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The title of one of Thursday night's shows was "Rocket-Powered Pick-up". Wow, I had posted a message a few days ago about a fictional dream that the guys had done a rocket-powered pick-up. But in my fiction, they had tried to fly it vertically, tonight's was horizontally.
But what I'm going to describe is for real. At the end of this you'll read the premise/excuse for doing a rocket powered pick-up.
No, my beef is not about the rocket powered pick-up which actually worked well, and it worked well mainly because the RCR guys actually had very little to do with it.
It was the incredibly stupidly done and potentially fatal accident they had during their "small scale tests".
Why is the guy with the wrecked kiddy pedal car smiling, right after he, his dad, and friends nearly got hit and potentially killed by one of these?
I mean, what's the largest rocket motor you would put into a small test car and fire DOWN THE ROAD in front of your own house? And at what motor size would you agree you ought to be arrested if you'd fired something like that down a public road, and knowing even if it "worked", it was going to go off the road and into the woods, spewing flame and sparks?
But I'm getting ahead of the story. So, here goes, the testing before it went from just plain stupid to totally idiotic. With no real regard for safety 1st, 2nd, Thuurd, 4th, 5th.......
So, the guys do a test with some kiddy pedal cars. Set them on a the road in front of their house. Man, what idiots, to set those up to go down a public road. Of course, I expect somebody stopped traffic, but still, that was a totally unsuitable place to do that.
3-engine cluster of 29mm motors (one car uses F23's). On the first car, only two out of three light (center did not light so no uneven thrust).
For the first test, Travis has the launch control right behind the car, and gets a face-full of smoke.
For test #2, they did exactly the same thing. Except for that one it was his nephew who pressed the button and got the face full of smoke.
Man, even when I did C6 and D12 (and an F7) powered rocket cars, I had sense not to be exactly right behind it.
The cars quickly veer off to one side, the "Winner" is the one that veers off less severely than the first, which is not saying much.
One reason the cars veer, is they did not lock the steering to point straight. An onboard camera shows the front wheels randomly flopping around wherever they want to go, like a shopping cart. Maybe Travis needed to get a PHD in locking up the steering for uncontrolled rocket cars?
Travis said that one of the two things learned from the test was that "rocket cars are really hard to control". Uh, what control? He didn't lock the steering to keep the front wheels pointed straight. Based on that, then when they did the full-sized truck, why not do that without anyone in the truck at all, and leave the steering wheel unlocked so it could veer wildly like they did with the Pedal cars?
Quote from the tests, that used composite motors:
"Problem is these solid engines. They're just a stick of gunpowder....."
REALLY Travis? The man is supposed to be teaching about rocketry in college, and he says those composite engines are a "stick" of "GUNPOWDER"?
So later, they replace the 29mm motors in the pedal cars, with some huge motors. Seem to be at least 54mm cases, and a 1706 case seems about right for the length. Which means those would have been "K" powered. No wonder that what later happened, happened.
They did the next test run while standing to the side, and not directly behind. Which should have been safer. Except that they are doing this with "K" motors, which have a minimum safe distance of 200 feet, and they were not even 50 feet away, it seems (I know, they are breaking lots of the safety code, and frankly LAWS in this case. But even so, common sense would say don't be THAT close. But as Mark Bundick says, "common sense is not that common".).
In the camera shot, it becomes obvious that the road makes a sharp turn to the right, so if the cars went straight, they'd be running off the road (ln the times I did rocket cars, they were either on a very straight unopened road, a big empty parking lot, or a very big wide runway from an abandoned airport.). Lots of trees and woods to catch fire if anything went wrong. They did a "drag race" this time, so if anything went wrong there'd be double the confusion and double the danger. And that is exactly what happened. One car goes mostly straight, a little left, which means when the road turns right it goes into the woods with its SPARKY MOTOR throwing sparks like crazy.
The Pink car veered hard right, off the road early, hit an embankment, then turned around almost 180 degrees and flew horizontally thru the air RIGHT AT the RCR guys, at VERY HIGH SPEED. It only missed them by a few feet. It hit a tree so hard, that the TREE SHOOK (BTW - the trees it flew into, were the neighbor's trees, and the one who was home at the time was very ticked off about it). If it had hit anyone in the arms or legs, it would haven broken them (maybe severed something). If hit in the torso, it would have caused severe injuries or death. If it had hit anyone in the head, probably fatal.
One of the scariest most dangerous things I've seen in this hobby.
I'm calling it based on this last straw......as of Dec 13th 2012.......they are totally irresponsible idiots. Although I think they actually did it last February or March.
Yes, this episode, with that stunt, did it. The show "Jumped the Shark". It was all "fun and stupid redneck games" until they came THAT CLOSE to seriously injuring or killing somebody (even if it was themselves, though there also were a lot of members of the TV crew in danger too). Now someone might say it was just bad luck it came that close to hitting someone, but it was incredibly idiotic and irresponsible to put K motors into rocket cars that had proven to veer off dangerously on way less power. And they had to know those were going to leave the road and crash somewhere before those K motors burned out.
Travis' reaction on camera right after this: "But some are safer than others".
GREAT. Nearly get one of his guys (or himself) badly injured or killed, and that's what his response is. No admission that it was something dangerous they never should have tried, and supposedly should know better (but clearly do not). I'm half-surprised nobody brushed it off by saying "Safety thurrrd" again.
Later, Travis says: "Those solid rockets, once you light them, they're pretty dangerous, they'll go until they are done"
NO TRAVIS, Solid rocket motors are not dangerous in general. It' the way YOU GUYS are using them! If they'd used a hybrid rocket motor on those pedal cars, the same thing would have happened unless they had a FOOLproof (well, that kills that) way to shut off the hybrids remotely, instantly. And seeing that those guys cant get any onboard electronics to work right on their rockets, then there would be no point in trying. Indeed, ironically, the very first episode, with the alleged "new idea" (lie) of using Alcohol for rocket fuel, they used a Hybrid (A Tri-Hybrid they did not build but let viewers believe they did), and the thing crashed because they screwed up the electronic ejection.
What was the dangerous part was not solid motors. It was using pedal cars on K motors, when the cars were already proven too squirrelly on far less power than that. They knew those cars were going to veer off and crash, just with lots more thrust that time, with lots more fire (and sparks) and smoke. And compounding that by doing it on the (public) road in front of their house, knowing even if the cars went straight as an arrow they'd not make the curve and would go into the woods. That was the time to go out to the remote airport they used after they tried and failed to "crash" the SLI launch. Also, ignoring the minimum distance of 200 feet.
But above all, the most dangerous part are these increasingly dangerous idiots using any rockets for the show, no matter solid, hybrid, or liquid. As I said, this one just "Jumped the Shark".
OK, so later, they go to an expert who knows rockets, especially hybrids, Tim Pickens. Tim's a GREAT guy, and fortunately had nothing to do with the idiocy above. Tim doesn't brag about how good he is, he just is. And he succeeds.
On to the truck. Well, the small little used pick-up the RCR guys got for $495 was too wimpy, the suspension broke when they lowered Tim Picken's hybrid motor into it. Tim offered to use his own personal truck. So, they mounted it into Tim's truck. So the real rocket powered truck project was pretty much 99% Tim Pickens' mostly pre-existing hardware, time he put into building it years before, and his expertise. So, of course the hybrid worked fine and the truck made a safe run down a drag strip, at a bit over 70 MPH. Which might have been slower than the K powered pedal car when it hit that tree......
Could perhaps title this episode "Rocket City Rednecks Hitch a Ride with a real rocket expert".
Of course at the end of the show, Travis has to point out how the experiment proved his idea for how a Humvee in trouble in a War Zone coudl get out of trouble by using a big hybrid rocket motor. Yeah, I'm sure that adding and lugging around the mass of a hybrid like that, so heavy it broke the suspension of a small pick-up, would do wonders for the maneuverability and driveabilty of a Humvee. All for the ability to help move a bit faster for all of about 1/4 mile (never mind the danger of a big nitrous tank bursting to literally fuel the fire if the Humvee was hit by enemy fire or if an IED blew under the Humvee). But of course most of the show ideas are totally ridiculous and impractical, but this one was even more farfeched.
I can't do electronic screenshots, so I did it the old fashioned way, took pics of the screen. Some suffer from Moire patterns more than others. And I didn't realize there was a ceiling light bulb reflecting in many of them.
For those who didn't see it but want to, it will be repeated next Thursday the 20th, at 5 PM EST, 4 PM CST.
- George Gassaway
But what I'm going to describe is for real. At the end of this you'll read the premise/excuse for doing a rocket powered pick-up.
No, my beef is not about the rocket powered pick-up which actually worked well, and it worked well mainly because the RCR guys actually had very little to do with it.
It was the incredibly stupidly done and potentially fatal accident they had during their "small scale tests".
Why is the guy with the wrecked kiddy pedal car smiling, right after he, his dad, and friends nearly got hit and potentially killed by one of these?
I mean, what's the largest rocket motor you would put into a small test car and fire DOWN THE ROAD in front of your own house? And at what motor size would you agree you ought to be arrested if you'd fired something like that down a public road, and knowing even if it "worked", it was going to go off the road and into the woods, spewing flame and sparks?
But I'm getting ahead of the story. So, here goes, the testing before it went from just plain stupid to totally idiotic. With no real regard for safety 1st, 2nd, Thuurd, 4th, 5th.......
So, the guys do a test with some kiddy pedal cars. Set them on a the road in front of their house. Man, what idiots, to set those up to go down a public road. Of course, I expect somebody stopped traffic, but still, that was a totally unsuitable place to do that.
3-engine cluster of 29mm motors (one car uses F23's). On the first car, only two out of three light (center did not light so no uneven thrust).
For the first test, Travis has the launch control right behind the car, and gets a face-full of smoke.
For test #2, they did exactly the same thing. Except for that one it was his nephew who pressed the button and got the face full of smoke.
Man, even when I did C6 and D12 (and an F7) powered rocket cars, I had sense not to be exactly right behind it.
The cars quickly veer off to one side, the "Winner" is the one that veers off less severely than the first, which is not saying much.
One reason the cars veer, is they did not lock the steering to point straight. An onboard camera shows the front wheels randomly flopping around wherever they want to go, like a shopping cart. Maybe Travis needed to get a PHD in locking up the steering for uncontrolled rocket cars?
Travis said that one of the two things learned from the test was that "rocket cars are really hard to control". Uh, what control? He didn't lock the steering to keep the front wheels pointed straight. Based on that, then when they did the full-sized truck, why not do that without anyone in the truck at all, and leave the steering wheel unlocked so it could veer wildly like they did with the Pedal cars?
Quote from the tests, that used composite motors:
"Problem is these solid engines. They're just a stick of gunpowder....."
REALLY Travis? The man is supposed to be teaching about rocketry in college, and he says those composite engines are a "stick" of "GUNPOWDER"?
So later, they replace the 29mm motors in the pedal cars, with some huge motors. Seem to be at least 54mm cases, and a 1706 case seems about right for the length. Which means those would have been "K" powered. No wonder that what later happened, happened.
They did the next test run while standing to the side, and not directly behind. Which should have been safer. Except that they are doing this with "K" motors, which have a minimum safe distance of 200 feet, and they were not even 50 feet away, it seems (I know, they are breaking lots of the safety code, and frankly LAWS in this case. But even so, common sense would say don't be THAT close. But as Mark Bundick says, "common sense is not that common".).
In the camera shot, it becomes obvious that the road makes a sharp turn to the right, so if the cars went straight, they'd be running off the road (ln the times I did rocket cars, they were either on a very straight unopened road, a big empty parking lot, or a very big wide runway from an abandoned airport.). Lots of trees and woods to catch fire if anything went wrong. They did a "drag race" this time, so if anything went wrong there'd be double the confusion and double the danger. And that is exactly what happened. One car goes mostly straight, a little left, which means when the road turns right it goes into the woods with its SPARKY MOTOR throwing sparks like crazy.
The Pink car veered hard right, off the road early, hit an embankment, then turned around almost 180 degrees and flew horizontally thru the air RIGHT AT the RCR guys, at VERY HIGH SPEED. It only missed them by a few feet. It hit a tree so hard, that the TREE SHOOK (BTW - the trees it flew into, were the neighbor's trees, and the one who was home at the time was very ticked off about it). If it had hit anyone in the arms or legs, it would haven broken them (maybe severed something). If hit in the torso, it would have caused severe injuries or death. If it had hit anyone in the head, probably fatal.
One of the scariest most dangerous things I've seen in this hobby.
I'm calling it based on this last straw......as of Dec 13th 2012.......they are totally irresponsible idiots. Although I think they actually did it last February or March.
Yes, this episode, with that stunt, did it. The show "Jumped the Shark". It was all "fun and stupid redneck games" until they came THAT CLOSE to seriously injuring or killing somebody (even if it was themselves, though there also were a lot of members of the TV crew in danger too). Now someone might say it was just bad luck it came that close to hitting someone, but it was incredibly idiotic and irresponsible to put K motors into rocket cars that had proven to veer off dangerously on way less power. And they had to know those were going to leave the road and crash somewhere before those K motors burned out.
Travis' reaction on camera right after this: "But some are safer than others".
GREAT. Nearly get one of his guys (or himself) badly injured or killed, and that's what his response is. No admission that it was something dangerous they never should have tried, and supposedly should know better (but clearly do not). I'm half-surprised nobody brushed it off by saying "Safety thurrrd" again.
Later, Travis says: "Those solid rockets, once you light them, they're pretty dangerous, they'll go until they are done"
NO TRAVIS, Solid rocket motors are not dangerous in general. It' the way YOU GUYS are using them! If they'd used a hybrid rocket motor on those pedal cars, the same thing would have happened unless they had a FOOLproof (well, that kills that) way to shut off the hybrids remotely, instantly. And seeing that those guys cant get any onboard electronics to work right on their rockets, then there would be no point in trying. Indeed, ironically, the very first episode, with the alleged "new idea" (lie) of using Alcohol for rocket fuel, they used a Hybrid (A Tri-Hybrid they did not build but let viewers believe they did), and the thing crashed because they screwed up the electronic ejection.
What was the dangerous part was not solid motors. It was using pedal cars on K motors, when the cars were already proven too squirrelly on far less power than that. They knew those cars were going to veer off and crash, just with lots more thrust that time, with lots more fire (and sparks) and smoke. And compounding that by doing it on the (public) road in front of their house, knowing even if the cars went straight as an arrow they'd not make the curve and would go into the woods. That was the time to go out to the remote airport they used after they tried and failed to "crash" the SLI launch. Also, ignoring the minimum distance of 200 feet.
But above all, the most dangerous part are these increasingly dangerous idiots using any rockets for the show, no matter solid, hybrid, or liquid. As I said, this one just "Jumped the Shark".
OK, so later, they go to an expert who knows rockets, especially hybrids, Tim Pickens. Tim's a GREAT guy, and fortunately had nothing to do with the idiocy above. Tim doesn't brag about how good he is, he just is. And he succeeds.
On to the truck. Well, the small little used pick-up the RCR guys got for $495 was too wimpy, the suspension broke when they lowered Tim Picken's hybrid motor into it. Tim offered to use his own personal truck. So, they mounted it into Tim's truck. So the real rocket powered truck project was pretty much 99% Tim Pickens' mostly pre-existing hardware, time he put into building it years before, and his expertise. So, of course the hybrid worked fine and the truck made a safe run down a drag strip, at a bit over 70 MPH. Which might have been slower than the K powered pedal car when it hit that tree......
Could perhaps title this episode "Rocket City Rednecks Hitch a Ride with a real rocket expert".
Of course at the end of the show, Travis has to point out how the experiment proved his idea for how a Humvee in trouble in a War Zone coudl get out of trouble by using a big hybrid rocket motor. Yeah, I'm sure that adding and lugging around the mass of a hybrid like that, so heavy it broke the suspension of a small pick-up, would do wonders for the maneuverability and driveabilty of a Humvee. All for the ability to help move a bit faster for all of about 1/4 mile (never mind the danger of a big nitrous tank bursting to literally fuel the fire if the Humvee was hit by enemy fire or if an IED blew under the Humvee). But of course most of the show ideas are totally ridiculous and impractical, but this one was even more farfeched.
I can't do electronic screenshots, so I did it the old fashioned way, took pics of the screen. Some suffer from Moire patterns more than others. And I didn't realize there was a ceiling light bulb reflecting in many of them.
For those who didn't see it but want to, it will be repeated next Thursday the 20th, at 5 PM EST, 4 PM CST.
- George Gassaway
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