BluesRockS Kentucky HPR Launch

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shockwaveriderz

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BluesRockS(Bluegrass Rocketry Society), NAR section #657 is pleased to announce their 1st BlueSkies HPR Sport Launch February 28th from 11AM-4Pm... MerlinMissiles wll be our onsite motor vendor...
we have a 1000 acre field and a 10K/15K waiver...
The weather is expected to be mostly sunny mid 60's with light south winds <10 mph...

Launch fees will be $5 for Model Rocketry A-G (<18 yr old only) and $10 for HPR H-J...(Families or single adults, model rocketry, HPR or both))

we can support medium size J flights.....K or larger please provide your own GSE..and advance contact would be appreciated....

We will be having a raffle.....tickets only $1

Contact us at [email protected]

see our website for Maps/Directions and pics of the launch site:

https://users.adelphia.net/~iceage/

Come join us for a day of model rocketry and high power rocketry....
 
The BluesRockS webpage is now updated with detailed info.

Check it out, or better yet, come fly the friendly Kentucky BlueSkies!

BluesRockS BlueSkies launch

gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint, gotta paint my new rockets...

Patrick
 
Shocky...good luck with the launch man...Glad to see you all have a place to go to there!

Carl
 
BlueSkies 1 Launch Report

Saturday February 28th was the 1st BluesRockS BlueSkies HPR Launch at our Sims farm flying field. Like alot of clubs, we have this field from approx. Dec 1-April 1 as its a working farm that plants soybeans. The field itself is apprx. 1000 acres of very gently rolliing Kentucky river bottom land...


The weather for this launch was perfection.....winds < 5 mph with bright Blue sunny skies, temperatures in the mid to high 50's....( I might add I got a good sunburn on my face, arms/hands and lips...ouch!)

I saw some of the strangest things during this launch...1st of all due to the lack of wind , all the model went exactly straight
up..... but it wasn't what they did on the way up as what they did on the way back down.. I saw models floating stationery for seconds at a time, or going up and coming back down like yo-yos.... there was obviously a great deal of thermal activity at this site....

We had 2 firsts at this site..... David Logan was the first ever person to certify as L1 at this site while Lance Knoechel, proprietor of MerlinMissiles, and our preferred motor vendor, had a absolutely beautiful 5:41 B PD Nartrek Bronze Level flight.... Lance also had a number of beautiful flights on his SWORD model Rocket on Estes E engines...Straight up beautiful flights.... The finish on this model was just outstanding...

This model seemed stuck in a thermal directly overhead and not only did it go up but as it hit the "donut hole" ( down draft) it came down like a rocket only a few hundred feet from the laucnh site..

The first flight of the day was an Alpha on a C6-5 by yours truly, shockie... I had been driving by this site for almost 30 years and vowed to someday launch rockets from it and I became the 1st
person to do so...

Approx. 15 + people showed up ready to launch rockets of all size and engine classes.. We had the 'Louisville Boyz" as I call them, The Stevens Brothers, Albert and Dennis, George Gradhl and Bryan Mackin, members of the KRA, the Kentuckiana Rocketry Association that go back to HPR in the early 90's

These guys have been around for a long while in HPR and really know their stuff... We could not have had this HPR launch without their GSE support...

I now know who owns all the composite engines in the state of Kentucky: Albert and Dennis...and did I tell you that Dennis has a unbuilt fleet of over 75 models...? and a built fleet of close to 60? WOW....

From western Ky we had David Logan, his beautiful daughter Katy and a celebrity : The "Prfessor" himself,
Terry McCreary , an actual TRA BOD member!.... I was agog...... Terry Had a beautiful flight of a Patriot on an I-300....
and kindly donated his materpiece, Experimental Composite Propellant to our raffle.

David of course, was the first BluesRockS member EVER to certify for his L1...( I'm next!!!!) and again, we could not have held this event without his GSE support....

From central Ky we had Patrick Harvey, aka Iceage, Bill Martin and his family, Stewart32 form TRF (whose name escapes me ARGHHHH!)

From SOuthern Indiana Joe Magginnis, another LONGTIME Model Rocketeer ( his NAR # is like 10XXX) came down
and launched most of his Aerotech fleet: GForce, Aurreaux,Mustang,and Barracuda.... I also now know where
all the AT composite motors in Indiana are!!!...

From here in Etown ****y McKnight came down and had the distinction of launching the most rockets up..
way to go Bobby! ALso Michael Henninger came down and Launched a 4 ft tall MOSQUITO on an I230! Very Impressive....
and Michael holds the club record for the 1st J launch at a BluesRockS HPR meet...

Between 3pm and 4pm when he closed down, Dennis Stevens launched his Quasar on a F25 and Dennis has the dubious
distinction of having the 1st rocket to drift over the Rolling Fork River, out of the launch area..
Never fear, after we shut down, The Stevens brothers, Bobby and I eventually found the model on the other side of the river on a farm across the river....

Before we tore down the range head and left, we held a raffle of various kits, engines,etc and a number of peopl went home happy
with free kits, especially Stewart32's little friend....!

So we had 50 launches over a 5 hr period for a launch of approx 1 per every 6 minutes...pretty laidback

Its not the quantity of launches that count but the quality and I think all would agree that we
had excellent weather, an excellent field, and a great time was had by all...

If theres anybodies name I forgot, please forgive me as I am losing my memory in my old age...

We are all looking forward to BlueSkies 2 to be held in mid to late March...

Terry Dean
aka shockie
prez BluesRockS #657
 
Great report shockie. Sounds like a near perfect day. Make sure you add sunscreen to the rangebox. Hmmm I wonder if you can lube o-rings with SPF-45? :D
 
Just wanted to take a moment to thank the participants and members of BluesRocks for the invitation to the launch. I as well as my son Baylen (the three year old) will be sure to return.

On behalf of my neighborhood rocket buddy Chandler ("the angler"), I would like to thank the kind generosity of those whom donated thier raffel winnings to him. You really made his day. Chandler now has four rockets in his fleet three of which came this event.


The launch was a first for all three of us. We look forward to the next launch.


See you there!

Stewart
 
Shockie...GREAT report man!!! Sounds like you guys had it perfect and I am gladfor ya! :) Pass my congrats around the club except for Lance...I am gonna have to talk to him myself.

Glad it was a good time!

Carl
 
Great Report! Any Pictures or Videos posted anywhere?

I know what you are talking about with the thermals. That happened with my Magnum on Nov 2, 2003. After a dual deploy flight on a J370GG, it just hovered above the woods. Finally it started coming down, and landed just at the edge of the woods and swamp. Neils Dad was kind enough to go get it for me. An offer I could not refuse :). Thanks.
 
Heres a pic of Bryan Mackins rocket taking off..Do not know the engine or model I think it was an H
 
Heres a pic of Patrick "iceage" Harvey, our Section Advisor hooking up his toilet paper tube finned, toilet paper tube break apart model....It flys great and comes back down in attached pieces....

To the right on Pad1 you can see Lance's soon to be 5:41 sec B PD Bronze NARTREK model...
 
Heres a pic of the Range head with the "knolls" in the background.....you are looking to the northwest here with the flight line in the background....

Sitting is Albert Stevens(L2) as LCO/RSO , David Logan(new L1) facing you and George Gradl(L2) with his back to you
 
Heres a pic of Bobby McKnight(sitting) , Dennis Stevens with the KRA Tshirt, Lance and David to the left of teh range head looking back west...
 
Heres a pic of George Gradl walking back towards our "flightline" lookking to the Northwest....
 
Great pics so far. I'll see my results in a couple of days. Man, I gotta lay off the Reeces cups! :)
 
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