Had a pretty great day Saturday. It started cold and a little breezy. It felt like about 30 deg wind chills. By the end of the day, the cloud deck lifted, the sun shine came and it was t-shirt weather. Sweatshirts for some. The full scale SLI launch on an L was a great flight. Ben and Elaine both got flights off today along with many others.
I had a EX flight in Grapeshot with a 3g 54mm that was running just over 1000 psi. That was the same nozzle I fly some 4g propellants at 800 psi. This mix burns fast. It didn't hit hard, but it sure got going good. Burnsim had it at a 37% K934. What was interesting was that it got about 3/4 the altitude of the slower burning 4g mix. The only real difference between the two is the fast stuff is vacuumed a lot during processing and the other isn't. Anyway, it got 4213 ft. at 483 mph and I was able to drive right up to it when I went to recover.
Dog Whistler went on the slow EX propellant. It was a 4g 38mm with a #18 nozzle that put the pressure at just over 1000 psi. That was a great flight. It hit hard and really sent the rocket flying. It was one of the few times I actually heard Dog Whistler actually whistle. Pretty cool. Burnsim put it at a 73% I-371 and it flew to 2,888 ft. This was the first time Dog Whistler landed in a tree. It was draped over a tree about 40 ft up in the area I call 2 creeks. Fortunately the nose cone and chute were hang low enough we got the power pole on it and was able to pull it down with only minor damage. Mostly it was the mud packed into the aft end when the fin can dropped into the edge of the creek and the soft mud.
Next came the AT motors. I put a J350W in the 4" Patriot. It only weighed 4 lbs 15 oz. so I expected it to get near 4,000 ft. It was a great flight and got 4,150 ft. The Stratologger SL100, a barometric altimeter also said it went 1053 mph. Nobody believed it went the fast, but I pushed that until Mike told me the fastest flier had to buy the beer afterwards.
My last flight was the PML Callisto on a H180W. I knew the H128W would put it about 2,100 ft, but since the clouds were lifting, the winds dropping, I figured I've give it a shot and expected near 3,000 ft. It went 2,890 ft. at 453 mph.
I used the JLCR for the two motor ejection flights and popped the chute at 200 ft. I would have used 100 ft, but I wanted it to go a little early so I had a chance to see it before it touched down.
All in all, one of the best days launching at BattlePark in quite some time.
