A scratch built CATO

[Timothy David]

So, this was one of many scratch-built rockets I made recently. Unfortunately something went terribly wrong at take off. Before you think that I am some sort of photography guru, I admit that I cheated and took screen captures from a video to capture this spectacular "rapid unscheduled disassembly".

 

[kuririn]

Looks like a motor CATO. What did you have in there?
P.S. That's another reason to stand at least 15' away at ignition (per NAR safety code). Looks like the person in the pic is somewhat closer than that.

 

[cwbullet]

Looks like a motor CATO. What did you have in there?
P.S. That's another reason to stand at least 15' away at ignition (per NAR safety code). Looks like the person in the pic is somewhat closer than that.

15 feet or more.

 

[Timothy David]

Looks like a motor CATO. What did you have in there?
P.S. That's another reason to stand at least 15' away at ignition (per NAR safety code). Looks like the person in the pic is somewhat closer than that.

It was a D12-5 Estes. And yes, she is too close. That's my wife, who likes to help out some times. We were in way to big a rush to get things "off the ground" and didn't fully extend the cord for the launch controller.

 

[kuririn]

I would report it to Estes, they will replace the defective motor. And if the rocket were an Estes, instead of a scratcher, they would have replaced that too. Send an email to Customer Svc with that pic and the motor lot code, if you have it.
Optionally you may want to consider filing a "MESS" (Malfunctioning Engine Statistical Survey) report:https://www.motorcato.org/
Unfortunately the results of that are not made public. It is for the use of the NAR, Tripoli, and CAR. Rationale given for that is that mere numbers of CATOs do not reflect the incidence of motor CATOs for a particular type.
One of our Forum members, Lakeroadster, has set up a bad motor list, also optional:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/suspected-bad-motor-list.150501/
CATOs can happen to any motor, part of partaking in this hobby. Cheers.

 

[Timothy David]

I would report it to Estes, they will replace the defective motor. And if the rocket were an Estes, instead of a scratcher, they would have replaced that too. Send an email to Customer Svc with that pic and the motor lot code, if you have it.
Optionally you may want to consider filing a "MESS" (Malfunctioning Engine Statistical Survey) report:https://www.motorcato.org/
Unfortunately the results of that are not made public. It is for the use of the NAR, Tripoli, and CAR. Rationale given for that is that mere numbers of CATOs do not reflect the incidence of motor CATOs for a particular type.
One of our Forum members, Lakeroadster, has set up a bad motor list, also optional:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/suspected-bad-motor-list.150501/
CATOs can happen to any motor, part of partaking in this hobby. Cheers.

Awesome information. Thank you for sharing it. Problem is, this incident happened a couple of years ago, before I was aware of your forum. I just chalked it up to bad luck. But I will definitely save this information for any future CATOs.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Please do enter all motor failures into the MESS list. CAR, NAR, and TRA are trying to work out a way to make MESS data publicly available.

 

[Timothy David]

Please do enter all motor failures into the MESS list. CAR, NAR, and TRA are trying to work out a way to make MESS data publicly available.

Will do. I just don't have any of the details about the motor, other than it was definitely a D12-5 Estes.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Will do. I just don't have any of the details about the motor, other than it was definitely a D12-5 Estes.

I agree; going back to report it may not make much sense.

 

[jqavins]

Yeah, going back a couple years I had two in a row (or was it three?) E12s blow their nozzles out immediately on ignition. No damage to the rocket (the same rocket every time) and little or none to the launch stand as the motor burned out with no thrust. It was quite frustrating and a little funny before I gave up and went home. I didn't know about MESS at the time, and didn't think to notify Estes customer service. Now I know better.