, we tend to find a lot of lost rockets.
 
My family and I had a great time at this year's URRF. It was well run and the flying was non-stop. I only make it out to a multi-day event like this about once a year and I will definitely be back next year. The weather was great, I avoided all trees and got all my rockets back. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend (well, maybe a little less onion next time).

A big, big thank you to URRG and it's members for being able to pull off such a fantastic event. And I may try to attend one of your regular launches later in the year to get in some higher 2-stage launches.

-brant
 
Onions,,, Onions,,, and more Onions...............

I cleaned my truck out twice...
The mini onion tornado's blew the onions into every nook and cranny in my truck..... lol

Teddy

Yeah, those little twisters were wicked! Somehow, praise God, my tent stayed up the whole weekend. But I had to get a carwash first thing Monday morning.
 
Hi Dan.

I was working as a pad manager I know where I was standing when your case hit the creek or close to and lined it up with a building in the back ground. I will be out there in the next few weeks or month so I will spend some time on finding your case. I plan on having the ( squirrel ) My nephew Jason with me so if anyone has some in trees we can hopefully retrieve them. Anyone needing someone to take a look for them drop a PM with as much info as u have and I will get the squirrel on the area with an ATV for scout and retrieval.

Larry W
 
Hi Dan.

I was working as a pad manager I know where I was standing when your case hit the creek or close to and lined it up with a building in the back ground. I will be out there in the next few weeks or month so I will spend some time on finding your case. I plan on having the ( squirrel ) My nephew Jason with me so if anyone has some in trees we can hopefully retrieve them. Anyone needing someone to take a look for them drop a PM with as much info as u have and I will get the squirrel on the area with an ATV for scout and retrieval.

Larry W

Larry,

The case went into the creek? Damn, the propellant/liner headed for the woods, while the case headed for the water...that motor never wanted to be found!

I appreciate your effort. The case should be able to be shortened and the Aeropack is most likely still attached...
 
Teddy, that was me and Fred that grabbed your rocket, I'll reach out to Fred if he has the picture of how your altitude seeker landed on his rocket. Had a great weekend except for a few rookie mistakes (like never put a gwiz upside down). -Andrew

Here you go... I can email the original, if wanted...

potter1-6-29-14.jpg
 
Hi Dan. I believe the case is on the north side of the creek bank if not close to or in the water. I was between the a and b left bank assisting when it went up and watched it and lined it up with the corner of the barn north of it. I have a good idea hope to help you out.
 
Here you go... I can email the original, if wanted...

Wow that's cool,,
thanks Fred,,
All of that altitude,,
all of that distance down range,,
and they land right next to each other....
That's some coincidence...

Teddy
 
Oh,,
The pic's I got are up on my site...
I know,, it took me long enough to go through them... lol
There were a decent amount of pics to filter through...

Teddy
 
Great shots Teddy! I love the Dark Matter launches.
It was a blast meeting you, glad we met up.
 
Dave,,
One of the best things about this whole rocketry thing is meeting people after typing with them for so long...
It was really cool finally getting to meet you too...
I took a look at the shots you got as well,,,
I couldn't believe how great they came out...
I can't believe how fast you process your pics...
Mine take me forever...
But I think that's half because of my computer... lol...
I was drooling over that lens on your camera Dave,,, lol
Too cool.................

Teddy
 
Thanks man...Canon Lenses are amazing. Some day I'll pickup the new 200mm F/2 L. If you ever get the chance to get hands on a white lens....do it.

I'm telling you man, get a copy of Lightroom. You'll never go back. I culled 4500 photos down to 1978 in about an hour. Then I go back through and crop and edit.
 
That's insane....
That would've taken me 8 hours...
I've always wanted a white Cannon but had a hard time justifying the money...
Maybe I'll look into one....
It must be long enough though....
Your the second person to tell me about Light Room...
My buddy Troy keeps harping on me about it...

Teddy
 
The F/4 non IS 70-200 L is a great lens and "affordable".

There's a million lenses I want to get, but the F/2.8 70-200 I have is a workhorse. Wouldn't be any good for rocketry, but I want the F/1.2 85mm "canonball" next.
 
I was thinking a longer lens then that..
But I think you'd wind up with better shots overall
by increasing the megapixels instead of the lens
so you could crop more and retain the image quality...

Teddy
 
Dave and Ted, I do have the white canon zoom lens that goes to 400mm. I had it with me intending to take some pics, but was too busy with range duties and talking to folks I never even opened the bag to pull my 7D out and start shooting. Maybe next time..
If I hadn't brought it then I would have needed it, so go figure!
You took great shots, so folks have plenty to choose from!
Dave, I see you're in Lancaster, so I'll mention I get my supplies from the folks at Continental Camera..
 
Pic of my L3 Thanks to David. It actually had some pretty big bubbling on the gelcoat of the PR nosecone, and it only hit Mach 1.4 ish, 11,200 ft. Is that even possible? The Raven accel severly underreported alt a 6500 and speed at 1.1, but the baro data says it was almost Mach 1.5 which is more in line with my sims.
L3 GPS track.jpg
urrfDay2-6221-(ZF-1594-31761-1-002).jpg
L3 Crop.jpg
 
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What a blast Molly and I had at URRF. The weather was amazing, low wind, 85 degrees and sunny for setup day (Thursday) and 86 all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday (We departed for home at 1 PM).

My girlfriend Molly got her Level 1 Certification on Friday with her purple, scratch-built (Toys R Us Crayon bank) rocket aptly named "Purple Haze". She totally built it herself . I only cut the Lexan fins for her on the table saw. So now Molly is a real rocket babe! I'm so proud of her work and her accomplishment especially for someone who only had two low power flights under her belt.

Her cert flight used a CTI 29mm H123 Skidmark with 7 second delay. An absolutely picture perfect flight with recovery about 500 feet from the pad! She flew again on Saturday using a CTI H90 Classic. Again another great flight.

I got four flights off myself. My green Formula 75 flew on a CTI J381 Skidmark to 4368'. My yellow Formula 98 flew on a K454 Skidmark to 4624'. My Sub-Lime flew on a K490 Green motor to 4330'

My L3 GIZMO XL "SLUGGO" flew for its third time on a L645 long burn Green motor to 5344'. That was my most interesting and challenging flight. I knew the L645 was a little light on initial thrust for this 34 lb bird and angling the launch rail away from the crowd and into the wind allowed for more than intended weathercocking. Add to that the green formulation chuffed a bit and the rocket arced slightly as it left the pad and straightened out as the motor came up to full thrust. I'd say the rocket flew on a 20 degree trajectory away to our left.. One of my two altimeters (probably the Raven II) detected the flattened trajectory and diminishing pressure and deployed the apogee charge and my 32" Skyangle Cert II drogue while SLUGGO was still traveling at high speed, promptly shredding the chute to bits and actually opening the 1/4" quicklink! Thankfully the nosecone stayed attached to the Kevlar shock cord and finally the main deployed at 700 feet as planned. SLUGGO descended behind the tree line near the farm's entry road about 3000 feet away according to my Garmin GPS tracker. Molly and I hopped in the car and followed the GPS. We discovered that the rocket could only be accessed by wading through a ditch, then scrub, then forest. So I donned some long pants, rubber boots and a jacket to avoid being cut up or stung by nettles or thorns. Remember it was 86 degrees and humid. Once through the other side of the woods, following the Garmin, I came out into a corn field with gorgeous 6 foot high early corn. My GPS was showing that SLUGGO might be in the trees that I just left behind so I scanned the canopy for the 84" bright green Starchute. Nothing.... Hmm. Did I land in the water?? A 10 minute search proved not. Because the GPS gets inaccurate within 30 feet, I walked about 60 feet in opposite directions and triangulated the GPS readings which actually pointed into the corn field. So I took off my jacket, (whew it was hot) and headed into the corn and Bingo! Twenty feet in there she was with nose and fuselage about 4 feet apart in the corn. I reassembled this 33 lb slug and carried it back through the corn, the woods, the brush, across the water and out where I had entered. Hardly a scratch on the paint. Oh yah, The GPS tracker paid for itself again. There is NO WAY I would have found this rocket in the 1/2 hour or so it took me. It would have taken a search party hours or days to find it if at all.

I later discovered that the piston in the main's cannon tube had departed with the loop that was factory sewn into the top of the Starchute. I thought that was very curious and as I drove back to our canopy on the flight line, I tried to postulate why that would have happened.

Next day I mentioned this to Gary Tortora who said that what probably happened is that the BP charge in the cannon tube was strong enough to push the piston sufficiently to eject the main chute but that the suction created behind the piston in the cannon tube sucked the piston part way back as the chute inflated in the other direction thereby giving a huge tug on the piston and tearing off the loop. Then the piston fell to earth. Gary had the same thing happen to his Starchute and had since increased his BP charges by an extra 1/2 gram. And so will I after I install a new piston and loop!

Before departing I bought one of Gary T's new Painkiller 3 kits (since I didn't win the one being raffled off. Very cool design for a great price.

So all in all we had great fun. Thanks so much to Bill and Mary Beth Clune and URRG for organizing such a fun event. I'm a bit off onions for now though. Photos of Molly's project below. Next post will show some of my flights.

Slotting the tube.JPG Cut Motor Tube.JPG Epoxy.JPG Epoxy in slots.JPG Weight & Balance.JPG Molly & Purple Haze.JPG Onto the rail.JPG Molly's Purple Haze L1 flight.JPG Landed .JPG Congrats!.JPG
 
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Wow Dave,,
I love the shot of "Sluggo" laying in the corn field...
It blends right in with the corn plants...
I completely agree,,
I won't fly with out a tracker anymore either.....

Teddy
 
Wow Dave,,
I love the shot of "Sluggo" laying in the corn field...
It blends right in with the corn plants...
I completely agree,,
I won't fly with out a tracker anymore either.....

Teddy

What makes it even more difficult is to find a green rocket with a green chute in a green cornfield. Check out these new pics carefully. The first shows the woods on the left, and the cornfield on the right. No sign of a chute or rocket. The second shows the drogue chute and the green main chute in the corn. I had to virtually step on them to see them. The last shows the recovered rocket next to the corn field. I love GPS!

P1240708 (Medium).JPG P1240710 (Medium).JPG P1240713 (Medium).JPG
 
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