EVENT NYPower 22 - May 25-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) - Geneseo, NY

I’m curious if the A-G contest happened today and if so did any rockets make all the flights?

My Wildman Darkstar Jr is still lost. I'm coming out in the morning to have a last look before heading home. If it turns up I'd appreciate hearing from the finder.
412-760-0305,
Thanks
Tom

I had a great day out on the field today! I managed to avoid the wind and got two flights in, first a Loki I430 in my scratch built tubefin rocket, and second an Aerotech K550 in my 5" Patriot. I got 2100' and 3300' respectively on the flights and was able to recover both rockets easily. Great field (if a bit wet), good weather, and a quality club. Thanks to MARS for hosting a fun event, and I'm excited for more flying tomorrow.

I lost the upper stage of a Quest Zenith II, so if it turns up I'd love a PM.

Otherwise a good weekend. Several flights, all had perfect or nearly perfect ups, all had good downs except for the wind-induced long walks. All retrieved except as above, but not without help. So many thinks to those who found a couple of my rockets for me.

I finished out the weekend with a second launch of my Patriot yesterday, this time on a J800. It got 2600' and landed close to the pad because of how low the wind was. I wish I had been able to spend more time perusing the vendor selection, but I did visit John at Marsa and got a good deal on a new altimeter. Once again, this was an awesome event! Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

My friend attempted his L2 with a minimum diameter 54mm rocket that suffered from some recovery issues and came down without a parachute. We had to leave before we could find it, but if anyone happens to find a 54mm rocket built from blue G12, I would love to hear about it.

What an incredible launch.
Marybeth, Bill, Greg, Dennis and all of the mars club for all your hard work! Clearly a very well run club!

Where else can you fly micro-max through N powered BFR's on a huge mowed grass field!
hope to make it next month!

eggplant said:

I finished out the weekend with a second launch of my Patriot yesterday, this time on a J800. It got 2600' and landed close to the pad because of how low the wind was. I wish I had been able to spend more time perusing the vendor selection, but I did visit John at Marsa and got a good deal on a new altimeter. Once again, this was an awesome event! Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

My friend attempted his L2 with a minimum diameter 54mm rocket that suffered from some recovery issues and came down without a parachute. We had to leave before we could find it, but if anyone happens to find a 54mm rocket built from blue G12, I would love to hear about it.

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Hi Andrew
What 5.5" Patriot is yours? And what is its weight. I have the 5.5" Mad Cow Patriot. Wanted to fly it on a AT L1000.

Thanks

Mailman said:

I’m curious if the A-G contest happened today and if so did any rockets make all the flights?

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That sounds like a fun challenge, for both the spectators and the participants. Good idea, I'm curious as well.

Anyone with pictures?

I missed it this year, but am hoping to "live it" through others pics & vids..

crossfire said:

Hi Andrew
What 5.5" Patriot is yours? And what is its weight. I have the 5.5" Mad Cow Patriot. Wanted to fly it on a AT L1000.

Thanks

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It is a 5" patriot from Wildman. It was about 18.5 lbs on the pad with a K550, which included a 75->54 adapter. I hope to eventually fly an L1000 in my patriot as well!

dr wogz said:

Anyone with pictures?

I missed it this year, but am hoping to "live it" through others pics & vids..

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My friends and I got a decent number of pictures and videos. I will post some tonight if I have time.

Dinofaus said:

Where else can you fly micro-max through N powered BFR's on a huge mowed grass field!
hope to make it next month!

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Mowed? Were we at the same event? I had a great time except for trudging through the grass nearly up to my knees.

It was mowed last Oct.

Come fly at the Bong. By mid July will be up to your neck. Up to your knees you got it made.

My rocket is found! I got a call from Mary Beth, campus security at the University retrieved it from a tree.

Not a great video, but I did stick the landing.


Oops! Rocket is a Wildman Sport 29mm motor mount

Personally, I found this launch to be a great learning experience. Mary Beth, Bill, Greg, Dennis and other volunteers did a great job given all the challenges, they were all friendly and helpful. The weather and field were less than idyllic, at least in comparison to last years NSL. Tracking was difficult due to the tall grass and wind, however, I look forward to more launches at this site with this wonderful club!

tOD said:

My rocket is found! I got a call from Mary Beth, campus security at the University retrieved it from a tree.

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At least it didn't end up in jail!

The NY Power website states, "In May, downwind crops are very low or just recently planted. No lost rockets in the corn or beans! This is the must attend event at the start of the flying season- recently cut grass flying field, easy recovery,"

The grass was knee high which was extremely difficult to walk through and to find your rocket. Several people I talked to said they would not have attended the launch if they were aware of the conditions. In all fairness the web site should have been up front concerning the tall grass so that people could decide whether or not to attend.

jderimig said:

It was mowed last Oct.

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Are you saying that the last time the field was mowed was in October 2018?

deangelo54 said:

Are you saying that the last time the field was mowed was in October 2018?

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Usually the field (almost every year I can remember the field is mowed in May before Memorial day.

It is mowed again when the first opportunity arrives that the tractors will not sink into the ground up to the axles.

Maybe I just hit a bad streak. In 2017 the grass was not as high as this year but high enough to make recovery of low power rockets very difficult. Last year during the NSL conditions were perfect. What bothers me is that the web site states "no lost rockets, recently cut grass, easy recovery". How about posting the true conditions of the field so people know what to expect after driving hundreds of miles to attend the event. I can't see how a reasonable person could disagree with that.

In the past the field was mowed in the days preceding the launch. I assume that organizers assumed that would happen again. A last minute monsoon most likely prevented that. I am sure the organizers will take your suggestions to heart for the future. They try to do the best they can for their guests.

I gather the field was mowed this week. Come up this weekend for perfect conditions....

Here are pictures of two of Ed Millers Rockets, his Black Thunder on a J1299 Warp 9 and his Hershey Hugg on a J800 Blue Thunder.
I don't think they knew the condition of the field till Fri. when they went out to set up and got 3 cars, 2 trucks and the club trailer stuck. They did the best they could and I want to thank them for all the effort to put on a big event like that.
I would suggest for future NYPOWER's they have someone drive the field on Thursday and post the condition of the field.
I was expecting a field like NSL 2018 which was fantastic. Driving 514 miles to slog thru knee high wet grass was a little disappointing.

58pan said:

I would suggest for future NYPOWER's they have someone drive the field on Thursday and post the condition of the field.

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I've seen at past NYPower & NSL events, some bring a battery powered weed-wacker to 'mow' their area..

(I did bring hedge shears for NSL last year, but didn't need them..)

jqavins said:

Mowed? Were we at the same event? I had a great time except for trudging through the grass nearly up to my knees.

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That field is usually mowed, a lot of rain in the earlier part of the month must have prevented it from being turned into the golf course it normally is. quoting the tagline on the website was merely an attempt at humor.....

OK, so a few comments.
1) This year most of the US has been the victim of challenging weather. Having seen quite a few wet springs over the course of my lifetime, this was clearly one of the worst, if not the worst we have had to deal with in the WNY and Fingerlakes areas of NY state. There are areas near our Great Lakes that are still at risking of flooding as I type this note. Given the weather most folks have encountered this spring, and the regional forecasts for the Geneseo area which folks can access from any smart phone/pc I would think most fliers would have checked the local area forecasts, expected wet conditions and come prepared. Although on setup Friday we expected wet conditions we did not expect to get our 4 wheel drive vehicles stuck on the field, due to ponding we could not see until we were upon it, given the grass wasn't cut.
2) We did not hear from the landowner that the field had not been mowed. It always has been done before our large May launch, so we didn't give it a second thought. Lesson learned.
3) As to having some of us go out and check the field earlier that week, none of us lives close enough to the field to take a quick drive out after work. By the time we would get there it would be dark, and we wouldn't be able to see much of anything. As to taking another day off work, in addition to taking a day of for setup, that just isn't going to happen!
4) We adjusted the field layout to assure no one else would get stuck, and were able to launch continuously from early Saturday through Monday, with the sole exception of 2 short (20 minute or so) breaks Saturday due to rain.
5) We offered to loan folks trackers if they were worried about losing their rockets. Folks (but not everyone) availed themselves of that option.
6) Could we have posted something Friday night, once we had a chance to get back to the hotel after field setup? In retrospect we could have. That being said wet knee high grass may not have had much impact on many folks, especially those traveling 400 or 500 miles to attend a launch. Would knee high grass have deferred someone from making the trip, who had started out Friday night? Would it have stopped someone from making the trip Saturday morning? Having been to other launches I know it would not have stopped me. I think most fliers are seasoned enough to know they will run into weather conditions, whether they are at Black Rock, MDRA, TARC, or Geneseo.
7) The webmaster's comments about our field are spot on for the vast majority of all of the launches we have held there over the past 26 years. This was one of the very rare exceptions.
Bottom line, none of this is not rocket science. Participants should check the short term weather forecasts and decide if they are willing to attend the event or not. If in doubt they have the ability to reach out to us via the website before leaving.
I know a great deal of effort was put into this event to ensure we could launch, despite the obstacles mother nature threw at us, and I am proud of the efforts of the range crew and volunteers from MARS and other clubs that stepped up and helped us make this happen. We had a lot of great flights, some of which were very memorable.

My family and I look forward to attending the memorial day launch every year. This was our third and final year in a row. We pay for a hotel, a SUV rental, meals and not to mention time taken off from work. Two years ago the grass was ankle high which made it difficult to find low power rockets. Believe me I do appreciate the effort of the MARS club. The mistake is that too many assumptions were made on the part of the club. The grass was extremely high. I'm not a landscaper but I have to believe that the grass had not been mowed for well over a month. When you know that people will be traveling hundreds of miles and paying for hotels you have to make sure they will not have to deal with such adverse conditions. You are assuming that rocketeers would attend the event even if we knew of the conditions. I would not have done so. I would have forfeited the $150 for one nights stay at the hotel and saved the cost of the SUV rental and stayed home. As it was we left to go home on Sunday morning. It cost me $700 to launch four rockets on Saturday. You cannot post mowed grass on your web site when it is knee high this year and ankle high in 2017. Perhaps the NAR should hold sections to some kind of truth in advertising standard. Next year we will have a back yard BBQ on memorial day and attend the June UURF launch with is closer to home.

I attended a potter launch once, i watched every car get stuck and an RV literally sink into mud up to its entrance, it needed a giant tractor to extract them and dozens of people sinking up their knees loosing boots forever! No Field is perfect, ill take tall grass any day.

I love rocketry but I’ll take honesty and common sense any day. Why would anyone knowingly drive their car into adverse conditions? I love motorcycles but I don’t take it out in thunder storms, I park it and do something else. If you are OK with tall thick grass and spending time looking for rockets then Geneseo is the place for you.

Anthony DeMarco said:

I love rocketry but I’ll take honesty and common sense any day. Why would anyone knowingly drive their car into adverse conditions? I love motorcycles but I don’t take it out in thunder storms, I park it and do something else. If you are OK with tall thick grass and spending time looking for rockets then Geneseo is the place for you.

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The Potter field can go from reasonable to unreasonable in minutes of a rain storm. No one knowingly goes onto it. They come to a launch, the conditions turn, and if anything they optimistically wait too long before the decide to flee.