MushuTheGreatStoneDragon
Active Member
Went for my NAR L2 Certification over Labor Day weekend at SodBlaster in Pasco, WA and succeded! I had an absolute blast of a time and got to really know more of my fellow Eastern Washington rocketry friends. The L2 aside, the whole event was superbly run and organized and I will definitely be returning next year.
Now for fun details
Airframe: Madcow 4" Fiberglass AGM-58 w/54mm mmt and added Aeropack tailcone retainer.
Recovery: Harness from Ted at OneBadHawk, Parachutes from PML
Motor: Aerotech DMS K535 White Lightning, With 14 sec delay as a drogue backup charge
Altimeter: Perfectflight Stratologger CF
Simmed Alt: 4465'
Flight summaries:
Attempt #1: Good ascent and drogue deployment, Main failed to deploy due to loose wiring. Airframe impacted ground (thank god it was in some soft dirt) going about 78 ft/s according to the simulations. No damage to fins or body tube was observed and the altimeter was beeping away when I found it so I decided to give to give it another shot.
Attempt #2: Great ascent and drogue deployment, Main decided to come out at apogee so I had to walk a little farther, but at least this time it was safer. Waiting to pull the rest of the flight data off the altimeter until I have the time to sit down and learn how PerfectFlite displays data via their data transfer cable.
The overall philosophy with the build was to overbuild the heck out of it so that it could be as versatile as possible and take me through most the L2 motor spectrum. This meant foaming the fin can and part of the nosecone and as it turns out that meant it's also great at absorbing impact.
I can't wait for all the fun possibilities in L2, but it looks like this poor college student has no choice but to wait 'till schools over (Woooo! one more year!). As Rich said at Sodblaster after my second attempt, "Welcome to L2, time to get your wallet out!"
More pics to come...
Now for fun details
Airframe: Madcow 4" Fiberglass AGM-58 w/54mm mmt and added Aeropack tailcone retainer.
Recovery: Harness from Ted at OneBadHawk, Parachutes from PML
Motor: Aerotech DMS K535 White Lightning, With 14 sec delay as a drogue backup charge
Altimeter: Perfectflight Stratologger CF
Simmed Alt: 4465'
Flight summaries:
Attempt #1: Good ascent and drogue deployment, Main failed to deploy due to loose wiring. Airframe impacted ground (thank god it was in some soft dirt) going about 78 ft/s according to the simulations. No damage to fins or body tube was observed and the altimeter was beeping away when I found it so I decided to give to give it another shot.
Attempt #2: Great ascent and drogue deployment, Main decided to come out at apogee so I had to walk a little farther, but at least this time it was safer. Waiting to pull the rest of the flight data off the altimeter until I have the time to sit down and learn how PerfectFlite displays data via their data transfer cable.
The overall philosophy with the build was to overbuild the heck out of it so that it could be as versatile as possible and take me through most the L2 motor spectrum. This meant foaming the fin can and part of the nosecone and as it turns out that meant it's also great at absorbing impact.
I can't wait for all the fun possibilities in L2, but it looks like this poor college student has no choice but to wait 'till schools over (Woooo! one more year!). As Rich said at Sodblaster after my second attempt, "Welcome to L2, time to get your wallet out!"
More pics to come...
It was a great event!
