During our second two weeks of self isolation, we got a bit antsy and decided to fly some rockets. Sharon hit it hard in the office to get her work out, and I prepped some rockets and packed the trailer.
We drove out to an old abandoned airport in the desert for a little launch by ourselves.
Left on Friday afternoon with the truck and trailer and set up camp early enough to fly a couple of rockets.
First flight was my Chrome Dome on a C6-5 and Sharon's Blue High flier on an E12-6.
Both flights went off great, so we kicked back and watched the sunset.
Saturday, we woke up to perfect flying conditions:
Started off with my Jolly Green on another C6-5, which had a deployment failure and ballistic return. Good news is that it was a paper rocket that only weighed 95 grams:
Not too much damage....
Sharon flew next with her Magician with another E12-6. This was it's 33rd flight and it flew to 1028 ft. It was a bit breezy, so we had a long walk for recovery.
Next up was my Savage two stage on a D12-0/C6-5, and another long recovery for the sustainer, which reached 1145 ft.
Sharon flew another E12-6 in her Blue Ninja, which has been repaired several times but still counting 43 flights! I think all the repairs has made this rocket a bit overweight, so it only went to 749 ft.
My turn was next with Salvage One which is a Apogee Aspire clone that has been repaired many, maannnyy times. This was its 20th (and final) flight to 1972' before the F10 motor exploded.....
Sharon's turn and she flew her Eliminator XL on a E12-8 to 1105' so I then flew my regular Eliminator on a E9-8 to 1056' and had a "tree landing"
Not a lot of trees out here......
Sharon's next flight was her Highflyer XL on an AT E18-7 reload for it's 31st flight to 1333'
I followed with my Kick Aspire on a CTI G106. This is another Apogee Aspire clone using Blue Tube and fiberglass fins. It went a whopping 4532' and landed a looooonnnng ways away. Got our 10,000 steps for the day!
Next up for Sharon was her Wildman Wildchild on a CTI G125 but don't know how high since the 102'/sec launch speed destroyed the Estes Altimeter. Sim's say it would go to 3000' and it looked like it did. (Note to self: don't use Estes altimeters on high G flights...)
I flew my "Light My Fire" Estes Executioner with a Sticker Shock wrap that we somehow didn't get a picture of but by this time after all the recovery we were getting a little tired. It flew to 1352' but got a little zipper. Sharon quit flying at that point and headed for the box wine but I wasn't done yet.
My next flight was my new built Star Orbiter. Had difficulty getting a paint job on it for some reason but it came out pretty good.
However the flight didn't go all that great and I lost the nose cone at apogee at 1815' never to be seen again. After recovery I noticed that the 3-D printed rail buttons were missing. Sharon found them on the rail
Oops.
Then I decided to follow up that show with my Viper 3 for it's 19th flight with 3XE12-8's and my first use of a chute release set at 400'. After a great flight and apogee at 1194' the chute release worked perfectly but scared the heck out of me when the burrito didn't unfold until about 50' off the ground. Note to self: set release higher when using a burrito.....
I quit for the day after that and we grilled steaks with baked potatoes and my favorite roasted Brussels sprouts. Beautiful sunset rounded out our evening.
Today we got up and after breakfast had a visit from the BLM ranger looking for a couple lost in the desert. Wasn't us. Had a couple of airplanes check us out too and give us a fly by
After the sightseers flew off I flew my Estes Majestic that I modified with a RRC3 in the nose cone with a cable cutter. It flew on a CIT G-80 Skidmark. We totally forgot to take photos of it. Also totally forgot to document the altitude. And we are morning people so I don't know what happened....
Sharon then flew her Mammmoth on a CTI F59-9 to 1360'
We were pretty much done by then so our last flight was my Dual Deploy Argent on a H115 (juusstt under the legal weight and grams). Moved the pad back to 100' and launched it to 2302' and a recovery just behind the pad.
So there it is folks - 18 rockets between the two of us with only a couple of mishaps. We headed home and unloaded the trailer for the summer (summer is NOT a flying season in Arizona). Hope you enjoyed the story.
We drove out to an old abandoned airport in the desert for a little launch by ourselves.
Left on Friday afternoon with the truck and trailer and set up camp early enough to fly a couple of rockets.
First flight was my Chrome Dome on a C6-5 and Sharon's Blue High flier on an E12-6.
Both flights went off great, so we kicked back and watched the sunset.
Saturday, we woke up to perfect flying conditions:
Started off with my Jolly Green on another C6-5, which had a deployment failure and ballistic return. Good news is that it was a paper rocket that only weighed 95 grams:
Not too much damage....
Sharon flew next with her Magician with another E12-6. This was it's 33rd flight and it flew to 1028 ft. It was a bit breezy, so we had a long walk for recovery.
Next up was my Savage two stage on a D12-0/C6-5, and another long recovery for the sustainer, which reached 1145 ft.
Sharon flew another E12-6 in her Blue Ninja, which has been repaired several times but still counting 43 flights! I think all the repairs has made this rocket a bit overweight, so it only went to 749 ft.
My turn was next with Salvage One which is a Apogee Aspire clone that has been repaired many, maannnyy times. This was its 20th (and final) flight to 1972' before the F10 motor exploded.....
Sharon's turn and she flew her Eliminator XL on a E12-8 to 1105' so I then flew my regular Eliminator on a E9-8 to 1056' and had a "tree landing"
Not a lot of trees out here......
Sharon's next flight was her Highflyer XL on an AT E18-7 reload for it's 31st flight to 1333'
I followed with my Kick Aspire on a CTI G106. This is another Apogee Aspire clone using Blue Tube and fiberglass fins. It went a whopping 4532' and landed a looooonnnng ways away. Got our 10,000 steps for the day!
Next up for Sharon was her Wildman Wildchild on a CTI G125 but don't know how high since the 102'/sec launch speed destroyed the Estes Altimeter. Sim's say it would go to 3000' and it looked like it did. (Note to self: don't use Estes altimeters on high G flights...)
I flew my "Light My Fire" Estes Executioner with a Sticker Shock wrap that we somehow didn't get a picture of but by this time after all the recovery we were getting a little tired. It flew to 1352' but got a little zipper. Sharon quit flying at that point and headed for the box wine but I wasn't done yet.
My next flight was my new built Star Orbiter. Had difficulty getting a paint job on it for some reason but it came out pretty good.
However the flight didn't go all that great and I lost the nose cone at apogee at 1815' never to be seen again. After recovery I noticed that the 3-D printed rail buttons were missing. Sharon found them on the rail
Oops.
Then I decided to follow up that show with my Viper 3 for it's 19th flight with 3XE12-8's and my first use of a chute release set at 400'. After a great flight and apogee at 1194' the chute release worked perfectly but scared the heck out of me when the burrito didn't unfold until about 50' off the ground. Note to self: set release higher when using a burrito.....
I quit for the day after that and we grilled steaks with baked potatoes and my favorite roasted Brussels sprouts. Beautiful sunset rounded out our evening.
Today we got up and after breakfast had a visit from the BLM ranger looking for a couple lost in the desert. Wasn't us. Had a couple of airplanes check us out too and give us a fly by
After the sightseers flew off I flew my Estes Majestic that I modified with a RRC3 in the nose cone with a cable cutter. It flew on a CIT G-80 Skidmark. We totally forgot to take photos of it. Also totally forgot to document the altitude. And we are morning people so I don't know what happened....
Sharon then flew her Mammmoth on a CTI F59-9 to 1360'
We were pretty much done by then so our last flight was my Dual Deploy Argent on a H115 (juusstt under the legal weight and grams). Moved the pad back to 100' and launched it to 2302' and a recovery just behind the pad.
So there it is folks - 18 rockets between the two of us with only a couple of mishaps. We headed home and unloaded the trailer for the summer (summer is NOT a flying season in Arizona). Hope you enjoyed the story.
