3/19/11 Tampa Tripoli Launch Photos

[eugenefl]

Greetings all - it feels like 1/2 a year has gone by since I've been out to the flying field to fly or photograph any rockets...oh wait, maybe it's been about 4-5 months! Anyhow, the turnout was great as was the weather. A pesky breeze made things challenging on occasion, but overall the skies were clear blue and some of the best I've seen for rocketry flying in a while. I only had 3 modest flights. Lately I've been enjoying photographing more than I have been flying. That being said, I got to fly my upscale BullPup on a G76G, 2.6" dia Gyroc on a G53J, and a from-scratch NCR Hypersonic 950 on a D12. Astron Mike had many great flights on his crowd pleasing gliders. Many great photos to share so let's get to it.

PS - If you've ever considered flying at the Tampa Tripoli site don't wait! The field is awesome and we had someone kiss the 12k waiver at the latest launch! There's a vendor onsite for your motor and rocketry stuff needs so don't delay!

 

[eugenefl]

Here are a few sequence shots of "Astron Mike's" gliders to include a twin-Marauder configuration. With the exception of an earlier nose dive on a failed glide transition from a Bomarc, everything turned out fantastic glide times. Nice job Mike!

 

[eugenefl]

Mixed in are 2 different Delta scale rockets and a few other misc. shots.

 

[eugenefl]

I've always enjoyed the anticipation and anxiety that builds up at the pads just prior to a launch. Nerves are everywhere. It's always good to see flyers helping each other out whether it's with sandpaper, pad adjustments, or simply figuring out what leads go where.

 

[eugenefl]

Capturing successful lift-off shots are for me essentially that "last goodbye" when you send a rocket on its way. Sometimes flights dont turn out so well and all you've got left is the last great still image prior to a kit deconstructing in some way.

 

[eugenefl]

The Univ. of Florida was on site to fly their L powered rocket. After several failed launch attempts they finally got their rocket into the air only to later have it land in the woods at the edge of the field. I hope they were able to recover the payload which was essential to their visit.

 

[eugenefl]

Some more misc on-the-range shots.

If you were in attendance at TTRA on 3/19 and have an image request please let me know via PM with a description of what you flew. I took 500+ photos and chances are yours is in my digital album.

Thanks all for checking out the pics!

 

[AstronMike]

Here are a few sequence shots of "Astron Mike's" gliders to include a twin-Marauder configuration. With the exception of an earlier nose dive on a failed glide transition from a Bomarc, everything turned out fantastic glide times. Nice job Mike!

Hey! Thanks for such great photos, Eugene!

The larger glider in the first three pics is the Astron SST (light version), flying very well on a G64. Dead straight boost, ejection/transition right at apogee, and a nice glide back to boot. Never gets old....

The gliders in those last two shots is actually *two* Marauder LV's being hauled up on a special carrier I kludged up for that purpose. Note that these are NOT parasite gliders.....they fly by themselves just fine, especially on D5s, so I just made this 'accessory' to run two of them at once. Flew this stack twice, first on a D12, then on an E9. Really glad to see this work so well.

As for Bomarcs....well.....it wasn't thier day at all! :rant: My 3" cardstock/Depron version, which had like 10 successful flights on it so far, decided that today it forgot which direction horizontal was on recovery. Everything looked fine on it, must have been a weird transition fluke. Easy fix.

10 flights, 9 good or better flights, still a great day overall.

 

[qquake2k]

AWESOME photos!!! If you weren't so far away, I'd come and visit!

 

[eugenefl]

AWESOME photos!!! If you weren't so far away, I'd come and visit!

I guess we can excuse you given your location puts you across the country! Thanks for the compliments on the photos. I enjoy taking them just as much as I do flying rockets.

 

[qquake2k]

I take a lot of photos and videos too. I love the memories they bring.

 

[Leo]

Excellent

 

[UPscaler]

Looks like a lot of fun! We're looking at a possible move to Tampa, so if we do move we'll se you guys out there!




Braden