Best Rocketry Experience of the Year

[jqavins]

In this month's Electronic Racketeer, NAR president John N. Hochheimer asked folks to share their best rocketry experiences of the year. He even called out TRF as a good place to do it. So I guess we pretty much have to. I'll start.

My best this year was the Office Supplies build. It was such a wacky idea and I came up with at least three innovations to make it work; it was a real hoot.

 

[Bruiser]

My best rocketry moment of the year was when I launched my modified Citation Patriot with the booster I made for it. It was D12-0 to D12-6 flight and it was perfect. The gap staging worked flawless and the altitude was just right.

-Bob

 

[DAllen]

My best rocketry experience of the year is always traveling to Huntsville to watch my team participate in the NASA SLI competition. Followed very closely by LDRS in Argonia and then in third place has to be getting my Flying Basket of Death and Destruction working properly. T'was a very good rocketry year.

 

[mbeels]

Mine was going to Red Glare and doing my Level 1 flight at MDRA. The variety and magnitude of rocket projects was impressive, it was an eye-opener after flying exclusively LPR and MPR.

 

[Scott Hala]

Mine was attending my first NARAM this last July. I was only there for four days and was exhausted every day, but I had more fun than I can recall in a long, long time.

 

[Andy Greene]

My first dual deploy flights - Im hooked......

Edit -
Failed to mention the other part-
Got my L-1 and have my L-2 rocket built , need to pass the TRA written and fly it -
So now you know my 2020 Story

 

[kuririn]

Building and launching the Apogee Flying Machine in March. Perfect booster pods separation, rocket recovered with no damage.
Oh, and receiving a free Christmas tree ornament from Apogee.

In this month's Electronic Racketeer,

Yes, we racketeers are always looking for a good time.

 

[DAllen]

My first dual deploy flights - Im hooked......

It only gets worse from there haha

 

[BMcD]

My 7 year old son approached me and said he wanted us to fly model rockets out of the blue. I had not really even thought about rocketry since the 1990s. So I'm back, and I'm back with my kid. Pretty good year.

 

[kevindcornwell]

BALLS. My first time there. The inspiration from all the experience and willingness to try-and-see (not cavalier) still puts a smile on my face.

 

[Theory]

Sharing High Power with my two girls. They attended their first launch this year.

 

[dr wogz]

Attending URRF6.

Or more correctly, the festivities at Country Charm! (thanks Mike, Tim, Teddy, and the too many others for making Kevin & I feel very welcome & included.. See you all next year!)

And breaking a mile on a J-420 in my DarkStar Jr.

 

[dhbarr]

The day before AIRFEST/LDRS38 I was at the UPS Store and decided to knock out my L2 from mailing tubes, woodglue, and plywood.

Bought the harness, motor, retainer, and buttons at the field; aced the exam; launched from the 50's pads; and landed at the 60's.

 

[Bat-mite]

Participating in the launch of Tom Cohen's Yellow Submarine on a P motor at MDRA Red Glare in April. You've all seen it, but ...

 

[Mugs914]

My best experience(s) this year has been getting back to flying and getting to know the folks at the Austin Area Rocketry Group.

We moved a couple of years ago and after a year or so of getting settled it was great to be back in the saddle with some great, like-minded folks!

That, and my Level 1 flight!

 

[Cl(VII)]

LDRS. My Dad comes in from PA, my oldest son came along for the first time, and getting to meet and chat with so many rocket folk is great. Got my L3 build looked over by my TAPS (Eric Cayemburg and CJ), ready to fly next year st airfest. I didn't do one high power flight, and still had a great time.

 

[BDB]

My best rocketry experience this year was watching two rocket launches in one week: first a Falcon 9 with my wife and kids and then an Atlas V launch at dawn with my youngest daughter, my faithful rocket partner.

 

[BABAR]

The day before AIRFEST/LDRS38 I was at the UPS Store and decided to knock out my L2 from mailing tubes, woodglue, and plywood.

Bought the harness, motor, retainer, and buttons at the field; aced the exam; launched from the 50's pads; and landed at the 60's. View attachment 400028View attachment 400029

I’d say that one has earned some paint!
Congrats!

 

[John Taylor]

#1 Going to LDRS
#2 Getting my level one certification back
#3 Yet to come, getting my level two certification back as well, 1 week away.

 

[jqavins]

Yes, we racketeers are always looking for a good time.

D'OH!

 

[Rob702Martinez]

This year my best experience was watching a few builds I helped on, take flight. Also my first time at BALLS flying my first minimum diameter rocket twice with 100% successful flights on K-motors. Also meeting up with old and new friends at BlackRock and taking it all in.

 

[Nytrunner]

Ther've been a good few this year, Narcon at Kennedy/Cape Canaveral, helping the NAR crew for Nasa Student Launch again, serving as a club officer, etc...

But for the hands-on side, Actually getting my 4" Phoenix (the Hot Bird) built, finished to my liking, and flown on a tricky motor.

 

[mbeels]

The day before AIRFEST/LDRS38 I was at the UPS Store and decided to knock out my L2 from mailing tubes, woodglue, and plywood.

Bought the harness, motor, retainer, and buttons at the field; aced the exam; launched from the 50's pads; and landed at the 60's.

Wait, you literally bought those parts the day before the launch? Wow, that's fast! Yay tube fins!

 

[John Taylor]

View attachment 400115 View attachment 400117 This year my best experience was watching a few builds I helped on, take flight. Also my first time at BALLS flying my first minimum diameter rocket twice with 100% successful flights on K-motors. Also meeting up with old and new friends at BlackRock and taking it all in.
View attachment 400112 View attachment 400113 View attachment 400114

Great photos

 

[Jim Hinton]

I can't really pick just one. I attended LDRS 38 and that was awesome. I finally completed a seven year excursion and got my L3.

Jim

 

[neil_w]

Had a heck of a good time at the September Rad Rocks launch, with @mbeels and @jqavins. Good weather, got a lot of rockets in the air and got them all back, and got to meet a couple of TRF guys in person. 'Twas a fine day.

 

[kevindcornwell]

The day before AIRFEST/LDRS38 I was at the UPS Store and decided to knock out my L2 from mailing tubes, woodglue, and plywood.

Bought the harness, motor, retainer, and buttons at the field; aced the exam; launched from the 50's pads; and landed at the 60's. View attachment 400028View attachment 400029

Nothing sweeter than that! Congrats. I did my L2 last year to 5,000' and landed 20' from the launch pad - not that we're competing or anything... ;-)

 

[gfunk]

This is a great idea, thanks John and Joe! Fun to see everyone's awesome and varied experiences. 2019 was a good year for rocketry and it was hard to narrow it down to just a couple experiences.

After a picture perfect J510W retirement flight it was an honor to have our Blue Angels DX3 rocket autographed by all 6 demonstration pilots from the 2019 U.S. Navy Blue Angels team. This was my L1 and L2 rocket and had flown on every big 38mm J motor that AeroTech makes, twice on the J510W and J570W.

Another highlight was a successful L3 flight with a 6” upscale of my favorite Black Fly rocket which was followed by another nice L1420R flight a month later with my family along to help recover.







Autograph video:


M1297 & L1420R videos:

 

[Tobor]

2019 was a good year for me rocketry wise.
In June I got my L2 at Bong flying my ****** RIM-66 to 8.5K+ ft on an K513FJ-14.


During the 3rd week of July I received my NAR L2 card. Then that weekend I won the "Surprise Kit" raffle at Bong. A 6" Ultimate Wildman was the surprise.

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

My daughter attended her first launch. It was so hot that we both only flew one rocket each.
I finally got the nerve to fly my Viper IV with airstarts, only to have a mishap at the pad leading me to ground it.