Tips from Locals

For Bong we got tips from the local flyers for recovery and hazards.
Are there any must/should do's for the Potter site?


Mark

If you don't land on the main field, see Greg (or whoever is heading up the recovery team). He's got a map of all the surrounding farms and phone numbers for the owners. They're all used to us dropping rockets on them, but we do need to contact them and see the best way to recover. Also with all the irrigation ditches he can save you a lot of headaches with how to best get to your landing spot. Crops won't be an issue, but there are areas of trees. Long shock cords help. Nearly everything is going to land on the main field, the only small hazards are the "tree island", and the irrigation ditches.

Here's an overhead. For large launches they've always setup the pads towards the left at the red dot, and rockets will drift under chute to the right. Most land on the main field, in the lower right theres a scale (500 foot), it's a good sized recovery area.

EDIT: one other thing we've had issues with....the farm road speed limit is 5 MPH, and they really do mean it. We like to keep our farmers happy.



the other Local tip: Smuggler's Corner

Cell reception is spotty. I grab 4G with AT&T from the pads, but lose coverage in the fields. Most Sprint and Verizon have issues getting a signal.

My BRB900 would pull between 9 and 12 satellites, so GPS is good.

Not only do they mean it, but it is near impossible (without a sand rail or a tracked vehicle) to exceed it. The farm roads do not take you directly anywhere. For example, I landed just to the right of that small clump of trees. The drive there took close to 20 minutes each way. Also, the local Mennonite boys are very helpful in recovery. Always carry a small gratuity to thank them for their help. When I recovered out there, you could see how the breeze was dragging the airframe. Two young men had corralled it and were standing on the shock cord to keep it in place. Best $10 I ever spent.

H_Rocket said:

Not only do they mean it, but it is near impossible (without a sand rail or a tracked vehicle) to exceed it. The farm roads do not take you directly anywhere. For example, I landed just to the right of that small clump of trees. The drive there took close to 20 minutes each way. Also, the local Mennonite boys are very helpful in recovery. Always carry a small gratuity to thank them for their help. When I recovered out there, you could see how the breeze was dragging the airframe. Two young men had corralled it and were standing on the shock cord to keep it in place. Best $10 I ever spent.

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Yep. In a cruel twist of geography, if you land 1,000' north you're looking at a 25 minute drive down to the mile bridge to come around the ditch. Small tips are surely a good idea. Squirrel was in the right place at the right time to fish my Darkstar out of the ditch. If not for him it'd have been dragged away by the chute in the stream and I'd never have found it..and he gave me the name for the rocket.... "Beaver chasing a jellyfish"

I think 90% of the flights over 5K went into that field Al. Seemed like a sweet spot.

H_Rocket said:

Always carry a small gratuity to thank them for their help. When I recovered out there, you could see how the breeze was dragging the airframe. Two young men had corralled it and were standing on the shock cord to keep it in place. Best $10 I ever spent.

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We thank you for that Al, a few too many flyers shake their hands and walk off.

cell phone service is sketchy at best, the field is in a valley. this may cause problems if you are using a cellular device for tracking.

RKeller said:

cell phone service is sketchy at best, the field is in a valley. this may cause problems if you are using a cellular device for tracking.

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I have an older garmin gps unit for a car that can navigate to coordinates. seems to work well and doesn't rely on cell service. you might want to bring one along as a backup if you use GPS.

GPS for cars uses a different logic. It's designed to keep you on the road closest to...(or just lost). You will be a ways off. Get a hiking GPS and know if you are to input minutes & seconds or minutes & tenths of seconds. That could lead you far astray. Trust me, I geocache...made both mistakes!