Eye in the Sky 7 launch report

[havoc821]

I flew my newest rocket, the Eye in the Sky 7, my favorite video camera rocket yet on an F23 on Tuesday. The paint job turned out really cool ( a black and white roll pattern thingy). Liftoff was VERY fast and it reached about 1000'. The parachute got half way out and jammed. The rocket came in ballistic but seperated. It missed landing in the football field by 1 foot but instead it slammed hard into the concrete track around the field. It shattered the mirror/shroud off the side, put a hole/cut in the altimeter bay (hit so hard it knocked the battery out of the altimeter which was in a really secure battery holder), destroyed about 1/2 inch of the booster tube. It also had a microscpoic crack in one of the fins. All 4 fins stayed attached although the edges were a little rough. I put fairly large epoxy fillets on them and had the grain parallel to the leading edge. The cause, ejected motor casing thus not allowing enough pressure to build up to eject the chute before the motor got ejected. Well, I learned my lesson the hard way. Oh, and the camera, just fine except it is coming apart at the seams (it was in a bad crash already and survived that and this). I made sure I taped the battery hatch cover on so that it wouldn't pop off and the batteries come out and delete the video.

The rocket was a scratchbuilt rocket that It designed myself. I looks like (with the exception of the length of the payload bay and the extention of the booster section, my rocket looked just like that and has similar paint design as Advanced Rocketry Components rocket (i forget the name) but go to www.advancedrocketry.com The rocket on the left, the black and white one looks like mine without the strap ons. I kinda stole my design from them. Yeah, I tried to get a liftoff picture with my disposable camera but I think I just got smoke! lol It went off FAST!!!! You know what REALLY SUCKS? Well, I had the camera set to low res mode the day before the launch so I could get more video, but the day of, I changed the batteies so that it would be more clear (newer batteries really make a big difference), well when you install new batteries it sets the camera to high res mode and I only got 3 sec of video instead of the 13 with low res. But it sure was good quality! I will include a few of the liftoff pics. I had a feeling that I should check the camera like I always do but I guess that is what I get for not going with gut instinct. I also flew my girlfriend's and I Quest Icarus on a B6-4 for its first flight. Liftoff and climb was slow with only like 150' altitude and acred over a good bit before ejection. Parachute tangled but no damage. This was her first rocket (she is 16, I am 15, 16 on Aug 21, we have been dating for almost 1 year 8 months, exactly 1yr 8 mo on Aug 9th! Next flight was Estes Transwing super glider. Rocket has a balsa glider that straps on and at ejection, it releses the glider and it glides around and then lands and rocket is recovered via streamer. Glider almost landed on school but it didn't. Relly cool flight, not good in wind though. DUH! I should have known. 3rd flight was the ill fated Eye in the Sky 7 rocket. 4th flight our Icarus again, this time on a C6-5. Much better flight and higher apogee. Recovery was great. The only thing not making it "perfect" was the fact that the rod was still angled from the other glider fight and the wind had died down so it went off at a pretty good angle.
It won't be hard to repair the Eye in the Sky 7 because most of it is cosmetic damage but I still don't like to repair. I have got to find a way to retain the 29mm motors in nrea minimum diameter rockets (ex: 29mm MMT in a BT55 tube). I forgot to mention that I tried to fly it on a F40-7W reload but the crapperhead igniter failed. It was probably a good thing because had I flew it on that, I would have lost my reload casing! Well, here are the pics.

 

[Justin Horne]

Why do you only get 3 seconds of video in hi res?!?! If thats internll memory, you reallly wonder if the designers even USED it before selling it...

 

[havoc821]

Because the camera is a cheap pen cam, not very expensive. It can only hold so much memory. Either 109 low res frames or 26 high res frames. I thought I had it set to low res but it was on high res. My fault.

 

[Justin Horne]

Still, who makes a camera that can hold 3 seconds of hi res video?! I say stop buying your girlfriend stuff and buy a good camera...

 

[havoc821]

I couldn't do that, I love her too much. Besides my dad bought me that camera a while back, so no money lost for me. I know that 3 sec high res sucks but the low res video isn't all that bad and I get 13 secs. I am getting a camera from bcdlr soon that is just like mine but holds 20 sec low res. My avitar is a screenshot taken from a video in low res so you can see it isn't that bad. Back to my girlfriend, the rocket was only $4 (went to hobby lobby sale), the paint I already had from previous rockets, and I already had a big stash of motors so I didn't waste any money. Besides I would do anything for her! I mean, how often is it that you can
1) find another person who will enjoy rocketry with you and
2)that person is your girlfriend
3)and you can actually get them to read the Handbook of model rocketry without forcing them to or bribing them

That is a pretty (pun intended ) rare find. But because she likes rockets isn't the only reason why I love her so much. It is because of the person she is. And because she likes rockets, is a definate plus. So don't tell me to stop getting stuff for my girlfriend because that means I have to put her behind which I would never do! Well, I will have the Eye in the Sky7 repaired if UPS would ever deliver my package form totally tubular! I will keep you all posted when I get somewhere. Thanks!