Bad day at the field!

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Handeman

Well-Known Member
TRF Supporter
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
9,114
Reaction score
1,921
Location
Stafford, VA
Not that a day launching rockets is ever a "bad" day, it wasn't a good day for my rockets today.

I'm putting this in the MPR because that is what I flew, except for the first flight, the Estes Eagle boost glider.

I got to the field about an hour after the launching started, about 11:00. The wind increased all day, so I missed the calmest part of the day. I also missed the coldest part, it was 16º at dawn with a mid afternoon high in the mid 40ºs.

The first flight was the Estes Eagle. I had problems with it the last time it flew and I replaced the rear wing. It was trimmed almost perfect. The launch and flight on a C6-3 was near perfect to at about 400 ft. It ejected just after apogee, the glider started it's circles and the booster dropped on it's streamer, landing 50 ft from the pads. The glider kept making this flat circles while drifting on the wind. It touched down in the top of the only big tree in the center of a field an eighth mile away. Guess we all need to feed the trees sometime.

The next flight was an Estes Stormcaster. This is stock Estes kit with two exceptions. The fins were tip to tip coated with paper and thinned wood glue and there was an extra six feet of 1/4" elastic tied to the end of the original 24" shock cord. The flight on the F24 was great! Loud and fast! When 1,200 to 1,500 ft. A problem was soon noticed when the black dot that was the chute was getting further and further from the body of the rocket. The BT fell almost flat and landed a 100 ft from the pads. The nose cone and chute were watched by a couple people with binocular and was seen hitting the top of a silo on the farm a half mile away. All I saw was the flock of birds that erupted from the silo when it hit.

My third flight was my Sunny Side Up. This is a scratch build rocket I used for an altitude contest last fall. The rules required a G motor and at least 54mm OD somewhere on the rocket. Mine was baseball bat shaped with the fins on the thin handle end. I won the contest on a G75. This time I flew it on a G53-10J. Great flight. Some corkscrew which it always does, I think it's a design flaw. The streamer deployed and everything looked great. The altimeter beeped out 2,847 ft. Not too bad and about what I expected. The fins were 3mm ply and filleted and coated mid fin to mid fin with 6oz glass. It must of landed right on the tip of one fin because it cracked the fin loose and broke through the glass on one side and half way through on the other. It will fly again!

My fourth and final flight was my Kraken II. My original was lost in Richmond on a hot sunny day with the original black chute. It was last seen going up over some woods over a quarter mile away. This time I used a E9-6. What a great motor for the Kraken! Just about a perfect flight. Ejection was at 1,000 to 1,200 feet. This one had the slightly smaller orange chute on it. It seemed to drop to about 400 to 500 ft. and then stay at that altitude as it drifted on the wind. It was last seen by the folks with binoculars when it drifted from sight over some woods, 1/2 to 3/4 mile away.

Over all, not a good day for my rockets. Can't say it wasn't fun. I always enjoy getting out to the launches, meeting new people, in this case, some U of Maryland students out practicing for the Battle of the Rockets coming up in April. I did have one good piece of luck. I stopped by the farm with the silo on the way home, met the landowner, had a nice conversation, and found the chute and nosecone from my Stormcaster between the driveway and the barnyard. If it had came down 10 feet shorter, it would have been in with the cows and if not stepped on, it would have been covered in that rich fertilizer found in barnyards. Turned out the original shock cord broke an inch from where the new piece was tied on.

Guess two? out of four isn't too bad.
 
i feel your pain, i was flying today and two of my rockets got damaged. sometime you go months and everying works out fine, then you get a day like yours when the winds or what ever decide it's time to thin out your fleet.
still, luck on the bright side, at least you have generated a bit more room to store the new rockets that you are going to build.
 
i feel your pain, i was flying today and two of my rockets got damaged. sometime you go months and everying works out fine, then you get a day like yours when the winds or what ever decide it's time to thin out your fleet.
still, luck on the bright side, at least you have generated a bit more room to store the new rockets that you are going to build.

There is more room. It's just that I'm building a L2 right now, finishing two others and already have three in for minor repairs already. There might be room for a few more, but I'm not sure there's time.
 
I had a similar day the other day had just finished my new sr71 estes rocket took it and a scratch build my son made along with one of the estes rtf rockets named flash to the park. Flash went straight down into the center of a small pond the scratch built went ballistic and went half shaft into the mud . Needless to say I refused to fly the sr71 after that.
 
Don't feel bad; about three years ago, at a NAR Regional contest here in the
Houston area, I failed to get a SINGLE qualified flight in all of the five or six
events scheduled. After failing to score any points in the first "all out" flight
attempts, I tried changing my strategy to aim only to score flight points. Nothing worked; recovery system(s) failed, shock cord(s) separated, several
launch attempts lawn darted, etc. In other Regionals where I routinely scored
between 1,500 - 1,800 contest points, I ended up with a big, fat ZERO that
weekend.
 
That seems to be the way all my launch days are. Either they're perfect, without a problem, or everything goes wrong, like chutes not opening, or a RMS motor refusing to light. Seems like I have more of the latter...:eek:
 
Same for my family. Broken fins, shredded parachutes, zippered tubes, when all four of our kids were still at home and going to the launches I (Rocket Doctor) spent many an eveing repairing the casualities from the weekends flying. The kids referred to it as going the the "Rocket Hospital".

I wouldn't change a thing. That time together is priceless.
 
I've been flying for two years without a single problem. (Exept for one early deploy, no damage.)

My bad day is coming!
 
I've been flying for two years without a single problem. (Exept for one early deploy, no damage.)

My bad day is coming!

I hate to say it, but yes it is. I've had some pretty long stretches were everything went great. In fact most days go quite well. That's what makes the bad days so frustrating.

Anyway, off to the "Rocket Hospital" :D
 
Once built a 1:32 Scale PMC MiG-21 using the old IMPACT newsletter plans. Flew it on a D12-3. Severe launch rod tipoff. Beeline for the nearby storm drain. Sentell lightweight chute deployed for a splashdown. Returned the next day with rod & reel and retrieved the model with a Mepps #3 Aglia spinner.

Later the refurbished model was flown on an Aerotech D21-4T at a HUVARS meet. Model rolled upward and beyond the flying field. Ejection pop was heard but the model was never recovered.

The Revell kit was bought at a Big Lots discount/clearance store for about $6. Spent more on paint, decals and conversion parts than on the actual model, but I have another kit, plus a Trumpetter MiG-21UM two-seater in the same scale. Dare I attempt to PMC those? (Diabolical coyote laughter.)

MiG21MF.jpg
 
Last edited:
BLASPHEMY!

There is never a bad day "at" the field.

No such thing as a "bad" launch except in the case of an injury.
 
Back
Top