Weirdest Landing??

[phaar]

I was sitting here and a question popped into my mind...I was thinking back to a time about a year and a half ago when we launched a rocket and it landed in some greek lady's yard. Being a typical 14 year old(at the time), we did not want to talk to this lady. We were kind of scared to tell you the truth...After 10 minutes of sitting around, we mustered up enough courage to go ask her. Little did we know, she didn't know a lick of english!

Needless to say, for the next 15 minutes we sat there trying to get her to give us our rocket back. I do not think she saw it land nor did she know where it was or WHAT it was. Finally, we managed to sign language it...we got it back.

Now, I do not know what is up with this particular area, but it is kind of weird. On an adjacent yard, one of our rockets landed in a goat farm...That was flat out *scary.* We went to the owner of the farm because it was gated and we didn't feel right just jumping the fence(let alone we were very concerned for our safety). They had huge horns and we didn't want to mess with that. The owner(also greek, maybe italian... ) let us in the field. After avoiding a few "land mines," we grabbed the rocket and ran out. Of course, that was after watching the goats eat some of our shroud lines...

Back to the question though! What is the weirdest place you have had to recover your rocket from?

 

[WiK]

Weirdest place I've been to find a rocket was when trying to find an Estes Skywriter (man those things go high!). We saw it drifting over a hedge. We went round the back of the hedge and came across a chainlink fence. Noticing that the entrance to it from the street the other side was open (and not wanting to climb 10' of fence) we went round the side. Turned out it was the Guildford High School's swimming pool and playing feilds. A quick look around and we realised that this place was spooky. The main pool building was in the centre of the area, and was wrapped with "POLICE - DO NOT CROSS" and "FIRE - DO NOT ENTER" tape. Peering in through the window we could see a drained pool, with a pole and a brush lying at the bottom by what looked like some burn marks. We never found the rocket, I think it landed on the roof of the building. Ah well. Turns out there was a chemical leakage in the water and the people in the pool were taken ill. Full news story here

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Ozymandias]

One time when I was a young rocketeer I launched a rocket at a local park with my father. The rocket landed perfectly on it's little 12" estes parachute in the middle of some guys having a picnic. One of the guys grabbed the rocket. When my father went to retieve it, the man said it was sent from God and he would not give it back. Although I take great pride in the craftmanship of my birds, I don't think God would have be so obvious. Anyway, the guy and my father had a "frank exchange of ideas" and the guy finally relented and gave him the rocket. That was a pretty weird landing.

 

[11bravo]

Roof of the Luthern church.
First two rockets my brother and I ever launched.
Launched at a small town baseball park
1st (mine) landed about 20 yards from launcher.
2nd landed about two blocks away on the church.

Greg

 

[joepolicy]

Not sure if this is the weirdest, but it probably counts as one of the most disgusting!

Last fall, I launched a Quest Rage Payloader carrying a Perfectflite Alt15K altimeter. The parachute failed to deploy and I watched in horror as my rocket lawn darted into a big pile of pig manure. The biggest, smelliest pile of pig manure I had ever seen (is there any other kind?). If it had not been for the altimeter, I would never have recovered it but I was determined not to throw away a $70.00 piece of electronics.

The farmer got a big laugh as I shoveled through the pile all the while trying not to throw up. I did get my altimeter back but the rocket, which was in great condition considering the "soft landing", went right into the trash.

 

[edwardw]

In 7th grade we had a big class launch after we built rockets for a class. Mine drifted quite a ways and into the backyard of a man sunbathing with no clothing on. Very very strange.


Edward

 

[jflis]

**great** topic!

I have two (right now), one was my rocket...

first was from years ago when I went to a competition launch out with ASTRE in NY.

Someone had launched an egg lofter and it thermaled quite a ways away. Well the owner of the rocket took off after it. After about 45 minutes some folks started to become worred about him as he hadn't returned.

So about 5 of us went off looking for him. We found him shaking and sweating as he straddled a wire fence.... Seems that the rocket was on the other side (you could just see it) and he went to step over the fence which was only about 3 feet tall at this point. As soon as he got his first leg over, the wire hit his leg and POPPED him with a good jolt of electricity. It hurt so bad that he almost fell over and did NOT want to feel that again. So, for about 40 minutes he just stood there, virtually on tip toes not daring to move, until we got there and rescued him... LOL

One that I had was last year (i beleive) wherein I launched my USS Grissom. Perfect flight, perfect deployment and she came down right into the launch area. Perfect. Except....

She landed *on* Pad #8.... **right** on pad #8... the parachute canopy draped itself right over the launch rod and it dangled there... mean time, I hear over the PA system... "And, on pad #8 we have [such and such a rocket] going in 5, 4, 3..."
Meanwhile I'm screaming DO NOT LAUNCH PAD #8!!!

whew... LOL

 

[LaneKG]

Please read the following account from March 12th Launch

https://sears572.com/gallery/2005-3-12LaunchPics/lawndart

Thanks,

Greg

 

[rstaff3]

Three of mine (one wasn't my launch) - taken from my 'stories' webpage:

The rocket eating trees weren't hungry

I'm sure you have had a bad experience with a rocket eating tree. This story is just the opposite. I launched by Half-***-Tron SuperRoc on a C6-0 CHAD staged to a A10-3. The flight went well, but the rocket drifted into a grove of large tree's (~50+ footers). I was thinking, "well, no need to recover that one." As I watched, I visually tracked it about 1/3 of the way into the trees, and decided to take a walk anyway. I my surprise, the rocket actually made it to the ground! I couldn't believe it. Looking up, I couldn't have dropped it without a chute through the opening(s). Some days the rocket gods are just on your side, I guess


Self-packing for the trip home

This was not my flight but was interesting. A several pound rocket (5?) drifted into the parking area. There was a pickup with a shell, which had its back gate down. Well, this rocket landed on the gate and due to the angle of drift completely disappeared into the back of the truck. Cone and chute landed on the gate too. I've heard jokes about rockets that pack themselves for the trip home, but lever so literally as this one! I joked with the owner that the rule is: if your rocket completely enters another's vehicle, the rocket then belongs to that person. For some reason he didn't find my statement amusing.

Someone tell me the odds...

This is a description of a flight that should set some sort of record for 'the nearest to xxxxx'. I flew my Cognis Lander on an E15-7. The boost had a high frequency wobble but was otherwise good. The delay was way too long and occurred about 20 ft from the ground. The following events are what made this flight unique. I was at the LCO table and my 'camp' was about 30 feet away. The Lander alit 3 ft from my chair, with the cone and chute stretched across my gear (interesting event #1). About 2 sec. later, the engine casing, which had left the rocket despite of the motor clip, smacked me in the arm, leaving a nice circular burn mark (event #2). Was Someone up there upset at my delay selection? What do you all think the odds of both of these happening on one flight???

 

[karatekicker271]

I was flying my Nike Smoke on an AT I smokey motor, and it just didnt have enough umph. It Deployed the parachute, and came down on to one of Ken Allen's table. I got many jokes about wanting to know if I really wanted to sell it

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by phaar
Back to the question though! What is the weirdest place you have had to recover your rocket from?

On the tarmac, between the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer of one of the USAF Thunderbirds, under the watchful gaze of the plane's crew chief. Hey, at least we missed the plane itself.

 

[KermieD]

First midpower launch...never seen one...no clue what it's going to look like. Local park, just my family and me. I put the Initiator from the starter set up in 20+ mph winds (idiot, I know and haven't read the safety code at that point)...not knowing about weathercocking, I point it into the wind. It gets 10 feet from the ground when it ejects, which is just enough time to put some real rotational force into the fin that buries into the ground. Pulling it out dislodges the fin.

So...I'm still a moron, figure I'm going to get this right and reload the casing with an F40 and CA the fin back on. Winds haven't died down at all, still I think this is going to be fine now. Initiator goes up to what....1700 feet? SEE YA!!

We go walking around for about an hour and no sign of it, finally giving up. We decide to drive around the perimeter of the park (over 1/2 mile at least now) and pull into the front drive of the county mental health facility on the opposite diagonal from where we launched from. There it is sitting pretty as can be. I can't imagine what one of the residents of the facility might have thought had they seen this thing coming down!

At least I got the casing back. Of course, it was bad karma which was fulfilled a year and a half later when Stones and I were out and launched it on a G-64 into cloud cover we thought had to be a mile up but was instead at 800'. Never saw it again.

 

[RocketboyG80]

Originally posted by joepolicy
Not sure if this is the weirdest, but it probably counts as one of the most disgusting!

Last fall, I launched a Quest Rage Payloader carrying a Perfectflite Alt15K altimeter. The parachute failed to deploy and I watched in horror as my rocket lawn darted into a big pile of pig manure. The biggest, smelliest pile of pig manure I had ever seen (is there any other kind?). If it had not been for the altimeter, I would never have recovered it but I was determined not to throw away a $70.00 piece of electronics.

The farmer got a big laugh as I shoveled through the pile all the while trying not to throw up. I did get my altimeter back but the rocket, which was in great condition considering the "soft landing", went right into the trash. [/QUOTE

Manure must have some kind of pull on lawn darting rockets. Two years ago I had a LOC Legacy lawn dart into a pile of cow manure. Luckily it was old and dried out, plus it is not as odoriferous as the pig variety. My Legacy was completely undamged, however it crashed again, a month later, when the chute tangled.

 

[Adam Selene]

we were doing a guerilla launch in some county park around Ft. Lauderdale and my Estes Mercury Redstone tried to pack itself!
yes, this is exactly where it landed, the chute went between the doors.

 

[Reed Goodwin]

Originally posted by RocketboyG80

Originally posted by joepolicy
Not sure if this is the weirdest, but it probably counts as one of the most disgusting!

Last fall, I launched a Quest Rage Payloader carrying a Perfectflite Alt15K altimeter. The parachute failed to deploy and I watched in horror as my rocket lawn darted into a big pile of pig manure. The biggest, smelliest pile of pig manure I had ever seen (is there any other kind?). If it had not been for the altimeter, I would never have recovered it but I was determined not to throw away a $70.00 piece of electronics.

The farmer got a big laugh as I shoveled through the pile all the while trying not to throw up. I did get my altimeter back but the rocket, which was in great condition considering the "soft landing", went right into the trash. [/QUOTE

Manure must have some kind of pull on lawn darting rockets. Two years ago I had a LOC Legacy lawn dart into a pile of cow manure. Luckily it was old and dried out, plus it is not as odoriferous as the pig variety. My Legacy was completely undamged, however it crashed again, a month later, when the chute tangled.

I too hae had a close call with manure: https://community.webshots.com/photo/283375704/283382651acbEFV
Reed

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Hmm... I don't know about weird landing sites, but I've had plenty of difficult recoveries. I had a camera payload land on a cliff, with a loud micro siren on it. Took me at least an hour to retrieve it, and boy was I sick of hearing that siren by the time I got to it!

Had a few other cliff landings... on one occasion I had to duct-tape together every pole and launch rod I had, to make a pole long enough to reach up and knock down the rocket. Another occasions, had to leave the rocket on the cliff and come back a few days later to make another attempt at retrieval. Finally ended up throwing rocks at it until I knocked it loose and it fell down where I could reach it -- no damage, either.

Had one land in the bay, spent three hours trying to throw a line to it to pull it to shore. That was a real pain. Several years earlier, when I was in better shape, I swam out to retrieve someone else's rocket from the bay at a night launch. In winter! That water was COLD!

A few years ago, one of my rockets ended up on the roof of an ancient borax works on a dry lake in Nevada. Never was able to get that one down, because the chute and shock cord kept snagging on the rough wood and protruding nails.

 

[Ryan S.]

my best landing wasnt really a landing.

Our school had thrown together something for TARC, so we went out to launch it. It wasnt the best design, but we wanted to get out and fly. The rocket had large fins, and the day was windy, I knew it wasnt a good idea, since the rocket was heavy, but we launched anyway because we needed to see some rockets fly. Now, the rocket was of the two stage variety, it was a D12 to an E9, and right as the launch button was pushed a big gust of wind came up, and after hitting about 20 feet the rocket turned perfectly horizontal. Now, imagine, there was a slow liftoff, then a gentle turn, then the rocket pushed the accelerator and started picking up speed, flying over our head. After it had covered about 50 feet of horizontal distance, the rocket had a picture perfect stage, and the E9 began to burn. The rocket was really cruising now, and right as the E9 burned out I thought "there is no chance it will hit that pine tree" Nope, I was wrong, it hit the pine tree about 15 feet up, going as fast as that rocket would ever go.

There was a nice debris feild thanks to 2 eggs and a bunch of cotton balls. The altimeter got destroyed, as did the battery. The balsa nosecone was completely demolished, and there was no tube left. The only thing that survived was the transition I had built.

 

[wwattles]

Originally posted by Ryan S.
my best landing wasnt really a landing.

Our school had thrown together something for TARC, so we went out to launch it. It wasnt the best design, but we wanted to get out and fly. The rocket had large fins, and the day was windy, I knew it wasnt a good idea, since the rocket was heavy, but we launched anyway because we needed to see some rockets fly. Now, the rocket was of the two stage variety, it was a D12 to an E9, and right as the launch button was pushed a big gust of wind came up, and after hitting about 20 feet the rocket turned perfectly horizontal. Now, imagine, there was a slow liftoff, then a gentle turn, then the rocket pushed the accelerator and started picking up speed, flying over our head. After it had covered about 50 feet of horizontal distance, the rocket had a picture perfect stage, and the E9 began to burn. The rocket was really cruising now, and right as the E9 burned out I thought "there is no chance it will hit that pine tree" Nope, I was wrong, it hit the pine tree about 15 feet up, going as fast as that rocket would ever go.

There was a nice debris feild thanks to 2 eggs and a bunch of cotton balls. The altimeter got destroyed, as did the battery. The balsa nosecone was completely demolished, and there was no tube left. The only thing that survived was the transition I had built.

Maybe the rocket figured that if the tree was going to eat it, the rocket would at least put up a fight!

WW

 

[goose_in_co]

How often do you get to mix rockets and trains??

Well this was way back, My cousin had given us a rocket with no fins. My brother and I decided to slap some fins on it and see what it would do. We set it up to launch at a nice field that was next some railroad tracks, not just any tracks, but Conrail freight and a local electric commuter line just north of Phillie. Well the rocket went way up there and drifted, and drifted, and landed on the power lines above the railroad tracks. Well we waited and sure enough a freight train came along and the diesel exhaust blew the rocket off of the power line. After the train went past we found the rocket, the body was in good shape, not a scratch, but it was missing a fin, a second fin was hanging by a thread, and the nose cone was no where to be found.

I since have found out that this was an old Aerobee 300 with one of those neat old yellow and black estes checkerboard parachutes. I still have the rocket.

 

[LordBryan]

Not much to add, but in retrieving an errant missile finally met my reclusive neighbor through the sights of his hunting rifle...

Turns out he used to launch rockets as a youth, so he let us go. I will aim a bit farther north in the future, though!

 

[jflis]

Here's another (I think I related this one on TRF before but can not remember...)

The subject is the Estes Bomarc (the one that kicked out the motor/stuffer tube then glided back)

My science teacher, who encouraged my rocketry a great deal, invited me to his house for his sons birthday party and said I could bring rockets to launch if I wished.

Well I showed up only to discover his back yard is about 1/2 acre surrounded by trees and neighbors. Not the best for a launch...

After much discussion we decided to try a few. The first 2-3 went fine so I got brave and decided to put up the Bomarc on her maiden flight...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Liftoff!

She came off the pad on a C6 and proceeded to inscribe a huge loop right off the pad. At the bottom of the arc, she was headed straight towards a neighbors house.

Sure enough, under full burn, she nailed the center of the back screen door (the inner door was *open*) and disappeared...

Ron (the teacher) and I ran over and ran inside... oh the humanity...

An old man (60+) was sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast. sitting on the table was the Bomarc having discharged her recovery *on* the table shortly after hitting the wall and dropping right in front of this guy...

Ron and I were both a bit nervous until he looked up and said "now that was the most exciting thing i've ever seen!"

We talked a bit, showed him the rocket and invited him to join our cookout. It turned out to be a great day and the neighbor had a great time LOL

jim

 

[jflis]

Oh, I found it!

Under this thread: Most Embarressing Rocket Stories

 

[user 13]

3 years ago I had just finnished a clone of the Orbital Transport. I went to a soccer field where I launch and sent her up on a B6-4. She went up about 80ft so I put in a C6-5 in her. Whoosh up about 400ft. The last I saw of the glider it was heading east over the trees around the field. The booster was drifting down nicely when the wind carried it into the trees between the field and a swamp. Well it was up about 20ft, I went home and got my roof rake but it would not reach so.....
The Chainsaw made short work of the tree but it fell into the swamp. I finally retrieved the booster with damage and a little waterlogged. It's all repaired and I flew her last year again.

 

[wwattles]

Originally posted by mach7
3 years ago I had just finnished a clone of the Orbital Transport. I went to a soccer field where I launch and sent her up on a B6-4. She went up about 80ft so I put in a C6-5 in her. Whoosh up about 400ft. The last I saw of the glider it was heading east over the trees around the field. The booster was drifting down nicely when the wind carried it into the trees between the field and a swamp. Well it was up about 20ft, I went home and got my roof rake but it would not reach so.....
The Chainsaw made short work of the tree but it fell into the swamp. I finally retrieved the booster with damage and a little waterlogged. It's all repaired and I flew her last year again.

"Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad."

 

[Reed Goodwin]

Originally posted by Goose_in_CO
How often do you get to mix rockets and trains??

Well this was way back, My cousin had given us a rocket with no fins. My brother and I decided to slap some fins on it and see what it would do. We set it up to launch at a nice field that was next some railroad tracks, not just any tracks, but Conrail freight and a local electric commuter line just north of Phillie. Well the rocket went way up there and drifted, and drifted, and landed on the power lines above the railroad tracks. Well we waited and sure enough a freight train came along and the diesel exhaust blew the rocket off of the power line. After the train went past we found the rocket, the body was in good shape, not a scratch, but it was missing a fin, a second fin was hanging by a thread, and the nose cone was no where to be found.

I since have found out that this was an old Aerobee 300 with one of those neat old yellow and black estes checkerboard parachutes. I still have the rocket.

Not quite a real train, but it does fit nicely.
Reed

 

[rebar_rocketry]

A long while ago, I launched my Estes SR-71 one day. I never moved from the spot where I pushed the button, and it landed right at my feet. I literally did not have to take a single step to recover it. Do I get a spot landing prize?

 

[user 13]

Originally posted by wwattles
"Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad."

"What the curtans?"
"I want to....SING!"

 

[GL-P]

I got a hilarious one. Well, we launch from a grenade range. There is a flag pole with a ladder and control tower. Well I pulled out my Aura and launched it. It landed right in the pole. After using a knife taped to a pole to cut the shockcord and then using a hamer claw to rip it, it finallt came down. Not before tho that the hamer fell and nearly hit my dad in the head

 

[Zak Orion]

Well, I have 2 stories, one my rocket and another a friends. First, a friend of mine launched a small Estes rocket(can't remember what) on a C6. We watched the rocket coming down on chute and saw it was coming close to a school and was hoping that it wouldn't land on the roof. After I saw the body tube drop in front of the brick exterior of the school I took my eyes off of it thinking it would be a easy recovery. After a few launches we noticed that the owner of the rocket was still over by the school looking for the rocket. We also noticed that he was a ways from where it should have landed and pointed him into the right direction. About 10 minutes later he was still looking for the rocket so I decided to walk over to help. I got about half way there and he spotted the rocket tangled in the flag on a 20 foot flag pole. Luckily the streamer caught on the bottom clip that held the flag on the line so all we had to do was lower the flag and he got it back.

Second, was my "Stormcluster"(stormcaster with a cluster of 3-C6-5's. I decided to launch even though the wind was a bit high and caught in a tree about 30-35 feet off the ground. After trying to retrieve the rocket for about 15 minutes I gave up. A kid who lives on the border of our launch field followed me out to the tree and tried to help and after I gave up I told him that if he could get it out of the tree I would give him a rocket kit. A few minutes later I saw him and his father walking out to the rocket and then heard a series of 3 bangs that was obviously a handgun. About 30 seconds after that I saw them come out of the woods with my rocket in there hands.

 

[sandman]

I was at my local airport...all grass field nice and open...and I flew my Mini-Mean Machine clone on an A3-4 with an orange streamer.

Touchdown was to a clear line of sight not more than 150' away on the mowed grass in front of an airplane.

The grass was closely cropped all the way from where I was right to where I saw it land. The ground was pretty flat but had enough of an undulation to it so I couldn't see it on the ground.

Remember I saw it fall "in-front' of the airplane clearly visable (black rocket!) against the backdrop of a white Piper airplane not more than 150' away.

Easy right???

2 hours later...nothing...still looking...????

This was a true case of dimentional obsorbsion!

It was just gone...on cut grass...a small rocket clearly visable all the way to about 6" from touchdown...just GONE!!!

Now this has happened to me before!