High Cotton Rocket Launch - Day 1
Gold Mine Plantation, St. John the Baptist Parish, LA
Tripoli-LA & NAR
Was fortunate to get to go to the Tripoli-LA/NAR launch near Winnsboro, LA.
We thought the weather was going to be a challenge with low ceilings, etc. And... we
did have some low ceilings until noon or so... By 1400 hrs or so, it was
"launch 'em if ya brung 'em", with open skies and just a few hints of clouds within the waiver envelope.
Went 1 for 2 on Level III cert attempts.... both awe inspiring launches. PART of the unsuccessful rocket was temporarily
lost, but near sunset, ALL of the pieces that drifted away were located together about 3.5
MILES from the flight line. More on that later....
near miracle that it was found! Actually, I think I'll wait and see if the rocketeer comes on to tell the story.
We had a NUMBER of Level I cert attempts, but I don't know precisely the GO/NOGO ratio.
Had a group come up from Dillard University, New Orleans, LA with at least 4 different students going for Level I.... An issue arose due to a combination of un-filleted fins and LONG motor delays (head down, high-speed, deployment) causing some fin loss. But lots of lessons learned, and hopefully, they'll get to get back to the field tomorrow before heading home. Such a fine set of young people & leaders alike.
Another fine group from a private school down south? I apologize, my old brain already forgot the community name. Such pleasant folks all around!
My friend launched a scorcher (light airframe on a big H I think) that I didn't get a good track on, and we never saw it again.... UNTIL...
For some odd reason, as I was finally leaving (took 2 hours
), I was at the stop sign on Sligo Road about to turn right to avoid the 2 mile long drive down a rock covered road.... something told me to change my mind and turn left.... I wasn't in a hurry and it was pretty by then. Then, it occurred to me since I couldn't go more than 10 mph without jarring my teeth loose that I should drive 5 mph and scan for rocket parts in the freshly turned fields.....
Sure enough, about 1000 meters down the road (and about 300 meters on the other side of the road) RIGHT on the edge of the turned dirt, I spotted a hint of the yellow parachute on the FRESH dirt.... No fresh dirt, would have missed it for sure.
The bird had gone in ballistic (in undisturbed soil... ouch), re-kitted, and self-distributed over about a 5 meter area.
But the chute release was recovered!
Yea! 
I was also genuinely fortunate to meet a young man named John, an older student at LA Tech in Ruston, LA. (Previous graduate coming back for a new degree!
) He came out to watch and has some interest in rocketry. Had a grand time chatting with him. I hope to see him burning up the skies in March!
I want to thank everyone who contributes to making our launches fun & SAFE! Well done!
And a special thanks to Chris (& Family) of Chris' Rocket Supplies for making the 500+ mile trip from Georgia to support us! Wish I could be there tomorrow, but I hope they clean you out! I did the best I could!
Be well!
this is such a complete crock of horse manure. As it only feels good to the people sitting on the board thinking they're solving the world's problems but it does absolutely nothing for the Casual flyer. The test questions that they had for the past 3 years was more than sufficient, so I'm assuming that they also have to spend the money to change the study guides that they send out with new members, so that was another complete waste of money. I'm very upset with all this. Now I have to drive two and a half hours to go down and take the test instead of doing it locally.
