First launch of the year! In the morning, the wind was pretty gusty and pointed in exactly the wrong direction, and I feared the whole day was going to be a washout. Flew my Odd'l Cyclone on a 1/2 A3-2T and my trusty Quinstar on a D12-0 just go get things going. Those two are always fun.
Eventually the wind came under control and I was able to do some flying. I started with the maiden flight Deuce of July on a couple of B6-4s. Not very high but successful. Then I maidened Alcubierre on a Questjet C12-4. The up was beautiful... the down, not so much. Somehow (still not sure) the chute didn't open properly and on the way down the nose slammed into the ring and caused some damage. It may not ever look as nice again, but it should be fixable and will fly again.
The IRIS-T went up on another C12-4. Right off the rod is turned sideways away from the flight line, and then kind of straightened out. It came down in a lousy area and it was a heck of an adventure to go find it... but happily the chute snagged in some weeds and the rocket came back pristine.
Then I sent up the Diamond Cutter on a C11-3 and then a D12-5 to test out my new JL Altimeter 3. Two perfect flights.
Finally, the Deuce of July on two C6-5s. The first time I forgot to tape the motors in and got my first ever core sample:
Thankfully the ground was soft and it suffered no damage at all, not even a scratch on the paint that i could see. I sent it right back up on another pair of C6-5s (this time with motors properly taped) and had possibly the best flight of the day, nice and high and easy recovery. I also got my one good picture of the day, a screen grab from a video:
Got a total of nine flights in, all rockets came back. Heck of a good day by the time it was done.
I did some painting yesterday, repainted the Tactical Toothpick and did some detail on my Ventris. Was a good day for paint. I need to learn how to take good pictures of rockets.
