Rocketry by the Numbers

[deangelo54]

In August of 2015 at a CMASS launch, I over heard Howard Greenblatt suggesting to a college students that they keep a log of their launches. Howard said the information is useful and it's fun. Since then I have been documenting each of my launches in a notebook. I have enough pages in book two for one more launch.

Last Saturday I summarized all the launches I attended by location and by what engines I used. Come to find out that I have launched 118 rockets at club launches and another 9 at a field in Peabody. Of the 127 launches, 118 were black powder and 9 were E or F composite engines. The engine I used the most was 38 of the Estes C11-5. In second place was 29 B6-4's followed by 20 A8-3's.

I was wondering if anyone else in the club documents their launch data? I find it very helpful when it comes to what engine, delay or chute to use. The information is also helpful when it comes to designing scratch built rockets.

I look forward to hearing from other rocketeers.

 

[heada]

Several years ago, when I was the president of our club, I would take the flight cards from each launch and tally them up and report them in the next club meeting. It was interesting and I'm surprised that the national orgs haven't asked the clubs to report back with summary info to get a better idea of what is being launched at the club launches.

I need to start keeping track of my own launches. I think it could be valuable info for future launches.

 

[Nytrunner]

Yep, I've got an excel file going back a couple years that I use to track Newton-s burned, altitudes, electronics, used, and damage/loss

 

[deangelo54]

Several years ago, when I was the president of our club, I would take the flight cards from each launch and tally them up and report them in the next club meeting. It was interesting and I'm surprised that the national orgs haven't asked the clubs to report back with summary info to get a better idea of what is being launched at the club launches.

I need to start keeping track of my own launches. I think it could be valuable info for future launches.

Tallying all the launches can be a lot of work depending on how many rockets are launched per launch date. CMASS had 301 last week. Other clubs I launch with have well under 50. CMASS used to have a club member that would summarize the launch cards but it because quite the chore. I don't use any simulation software so my launch history data is very helpful to me. It is also important to get the weight of your rockets when you use pervious launch data to make decisions. I should get in the habit of using my Estes altimeter to collect altitude.

 

[deangelo54]

Yep, I've got an excel file going back a couple years that I use to track Newton-s burned, altitudes, electronics, used, and damage/loss

Nice looking PATRIOT you have there. I worked in Huntsville during the mid 80's negotiating pricing with the U.S. Government for PATRIOT Missiles. To bad I was not a rocketeer at that time.

Sounds like you have collected some very interesting and useful flight data.

 

[dr wogz]

Our club posts a launch report after each launch. (Not right after, but a few days after!) and another club mate makes a compiled video of the launch day. We are starting to tally up the motors, But we have a record of who launched what. Really nice..

https://crmrc.org/
and click 'launch reports', then pick a year, then a month!

 

[deangelo54]

I live just north of Boston. Maybe I will attend a CRMRC launch next year. Friday night I'll stay at the Econo Lodge in St Albans. What is the best month to attend a CRMRC launch as far as crops and field conditions are concerned?

 

[MALBAR 70]

Frank, I usually jot down the location of the launch, date and wind/weather conditions at the top of my sheet. After that, I list the rockets, motors used and anything that happend, ie, lost, damaged, squirrelly flight, etc.
For HPR I'll add how much I took off the delay, DD charge amounts and altimeter settings.
I've been doing this for a while and it helps when I'm trying to decide what to fly and what to fly it on vs. the weather for the day.

 

[deangelo54]

Sounds like we are on the same page. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[KennB]

Another good thing to keep a record of would be the date code for each motor flown.

 

[Zeus-cat]

I record all of my launches. Hopefully we will have good weather tomorrow for our launch and I will launch my 900th rocket since becoming a BAR.

My club also tallies the motors used at club activities. Our most interesting number is first time fliers for the year. I believe we are over 1,000. I'll have to ask to see what the actual number is and what the total impulse for the year is.

 

[solid_fuel]

I have a note in my phones notes that I use to keep track of all my flights. I keep the rockets in chronological order by first flight of the rocket. info contains rocket name, flight number for that rocket, date of flight, club launch number, motor and delay, any notes pertaining to the flight such as electronics used, flight characteristics, recovery notes and if any damage is found. I almost always have my phone with me so I can reference any info I need whenever I want.

 

[deangelo54]

Our club posts a launch report after each launch. (Not right after, but a few days after!) and another club mate makes a compiled video of the launch day. We are starting to tally up the motors, But we have a record of who launched what. Really nice..

https://crmrc.org/
and click 'launch reports', then pick a year, then a month!

I checked out the Launch Report last night. You certainly provide a lot of information and I enjoyed the video. The field condition information is most helpful.

 

[jqavins]

In August of 2015 at a CMASS launch, I over heard Howard Greenblatt suggesting to a college students that they keep a log of their launches. Howard said the information is useful and it's fun. Since then I have been documenting each of my launches in a notebook. I have enough pages in book two for one more launch.

Last Saturday I summarized all the launches I attended by location and by what engines I used. Come to find out that I have launched 118 rockets at club launches and another 9 at a field in Peabody. Of the 127 launches, 118 were black powder and 9 were E or F composite engines. The engine I used the most was 38 of the Estes C11-5. In second place was 29 B6-4's followed by 20 A8-3's.

Is it just the engines used that you record? If so (how do I put this without sounding combative?) what is the benefit? If it helps you then that's terrific, and I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't help you; I just don't get it.

Several others downthread have described how they record a few or a lot of data points per flight, including the engine(s) used, and I can certainly see how that could be useful. It's "engines only" that I don't get.

 

[deangelo54]

Good question. I’m on the subway right now but without looking at my notebook I’ll give an example.
Red Nova C11-5, 15” plastic chute, Pad 6.
Tilted toward wind 5 degrees. Great flight, very straight, good chute deployment. Landed 50’ before the creek. C11-5 is as big an engine for this field.

If I used an altimeter that would be more helpful. Any suggestions are welcome. That’s why I started this thread.

 

[deangelo54]

Another good thing to keep a record of would be the date code for each motor flown.

Especially if it’s an engine prone to failure.

 

[Nytrunner]

If so (how do I put this without sounding combative?) what is the benefit?

We like whoosh counters

 

[OverTheTop]

I run a TeleMega for tracking on HPR rockets. When I download the flight data the filename gets the rocket name and motor type and date added to it. Makes it quite easy to pull up historical data.