Heane (TX) 8-8-09 report - Got my L2!

[n5wd]

The Rocket Godz were mostly in a good mood Saturday (8-8-09) for the August Tripoli-Houston launch at Hearne, TX. Only one rocket got stuck in a tree - non-recoverable now, but Jim (Jarvis, from Austin) said he'd wait until the leaves fall off to declare it gone.

We had two certification flights out of the 15 or so HP flights in the day. Mike McClellan out of Houston did his L1 with a Madcow Patriot and H123.

And though the winds on the ground were probably 8-12 mph at the time, the winds aloft seemed less, so I went ahead and tried my L2 cert flight with my trusty ol BSD 38 Special, the one I did my L1 cert on last year, loaded to go with a CTI J330... single deploy, though I had it loaded with a smallish 29" chute. And, at 4235 AGL, it needed to be!

It worked - stayed on the airport field, landing just 30-40 yards west of the airport's active runway, about 1/3 mile down from the pads, and in a little depression that hid it from the asphalt. Had a BigRedBee transmitter in it, though, so it was relatively easy to find (if you don't count hanging a yagi out the driver's window, looking at the HT's signal strength meter, and trying to drive and dodge the runway lights all at the same time)...

I was so nervous about this flight that I didn't get any pix ... so a screenshot of the Pefectflite altimeter data will have to do.

Thanks to Eric and Evan Severson for handling the launch director duties, and Dan DeHart for sticking out the heat (got up to 103) longer than he had planned to sign off my forms.

Woo Hoo!

 

[rocketace]

Congradulations again Wayne. Take a look at my site and look at the last two photos....are any of those your cert flight??

https://web.me.com/tennisace1/Site/Hearne_8_8_09.html#grid

 

[Pantherjon]

Congrats Wayne!

I am gonna have to get one of those there recording type altimeters on of these days!..LOL..Funny, I flew my BSD 3" Thor Sunday on a J330, taking it to 4,061 feet. Great 'kick' off the pad, even if I did burn the top grain while it was still on the pad!..

The supplied ignitor I failed to get ALL the way up and it popped doing nothing, had to use one of some 'Big Uns' that I got from somewhere..

 

[n5wd]

Congradulations again Wayne. Take a look at my site and look at the last two photos....are any of those your cert flight??

Jason, yes, as a matter of fact.. Pic 2 is my 38 Special -- dark paint on the booster and bright yellow payload tube. Any chance of getting a high-res copy of that image? Email address in my sig is just fine, if you don't mind.

 

[n5wd]

Congrats Wayne!

I am gonna have to get one of those there recording type altimeters on of these days!..LOL..Funny, I flew my BSD 3" Thor Sunday on a J330, taking it to 4,061 feet. Great 'kick' off the pad, even if I did burn the top grain while it was still on the pad!..

The supplied ignitor I failed to get ALL the way up and it popped doing nothing, had to use one of some 'Big Uns' that I got from somewhere..

Thanks! Having the altimeter is quite useful, sometimes - we use 'em with the kids at school in the engineering class to help make the connection between geometry and real life (the engineering students will have to track a rocket and compute the altitutde using sight angles, and the altimeter provides the answer for them to verify their work. And, of course, the TARC competition requires them. They're not that expensive and it's always fun to look back and see exactly when your ejection charge lit, how things performed as to what you expected, etc. The Perfectflite Alt15K's are altitude/recording only - no deployment events, and they're small enough to fit in a BT-20, IIRC.

The 38 Special's gonna get retrofit, again (I modified it for anti-zipper early spring, after getting a good gash in it in March) for dual deployment - they just keep on truck'in. You still flying yours?