Balls reports?

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FredA

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Been quiet....sorry I missed it and really missed being there.....stories & pic's PLEASE.
I heard the R-hybrid shredded.
I heard the R-M cato'ed.
Any other info?
 
Quick report. Very very few successes at the far away pads. Unusally small number of flights relative to the attendance. Wierd. My flight worked.
 
Does anyone know anything about the helicopter that flew in Sat morning (4am-ish), landed on the flight line, then took off again 15min or so later?? Hope it wasn't a medical issue. It was like 50' over my tent!

BTW, the 300+ C motor flash pan ignition on Friday was super cool! Loved that.
 
Does anyone know anything about the helicopter that flew in Sat morning (4am-ish), landed on the flight line, then took off again 15min or so later?? Hope it wasn't a medical issue. It was like 50' over my tent!

BTW, the 300+ C motor flash pan ignition on Friday was super cool! Loved that.
It was a medvac, person involved was back walking on the playa Saturday
 
Another Balls.
Some years everything works.
Some years are like this year.
I brought three rockets for TRA records and will just say there will be no change on those pages.
I like this picture, a friend said take a pic of what you are seeing now.

Mark

F664C17B-1C4F-48E7-A8A5-979F7AE0EF69.jpeg
 
Alex's hybrid broke up about 18k at Mach 2.6.

Aaaahhhh....so close....that must have been cool.

Mark - too bad on the records -- what impulses were you shooting for?

I hear it was the Gary & Gary show at the Hamster Dance - and also hear it was good the 15k limit was removed - nicely done Gary's! See ya next year ;-)

Keep em coming, please.
 
We had another project, a memorial flight.
I won’t give the details of who and why, if you need to know you already do.
6” upscale of a Warthog on an Aerotech M1419.
Flight was perfect except main at apogee and last gps location was on the launch pad. Becky G's eagle eyes kept track most of the way down. Robin and I take off in the truck with a second truck following going past the away cells and between the dunes. No possible way to follow the sight line We are wandering aimlessly. Stopped Robin said I had the look of doom and didn’t want to drive another inch. We were heading to be stuck and a long bad day. I don’t know why but I leaned forward to see around the windshield post and stare off at the brush. Way far away, I don’t even know what direction we were looking, I see a flash of orange. I see it again, there is the Rocketman chute billowing up! My truck doesn’t have the clearance to continue so Robin gets in the other truck and they finish the recovery. They said I spotted it from well over a mile. Was 2.5 miles from the range head.
I'm not one for the supernatural but I’m thinking maybe the "passenger" in the rocket gave a "look that way" hint.
Returning the rocket made joy for the family that would have been a bit empty without a recovery.

M

CD391F60-2D8D-44C3-90BC-C17C956B7851.jpeg
 
Aaaahhhh....so close....that must have been cool.

Mark - too bad on the records -- what impulses were you shooting for?

I hear it was the Gary & Gary show at the Hamster Dance - and also hear it was good the 15k limit was removed - nicely done Gary's! See ya next year ;-)

Keep em coming, please.

Yes Gary is once again the Alpha Hamster, something like 21-22k.
The winner also becomes the Tripoli Gerlach Prefect.
What started as essentially a joke has now become a technology battle. No metal parts and maximum total weight of 5 pounds over 20k feet is nothing to laugh at.
I thought the R hybrid was going to make it, was counting the seconds of burn in my head, was "missed it by that much"
Mine were for..
G handicapped, tangled chute and broke fin.
I cluster, motors (3x H13) didn’t light togethe. But it provided comic relief.
The third Was I handicapped I didn’t launch because of electronics damaged in above flights.
 
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Been quiet....sorry I missed it and really missed being there.....stories & pic's PLEASE.
I heard the R-hybrid shredded.
I heard the R-M cato'ed.
Any other info?
Bruce Lee and Jerry Amrhein set the world record for a cluster rocket called Cluster Duck. It had 312 Estes C6-0's and one AeroTech Nitrous Hybrid J390. Of the 313 motors 299 were successfully lit and the rocket was successfully recovered breaking the record set by Larry Drake in 2000 with 269 motors. More to come as we collect pictures and videos.DSC_0052.JPG
 
Bruce Lee and Jerry Amrhein set the world record for a cluster rocket called Cluster Duck. It had 312 Estes C6-0's and one AeroTech Nitrous Hybrid J390. Of the 313 motors 299 were successfully lit and the rocket was successfully recovered breaking the record set by Larry Drake in 2000 with 269 motors. More to come as we collect pictures and videos.

Of course you flew a hybrid! :)

299/313 motors lit is no small feat!

-Kevin
 
We had another project, a memorial flight.
I won’t give the details of who and why, if you need to know you already do.
6” upscale of a Warthog on an Aerotech M1419.
Flight was perfect except main at apogee and last gps location was on the launch pad. Becky G's eagle eyes kept track most of the way down. Robin and I take off in the truck with a second truck following going past the away cells and between the dunes. No possible way to follow the sight line We are wandering aimlessly. Stopped Robin said I had the look of doom and didn’t want to drive another inch. We were heading to be stuck and a long bad day. I don’t know why but I leaned forward to see around the windshield post and stare off at the brush. Way far away, I don’t even know what direction we were looking, I see a flash of orange. I see it again, there is the Rocketman chute billowing up! My truck doesn’t have the clearance to continue so Robin gets in the other truck and they finish the recovery. They said I spotted it from well over a mile. Was 2.5 miles from the range head.
I'm not one for the supernatural but I’m thinking maybe the "passenger" in the rocket gave a "look that way" hint.
Returning the rocket made joy for the family that would have been a bit empty without a recovery.

M

View attachment 483606
You did good, Mark.
 
We had another project, a memorial flight.
I won’t give the details of who and why, if you need to know you already do.
6” upscale of a Warthog on an Aerotech M1419.
Flight was perfect except main at apogee and last gps location was on the launch pad. Becky G's eagle eyes kept track most of the way down. Robin and I take off in the truck with a second truck following going past the away cells and between the dunes. No possible way to follow the sight line We are wandering aimlessly. Stopped Robin said I had the look of doom and didn’t want to drive another inch. We were heading to be stuck and a long bad day. I don’t know why but I leaned forward to see around the windshield post and stare off at the brush. Way far away, I don’t even know what direction we were looking, I see a flash of orange. I see it again, there is the Rocketman chute billowing up! My truck doesn’t have the clearance to continue so Robin gets in the other truck and they finish the recovery. They said I spotted it from well over a mile. Was 2.5 miles from the range head.
I'm not one for the supernatural but I’m thinking maybe the "passenger" in the rocket gave a "look that way" hint.
Returning the rocket made joy for the family that would have been a bit empty without a recovery.

M

View attachment 483606
This was an absolutely fantastic project all the way around. Well executed Mark & Robin!!
 
Bruce Lee and Jerry Amrhein set the world record for a cluster rocket called Cluster Duck. It had 312 Estes C6-0's and one AeroTech Nitrous Hybrid J390. Of the 313 motors 299 were successfully lit and the rocket was successfully recovered breaking the record set by Larry Drake in 2000 with 269 motors. More to come as we collect pictures and videos.View attachment 483684
NICE, but my old record of 169 motors still stands as 100% successful, every kernel popped and I did not use any composite motors to help with liftoff...All fire and brimstone, baby. Myth Busters launched a bizarre object with 500 E9's (Sled with crash test dummy on a surfboard...funny!!!) What could go wrong?


VIDEOS??? Please!
 
Jim Wilkerson got a nice shot of my rocket "8 years to recover" It first flew @ Balls 2009...and became misplaced for 8 years..It was found by the "Alaska guys" @ Balls 2017. I refurbished it and had it ready to fly @ Balls 2019 and I got too busy to fly it. I was able to fly it this year and here's a good shot on its way to 49,302 feet at Mach 2.46 59" of Swamp Gas N2936 6.65 sec burn

BALLS_29_Day_2_Sept_25,_2021-1237-(ZF-8916-96834-1-001).jpg


The upper rail button...yep 1515 buttons on a min dia..I'd rather have it go straight and loose some altitude..instead of tower tip.
20211008_172944.jpg

Another Jim Wilkerson photo..NOT a min dia rocket. A big Fat 6" rocket with a 98mm motor mount. I got a bunch of 'parts' from Bob Fortune @ Aerocon Systems and made a cool big dumb rocket. I've flown it 4 times now. Next weekend I hope to fly it twice. It flies nice on M1100 Swamp Gas 8 sec burns to over 14K..It comes down on an 18 Balute drogue and 3 Aerocon 60" chutes act as the main!
BALLS_29_Day_1_Sept_24,_2021-0846-(ZF-8916-96834-1-002).jpg

Tony
 
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