AIRFEST XXIV

Cory said:

Damn straight the Wildman's Margarita machine beat the heat. Jackie and Tim do it right every year and are a truely top notch folks.

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I always thought that Tim was the Jimmy Buffett of Rocketry, now I know it.

Ok, my drunk post last night is a direct result of Wildmans margarita machine. My apologies to Justin and Jason. Great flights, and thanks for posting them up.

Wayco said:

Ok, my drunk post last night is a direct result of Wildmans margarita machine. My apologies to Justin and Jason. Great flights, and thanks for posting them up.

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Do you mean Justin Griffin and Jason Farrand?? [emoji23][emoji23]

Griffin Has JF had time to take any picture? Good luck to all you guys.

WOW and WOW again! Great day flying today, starting with a new motor in my Red Tailed Extreme. Not Your Wimpy red 75/6000 Ellis Mountain casing and a polished LOKI nozzle. Burnsim calls it an M1805, but it performed as good as the M1550 Redline I have been flying in this rocket. 14323 ft. It was a long recovery in a soybean field this morning, but the GPS walked us right to it. Second flight was two 3” Darkstars on L1374’s, both NYWR 54mm loads off the 50’s pads. I got 12,077 ft and Sharon got 11,623 ft.
Last flight was the 4” Punisher drag race. CJ disappeared so it was Adrian, Sharon and myself. I came off the pad first, got highest altitude, and landed next to the food vendors at the entrance to the rocket pasture, but the real bonus is all the crowd that told us what a show it was. Gotta love that Dark Matter.

Bust. My 4” Prion on a L935 went about 20 feet and should have had sad trombone played over the PA. My Blackhawk 54 on a L990 looked great and went to 20,000+ at >1500 mph. However, I guess a Lowe’s quicklink gave up and I lost the booster. I recovered the rest though.
Alas, I’m still a level 1. (Wayco told me I should have started lower. He was right)

I can’t even post right

I have LOTS and LOTS of photos from the first two days. Below is just a few. I'll generally upload everything to google photos, you can find the full-size originals here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oiXs3sEiHtzJ3ERz7

If I've photographed your rocket, and you would like the raw files (75 meg's each!), send me a private email, and I'd be happy to email them to you.

more photos

Nice photos! How windy was it?

Yesterday was Kansas Kalm with winds around 10 to 15 mph on average. Much better than Friday, and not quite as hot. It was a spectacular day.

Great pics Alex!

Well three igniters into it and my son made a successful level 1 tmp flight on a LOC EZI65 that we built (all but the motor mount) here at the field last night. It’s dirty and covered in wood glue and epoxy so he named it the “Dirty Eye” 65! We were a little long on the delay but it still made it safely.

I’ll post pics later but I’m pretty proud of him.

I saw your son’s flight. The descent had us clenched up! Very happy when the chute opened.

My 8 year old had my family’s only successful flight. Estes Majestic on G78.

The new family Level 1 TMP!!!

Clivus said:

I saw your son’s flight. The descent had us clenched up! Very happy when the chute opened.

My 8 year old had my family’s only successful flight. Estes Majestic on G78.

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Oh I seen him walk by with the rocket a few times I think! Yes, it was a clincher for sure lol.

Awesome pictures and videos everyone!

Any pics of Chris Short's P motor?

Good morning! When approaching the Rocket Pasture on Monday, please access via the highway K-44 to Eden Rd. to 80th St. route due to wet conditions.

A quick video of the making of my L2. Thanks Kloudbusters and AIRFest crew for making this another awesome launch! I always love the friendly atmosphere of AIRFest and all the awesome projects!

Edit: Also I know its probably unlikely. But if someone has a picture of this coming off of the pad that would be amazing. It launched early on Saturday morning from the 40s pads. I had on-board video but it ran out of battery on the bad!

I'm making my way back home after another great trip to the Rocket Pasture. A big thanks to the Kloudbusters for hosting the premiere national event. There is nothing like Airfest.

Besides spending four days in 100+ degree heat or drenching rain, making sure each and every flyer's needs and wishes are met, there's the planning, website, setup, and teardown. All to make sure a couple hundred or so guests have a hell of a good time.

A special thanks to Bob, Amy, Jay, and all the away-cell folks (I'm embarrassed I can't remember all their names) for accommodating my 3 flights.

See ya next year.

If anyone by chance took photos or a video of my son level 1 flight I sure would appreciate a copy. I was too nervous over it to think about taking any. It was the dirty eye 65. Thanks in advance.

Like others have said, huge thanks to Bob, Lance, Amy and all the Kloudbusters. You guys put on another top notch launch. Next year is going to be amazing!! I am already making my plans for LDRS on the pasture. Anyone planning to go next year, please plan to sign up for a volunteer slot or two. This really makes a big difference for the hosting club.

Big thanks again to the Kloudbusters!!

Ditto!

What an amazing launch! The Kloudbuster Krew does it again....THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIRELESS EFFORTS!!!!

Great people, great times, and even some rockets too!!! Had a blast; you guys rock! Can't wait to do it again...but get some rest in the meantime!

Thanks guys and gals!!!

Yes, thank you all!!! KLOUDBusters puts on the best launches! I’m glad my son did his entry into HPR with y’all.

Thanks to everyone for coming this year. We'll compile some stats about the launch soon. And thanks for the nice comments.

Jim Hendrickson - we have your red Punisher. Contact me off list.

Farrand/Griffin Airfest 24 debrief:

First off, thank you Kloudbusters and all volunteers, hats off to you. Kloudbusters run the best launches in the country, my sincere thanks for your hard work and sacrifice!

Griffin started us off Friday on a good tone with his 6” Demon on a research 98/12,500 Albino Assault baby N to 16K. Recovered close, had a nice walk with Griffin and Dr. Reese and recovered in short order.

Later in the afternoon Friday , I flew my Mach 2 entry on a CTI L-935 IMAX to 22,968, #winning.

Saturday morning Griffin and I flew his carbon fiber Flacon 98 on a 98,17,500 Albino Assault to 36K. Really surprised to see no delamination, but plenty of melted paint!

After the Falcon was recovered, Scott Kormeier from Loki Research and I teamed up to fly a 3” rocket on a custom one-off motor, an M-1856 Loki Red. Great flight to 37.7K, very pleased with how it flew and altitude achieved.

Griffin put up his Mach 2 on a CTI L-265 Mellow Saturday afternoon, hit 19K even though it tipped into the wind quite a bit, and recovered intact.


Overall we had 5 flights, all successful, had a great time, and looking forward to next year’s LDRS!

I think Justin Griffin needs to make a two stage…