Funniest Rocket Flights

[ksaves2]

Ummm,

I suspect I posted this years before but in my old age would like to resurrect it again. Back in the day when the Peoria (Illinois) Area Rocketry Society was getting established, we had a guy (who will remain nameless for his protection) who loved flying "odd-rocks".

He came up with an odd rocket that was made out of one of those triangular tubes USPS shipping boxes. He made a triangular nosecone, made plywood triangular centering rings and put fins through the wall (I think) l into the motor tube. I don't know if the fins were "'glass" on plywood. I think the motor tube was 54mm. The skin of the rocket wasn't fiberglassed.

He flew it on lower impulse motors up to a "J" with good success. Was always fun to see fly. One day the flier decided to fly it on a commercial "K" motor and that was the limit of cardboard.

Went up and disintegrated on ascent. Cardboard confetti rained downed on us and we were laughing liking Hades.

One would think the flier lost all his hardware but many minutes later the empty motor tube came down under a main chute and the flier got his hardware back.

We fellow fliers laughed and laughed to no end as to the unusual flight but were happy the flier was able to get the expensive hardward of his rocket back to fly again in other projects.

Kurt

 

[BABAR]

Is this limited to high power?

 

[teepot]

That's funny. I made a rocket from the same triangular box. 29mm mmt. Triangular nose cone out of 1/8th ply and plywood fins. It flies fine. My funny is flight is a tie. One was a traffic cone. At ignition the nose weight broke loose and it spun like a windmill. The other one was a replica 60mm mortar round. Tube launched. Not enough nose weight. It cleared the tube and spun too.

 

[Handeman]

I haven't been big on odd-rocs, but at my first HPR launch in 2003, someone had a fence post. I've never seen it again. So this last year I build one myself. It's 4" square white post with four fan blades from a ceiling fan for fins. I did make a mistake and use a 38mm MMT. It turned out heavy enough it only flies on 38/600 I motors or J350Ws A J415W would be a great motor in it.

 

[86mustang408w]

Is this limited to high power?

Asking the same...Have a baby bertha that Flys on E's and one im buikding for 29mm, so some F's and G's.....

 

[ksaves2]

Asking the same...Have a baby bertha that Flys on E's and one im buikding for 29mm, so some F's and G's.....

Reinforce the fins because if flutter occurs, the rocket will disintegrate its' fins. Might keep going straight up and get some "bits" back if a nominal deployment occurs. As mentioned above in post #1, the flier gradually worked up to a "K" motor in his Postal tube rocket (it had a 54mm mount) and he found the aerodynamic limit for cardboard in that given application. When the cardboard Postal tube rocket turned into confetti on ascent due to aerodynamic forces, we fellow fliers couldn't hold back and started laughing hysterically as it was so funny to see. We collected up the "litter" after it fluttered down and landed. It was not fiberglassed.

The flier was justifiably dejected as to the presumed lost hardware was "gone". Well after several minutes, a another flier/spotter pointed out a descending "rocket" under a full main that was just a motor tube with triangular centering rings intact. I personally years later surmised that when the rocket disintegrated, the triangular centering rings acted as some sort of aerodynamic stabilizing force as when I witnessed the rocket turning to confetti, the rocket tube under boost continued under a straight smoke trail to the nether world above.

The chute deployed as the electronics (or motor ejection I don't remember which) dictated and we laughed heartily again on descent. When the body tube now "oddroc" flying rocket was recovered, we laughed even more and were happy along with the flier for he got his hardware back to fly again another day. He was o.k. with that and laughed along with us too after recovery of the "pricey" parts.

It was nothing but a long motor tube with triangular plywood centering rings, the retained motor casing, nosecone with the recovery chute and paraphernalia.

Funniest but harmless rocket flight I've ever witnessed and will take it to the grave. Wished there was someone there with video of it but it was in the "olden" days. Kurt

 

[86mustang408w]

Reinforce the fins because if flutter occurs, the rocket will disintegrate its' fins. Might keep going straight up and get some "bits" back if a nominal deployment occurs. As mentioned above in post #1, the flier gradually worked up to a "K" motor in his Postal tube rocket (it had a 54mm mount) and he found the aerodynamic limit for cardboard in that given application. When the cardboard Postal tube rocket turned into confetti on ascent due to aerodynamic forces, we fellow fliers couldn't hold back and started laughing hysterically as it was so funny to see. We collected up the "litter" after it fluttered down and landed. It was not fiberglassed.

The flier was justifiably dejected as to the presumed lost hardware was "gone". Well after several minutes, a another flier/spotter pointed out a descending "rocket" under a full main that was just a motor tube with triangular centering rings intact. I personally years later surmised that when the rocket disintegrated, the triangular centering rings acted as some sort of aerodynamic stabilizing force as when I witnessed the rocket turning to confetti, the rocket tube under boost continued under a straight smoke trail to the nether world above.

The chute deployed as the electronics (or motor ejection I don't remember which) dictated and we laughed heartily again on descent. When the body tube now "oddroc" flying rocket was recovered, we laughed even more and were happy along with the flier for he got his hardware back to fly again another day. He was o.k. with that and laughed along with us too after recovery of the "pricey" parts.

It was nothing but a long motor tube with triangular plywood centering rings, the retained motor casing, nosecone with the recovery chute and paraphernalia.

Funniest but harmless rocket flight I've ever witnessed and will take it to the grave. Wished there was someone there with video of it but it was in the "olden" days. Kurt

I have a few spare parts, might take a Bt-80, nose cone, and make a smaller but an upscale of the baby bertha. I can get plywood fins with tabs made from Rocketryworks for Super Big Bertha(Its gonna be basically a short one of those with a 29mm motor mount), he's been my guy for this this time getting into it and for will be for life..But I just got my big collection back, have a few Estes down to the Wizard up to an Aerotech G-Force with 3D Rocketry in between few other random from Quest and Mercury Engineering with about 120 motors and lots of good parts from DogHouse, Rocketarium, RocketChutes, Apogee, LOC Precision, etc.. Look around the other threads and posts I posted a few places here.

 

[ksaves2]

I have a few spare parts, might take a Bt-80, nose cone, and make a smaller but an upscale of the baby bertha. I can get plywood fins with tabs made from Rocketryworks for Super Big Bertha(Its gonna be basically a short one of those with a 29mm motor mount), he's been my guy for this this time getting into it and for will be for life..But I just got my big collection back, have a few Estes down to the Wizard up to an Aerotech G-Force with 3D Rocketry in between few other random from Quest and Mercury Engineering with about 120 motors and lots of good parts from DogHouse, Rocketarium, RocketChutes, Apogee, LOC Precision, etc.. Look around the other threads and posts I posted a few places here.

I will say one thing, the higher the motor impulse make sure one has strong fins. I never had a "disintegration" problem with BP motors as I tried to reinforce my builds after witnessing some anomalous HPR flights. I could fit some higher impulse BP and sometimes AP motors to them and get them back without a structural failure. A tracking device was included mind you. That helps if they go really high. Kurt

 

[J Blatz]

I've seen a lot of wreckage over the years. Here's one anecdote.

This next song's a true story...

Back in the mid 90s at an AeroPac launch we had a club member flying a fairly large scratch build. Probably 8 ft tall 7.5 LOC, think Bruiser size. Anyhow, it's loaded with an AT K1100 in the central MMT and two outboard black powder RocketFlite F50s. All motors to be lit on the ground.

That turned out to be a bad idea. When the button got pushed the BP motors came right up and had just enough power to clear the launch rod. Then the rocket plops to the ground and the K1100 comes up, pushing the rocket like a quarter mile across the playa.

Best landshark I can remember.

 

[86mustang408w]

I will say one thing, the higher the motor impulse make sure one has strong fins. I never had a "disintegration" problem with BP motors as I tried to reinforce my builds after witnessing some anomalous HPR flights. I could fit some higher impulse BP and sometimes AP motors to them and get them back without a structural failure. A tracking device was included mind you. That helps if they go really high. Kurt

Yeah right now around here I'm not going for altitude. Gonna either go to MDRA, URRG, or MARS for my higher(maybe 2500 to 3000) flights right now. Also have a jollylogic chute release getting here 2morrow. Gonna play with that a bit first on a smaller LPR with a really low altitude flight so I can watch it. I'm not planning on super high L1 fights and I'll be using bigger more visible rockets for the cert flight now I have my old collection back. I've been using thru the wall fins with tabs even on my LPR, labeling/CA for the fins, fillets for the fins, good kevlar shock cord, for those.. And gonna have plywood fins made for my Mercury Integrator Integrator from Rocketryworks I'm not using balsa fins on a L1. So thanks for the reply, I'm still taking notes.

 

[jadebox]

That turned out to be a bad idea. When the button got pushed the BP motors came right up and had just enough power to clear the launch rod. Then the rocket plops to the ground and the K1100 comes up, pushing the rocket like a quarter mile across the playa.

Best landshark I can remember.

That could have been the inspiration for one of the Level 2 Cert test questions!

 

[BABAR]

One day the flier decided to fly it on a commercial "K" motor and that was the limit of cardboard.

Went up and disintegrated on ascent. Cardboard confetti rained downed on us and we were laughing liking Hades.

whole new meaning to “going postal!”

 

[BABAR]

My “funny flight” was also an inspiration.

Sorry this is LPR

Been doing helicopter recovery, I used flat blades, I was playing around with pitch angles.

I think this one had 5 degrees pitch, but one of the hinges must have been wonky.

Perfect up flight.

Perfect apogee deploy.

Rotors fully opened and oriented perfect nose up.

Silly thing didn’t spin.

5 mph wind, this puppy gently and smoothly descended , movement was only down and lateral. It looked like something out of a sci fi movie with a low CGI graphics, it was like it was coming down on a rail.

“Oh darn…….wait a minute, what if I built a rocket to do this INTENTIONALLY?”

My AirBrake series and Spyder Video series of rockets was born.

 

[Kallahan11]

This one.

 

[BABAR]

This one.

That answers the question, “How many Rockets can you Balance on the Head of a Rail?”

None (but for a moment there, in slow mo…….)

 

[86mustang408w]

This one.

Ok, that was a good one. I've taken some advice about making fins stronger for some of mine its worked well, and since had my L1 certification flight. It wasn't funny at the time but I can laugh now that the motor I chose or used ejected 2 seconds after ignition, lol.

 

[neil_w]

This one.

That is an all-time classic. Extraordinary.

 

[BABAR]

This one.

So no back up motor eject, and electronics were safe (no apogee detected so never fired.). A very successful failure.

 

[teepot]

Since seeing the failure to fly clip I'm reminded of something similar. I have a MPR rocket with a 29mm core and two 18mm SRB's that use Apogee SRB hooks. 29mm composite core and two C6-0's. When the button was pushed only the two C6-0's lit. The didn't have enough to move the rocket. It sat on the pad while they burned. The ejection charges fired and blew the nose cones off and deployed the chutes and the SRB's fell to the ground. Very funny. The rocket had flown successful at my house with just my wife and I watching. But no when there was an audience. I haven't tried to fly it since.

 

[bjphoenix]

He came up with an odd rocket that was made out of one of those triangular tubes USPS shipping boxes. He made a triangular nosecone, made plywood triangular centering rings and put fins through the wall (I think) l into the motor tube.

I have one of those in my garage waiting for me. One of my friends was given some old motors including maybe a half dozen E12 that were not stored well. I was going to see if I could build something from the tube to use the E12, basically cobble together a rocket without any purchased items in it. I'm not sure if I can make it light enough for a single E12, may have to cluster it.
I did this over 20 years ago when a friend of mine gave me some FSI F100 after having a couple of CATOs. I used a big cardboard tube from a paper roll or such, rolled a pointed nose cone from a piece of paper, posterboard fins. I launched it with the remaining 3 F100 motors and had 3 successful flights.

 

[Art Upton]

This one.

I had that happen on a CTI H blue motor in my Iroc about 6 years ago

 

[Art Upton]

With a successful 4" M motor L3 Flight on my Booster Bruiser and many other flights on it, when Putting the N1100 in it was too much for the flat plate G10 fins, they fluttered:



$359 to drive to Texas LDRS
$799 for an N1100 motor
Having almost a 1/4 million views, priceless

Edit: back in this time, the video was not a tiny digital recorder on a rocket. This was a high powered NTSC analog ATV transmitter on 2.4ghz transmitting to the ground to a small Grid dish antenna on a "boom" that you pointed at the the rocket like a bazooka with the receiver feeding a small camcorder A/V input jacks.

That is why there are drop outs at times when things get Gnarly

 

[teepot]

I have one of those in my garage waiting for me. One of my friends was given some old motors including maybe a half dozen E12 that were not stored well. I was going to see if I could build something from the tube to use the E12, basically cobble together a rocket without any purchased items in it. I'm not sure if I can make it light enough for a single E12, may have to cluster it.
I did this over 20 years ago when a friend of mine gave me some FSI F100 after having a couple of CATOs. I used a big cardboard tube from a paper roll or such, rolled a pointed nose cone from a piece of paper, posterboard fins. I launched it with the remaining 3 F100 motors and had 3 successful flights.

I did the same thing. I put a regular BT80 thru the middle of the box so I could use regular centering rings. I used a coupler to hold the nose cone. The nose cone was made with 1/8th plywood. 3 sides and the bottom. Epoxied the coupler into the nose cone. 1/8th ply fins TTW to the BT. I fly it on a G78-4. Flies great. Lots of laughs when I fly it.

 

[BABAR]

NSL 2019?
two stage, D to D, with an A8-3 in a booster pod clustered to the D12-0. The 18mm pod had a chute to recover the 50 plus inch gap staged booster.

the A lit, the D did not. Had just enough motor to get off the rail, fall the ground leaning drunkenly against the launch rack, and pop the chute.

 

[KenECoyote]

I have a few, but the funniest for me is my custom cup rocket "Mr. Wiggles" (with hair!). I've had it for many years and it wiggles on the way up.

View attachment 20230422_131957_1.mp4

On its recent (and final) flight, the motor ejection shot it over behind us and it landed in the river. The LCO kept following it as it drifted down river yelling "MR. WIGGLES!!!"

Cheers to Mr.Wriggles!

 

[bguffer]

Here's a low power. Unsure if counts.

 

[teepot]

Here's a low power. Unsure if counts.

I had one do that. As it left the rail it took the wires with it. The whole wire pulled loose from the remote firing box. The rocket went up trailing 12' of cable.

 

[JimJarvis50]

Two of my favorates ....

The first MC's by Texas icon Marlin Philyaw. The second staring former Tripoli president Stu Barrett.

Jim