Weather permitted several launches this past Saturday, finally. I'll post this under low power since thats mostly what we flew, and the Estes E" ain't really "mid power" either! 
First up was the Estes Executioner on an E-9. Great flight but the chute did not deploy, seems that the Kevlar pad hung up or tangled in the shockcord. Crunched about 6 inches of the body tube. So I cut that off, pop another E-9 in her and off she goes again, perfect flight with perfect recovery. Flys good shortened, but I may add another section of BT80 and make it a Stretch Executioner.
Next up was a Custom Elite egg lofter on a C6-5. Great flight but the ejection charge burned the elastic shockcord in half and the booster free fell, no damage. The egg capsule recovered on the chute with no damage. We decide to reattach the shock cord and try again. Evidently I packed the chute too tight and this time she augured in from about 1000 feet! Come down in some trees just across a creek and a huge briar patch. From what we could see it looked as if the nose cone/egg compartment struck a limb directly destroying the forward half (and the egg), the rocket then separated and was hanging by the chute shroud lines. It had been intact (un-separated) before impact, and falling in excess of 100 mph I would guess.
Next we launch my oldest sons Quest Nike Smoke on a C6-7. Beautiful flight and recovery. I really like this rocket, I want a bigger version of it!
Then came my youngest sons Quest Pip Squeak. It screamed off the pad on a C6-7, completely out of sight. I estimate it should have gone close to 2000 ft on that engine. We video taped the launch and recovery and I later timed it at 59 seconds from liftoff until it hit the ground under its streamer! It would still be up there on a 12 parachute!
Finally we launched some no name collection of recycled Estes parts on a C6-7 with a large streamer cut from an emergency blanket. Another fun flight which almost landed on my son running the video camera!
First up was the Estes Executioner on an E-9. Great flight but the chute did not deploy, seems that the Kevlar pad hung up or tangled in the shockcord. Crunched about 6 inches of the body tube. So I cut that off, pop another E-9 in her and off she goes again, perfect flight with perfect recovery. Flys good shortened, but I may add another section of BT80 and make it a Stretch Executioner.
Next up was a Custom Elite egg lofter on a C6-5. Great flight but the ejection charge burned the elastic shockcord in half and the booster free fell, no damage. The egg capsule recovered on the chute with no damage. We decide to reattach the shock cord and try again. Evidently I packed the chute too tight and this time she augured in from about 1000 feet! Come down in some trees just across a creek and a huge briar patch. From what we could see it looked as if the nose cone/egg compartment struck a limb directly destroying the forward half (and the egg), the rocket then separated and was hanging by the chute shroud lines. It had been intact (un-separated) before impact, and falling in excess of 100 mph I would guess.
Next we launch my oldest sons Quest Nike Smoke on a C6-7. Beautiful flight and recovery. I really like this rocket, I want a bigger version of it!
Then came my youngest sons Quest Pip Squeak. It screamed off the pad on a C6-7, completely out of sight. I estimate it should have gone close to 2000 ft on that engine. We video taped the launch and recovery and I later timed it at 59 seconds from liftoff until it hit the ground under its streamer! It would still be up there on a 12 parachute!
Finally we launched some no name collection of recycled Estes parts on a C6-7 with a large streamer cut from an emergency blanket. Another fun flight which almost landed on my son running the video camera!
