A few more details:
First off - the weather. The forecasts were looking pretty dire quite honestly. But many of us chose to go for it, make the trip, and hope for the best anyway. And while there was definitely some threatening skies and we did get a good healthy downpour on Friday (with the lakebed turning to slippery sticky muck), in the end there was PLENTY of great flying weather. After the rain, the muck dried up very fast. And all through the weekend, there were lots of times when we had clear "holes in the sky", and the winds were pretty light with a good bit of dead calm as well. The clouds were moving fast, and while they were sometimes pretty low, there were also lots of clear spots. Temps were excellent. All in all, it was fine flying weather.
Wasn't a huge crowd, but definitely enough people to make it fun and interesting. As with most club launches, it was a great bunch of folk to hang out with. Never any waiting for an open rail, but also enough flights happening that there weren't any long, boring periods with nothing launching. Lots of great rockets of all types. Quite a few cert flights, most successful as far as I saw. It seemed to me that there were a high number of long-burn type motors flown, which is my favorite so that worked for me! There also seemed to be a fair amount of CATOs which, while not a "good thing" and I hate to see anyone lose their rockets/hardware/etc., let's face it is exciting to witness. A number of "civilians" came out to check out what was going on, and were impressed with their first exposure to hobby high-power rocketry. And speaking of exposure, as an extra bonus (this being Las Vegas after all), on Saturday between flights folks got to check out an "interesting" photo shoot happening farther out on the lakebed (lots of binoculars and even a spotting scope got put to good use).
Lots of great folk, from TRF and otherwise, in attendance. The Colorado contingent came out in force with great rockets, a fun attitude, and a great selection of reloads to purchase from MotoJoe. From the other direction, the California coast was represented by some fine flyers that I enjoy seeing. Utah was represented well (it was great to see both Mark and Marian (stickershock) on the mend and in attendance). And of course, the home team from Nevada are always some of the best folk to host a laid-back and fun launch. Great sharing the lakebed with y'all!
The Funk Saucer drag race was way cool - I55s being a great choice of motor for this. Got to see the beta Missileworks GPS in action, and yep it's pretty dang sweet - a few more minor tweaks and I think this is going to be a great tracking choice for lots you. The big Saturn launch did not go but it was close! I assisted as a pad slave, and the rocket did make it to vertical on the rail, but after a couple of issues Joe and Ed made the right decision and aborted the launch. Disappointing, yes, but MAN that is a cool rocket.
So, my own flight report:
I resurrected my Punisher (Hanzalova Ugly), and flew it twice. Once on a CTI I-65 CStar, and once on an AT I-327 Dark Matter. Both fine flights to 3000-4000'. And I didn't put anyone in mortal danger, nor did I have to do a shovel recovery this time!
Flew my Formula98 (Fioravante) on a Gorilla K-222 WhiteCloud to about 4000'. This was my only not-so-great flight. The flight up was fine, but my mains failed to deploy and it came down kinda hard. No damage to the rocket itself, but the impact broke my Landru/Missileworks 3D printed sleds. Bummer, but not a huge deal (or expense) to fix/replace at least.
My 3" DarkStar (blame it on the BlackStar) had a great flight to 7000' on a Loki K-250 White longburn. I use a reflective streamer for a drogue on this, which worked perfectly on a scattered cloudy day - the sparkles showed through most of the thin bits of cloud and even if you lost sight of the descent as it passed behind thicker clouds, it was easy to regain visual lock due to the flashes.
Had an excellent flight of my scratch-built two-stager (Raspulescent). Loki H-144 white to a CTI G-125 red. As always, two-stagers can be pretty complicated in terms of wiring & programming avionics, rigging recovery, etc. so it's often a nervous launch. But this flight went perfectly, and everything went exactly to plan. The only anomaly was my max altitude reading which seemed off - about 3500' as opposed to the simmed 6000' (which seemed about what it actually flew to). I've had issues with the reporting being off before, and will have to look into fixing this glitch.
Lastly, I had my maiden flight of a 3" Intimidator (Divertimento #4). Which turned out to be a perfect flight to 9300' on a Loki K527 red.
After which I had to pack up quickly and hit the road. Had a bit of a hell trip home, due to construction in Virgin River Gorge (which cost me about an hour and a half), and that weather finally caught up with me as SEVERE rain and hail slowed and stopped traffic for a few hours more. Ah well, still made it home intact with a smile on my face after such a fun few days of flying.
I took zero pictures but I know some others (Dave Pacheco, Fudd, ???) were shooting and will hopefully post some good ones.
Thanks again for all of the rest of you who showed up and made it a great launch, and to the fine folks at TRA Vegas for hosting,
s6
