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Zericon

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I did a short Seach and couln't find any....

My first sad loss was the #2 sky writer, i didn't expect it to go soo high, i have a poor quality vid of it (i'll put a link if i can get it somewhere) it was it's first and only launch only my second rocket ever :( went up, lost sight, slightly cloudy day, only to see the ejection and parachute then see it drift into a huge marsh way to deep to navigate thru.

ohh well I'll learn :rolleyes:
 
Thankfully I haven't lost one yet, but i will tell about the one I almost always lose...

It's an Aerotech Arrueax. As I'm sure anyone who has flown it knows, this thing drifts FAR. Where I launch, there is usually a 5-10 mph wind.. Launched on an F20, walked most of a mile each time to get it... I know im gonna lose it some day.
 
My first was the first ever rocket I had , the Estes Tidal Wave starter set which is a few other peoples first rocket:rolleyes:
At that time I though Estes C6's where the biggest rocket engines avail :eek: So I shoved one in , after about 20 flights on A's , B's the same day , It screaaamed of the pad and went straight as a die , then seperated ,I watched in horror as the Bodytube came screaming in ballisticly and impacted in the ground , sticking out of it (lawndart). And watching the Nosecone & Parachute float off over the trees and into the horizon.........I couldn't help my self , as soon as I packed up and got home , It was time to go back into the nearest model shop for another starter set (Estes Missile Set) and get back to launching . I think I spent around 100 pounds on A B & C motors that day , and they where all spent after 2 days:p :D
 
The second or third kit I ever built was an Estes Sky Hook.. That thing came with a 12" chute and it was so light that it should have had only a streamer ;)

So, I took it to the local school yard with some friend to show them how rockets worked.

I had only used 'A' engines before and I flew it on either an A8-3 or an A5-4 and it went pretty high. When it came down, one of my friends said "Is that only how far they go? Can't you make one go higher?" :rolleyes:

So I proceeded to load a C6-5 into it and needless to say, the last thing I saw was a small dot drifting way past the edge of the schoolyard and into some thick woods. :(
 
Had to think for a while to remember the kit name, it was so many years ago. I think it was the fourth kit I built, a Centuri Arrow300. Things had gone well up until then, all recovered. I wanted to test it just flying it single stage, my father and my uncle egged me on to load up all three stages. C6-0, C6-0, C6-7...
All I ever saw again was the first stage. Second landed in a field of really tall grass and the sustainer drifted off into the woods. First of many later sacrifices to the rocket gods.
 
was eliminated.
2 months ago, first flight.
You know how they have "suggested engines for first flight"?
Not me. E9-6.
Packaging said 24" parachute, in the package was a 12" chute.
You'd think that if they can take the time to put a smaller chute in the package, they should have been able to scrall out a note that said, "Use the 12" otherwise this will fly off into the ether."
Had my buddy pick up a 24" chute on the way to the launch.
Screamed off the pad.
Went WAY up.
Parachute opened and it was GONE!!!
My buddy and his son were prepositioned where the other rockets had come down. He took off running as it floated overhead.
He stumbled (didn't fall, just stumbled) and when he got his stride back he looked up but couldn't find it in the sky.
By this time it was over 300m from my location.
We searched and searched and searched and searched.....
No joy.
Have to get another one. Cool looking rocket.

Greg
 
I've had two do this to me recently. First was a nicely finished Estes Astron Sprint clone. I was flying on a big field on a calm day and figured that a C6-7 flight would not be out of the realms of good sense. Shows how little experience I have with anything involving good sense. We heard the pop of the ejection charge, but didn't see a thing. Considering the reputation of this rocket, I wasn't all that surprised, but the other one really threw me. It was an Estes Scamp clone on it's second ever flight. Again, big field, C engine, saw the smoke trail, heard the ejection charge, alakazam one-two-three and puff! Never saw it again. It was a really nicely done example of the Scamp ilk, but it had landed hard on asphalt on it's first flight. Guess it was star crossed all along.
 
Originally posted by Zericon
I did a short Seach and couln't find any....


I bashed together an Estes Eliminator I bought with the parts from an Omloid. The result was the Omloidinator. Even the decals got bashed together.

On its first launch, an E9, it headed up, and anti-weathercocked with the wind, reaching far more altitude than I suspected it could, only well down range. Then the chute popped, and it continued its trip downwind, right into the Rocket Eating Swamp at CATO's summer launch site in Durham CT.

I tried to retrieve it. The Swamp is potentially hungrier than can be satisfied by mere rockets. I gave up right quick.
 
My story is exactly the same as yours, Zericon. I even have a low quality vid of it too! :D 'Cept mine drifted of over the top of a tree, never to be seen again :(


Phil
 
so far I lost two Estes Black Brant II on D12-7 motors,on the second one I cut a spill hole in the chute and it still drifted out of site!
 
Well these are always sad, but it's a part of the rocketeer's life, if you've never lost a rocket you know you've got at least one that's living on borrowed time, hehe!

Last summer, my young son and I launched my 25 year old Blue Bird Zero, and well, let's just say you should probably not be using the original shock cord in a rocket that old! Duh! Naturally, the NC seperated from the BT and drifted off to parts unknown on a brand new 18" chute, while the BT core-sampled and bent like you wouldn't believe! My son who is 5 still sometimes asks me on the way to a launch if the NC is still drifting around up there, and if so, do I think it has reached Paris yet? Why Paris I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me if the thing is in New York State by now!:eek:

Glenn
 
I've just lost my new Quest Harpoon , but I guess it was worth it , that whistle was awesome! As soon as deepsky gets more in stock , ill be ordering once again :D
 


I'd be lying if I really said that I never lost anything....

40 some odd years ago... My first try at dual chutes didn't work just like I planned... I think it was an ASTRON AVENGER.... I had the great idea of using my youngest brothers small Mickey Mouse figure... in the nose cone or top section...

It was a beautiful flight... until separation...
The booster section came down without a hitch...

Mickey is still floating around up there....somewhere...
Maybe he's gone to Paris with that other nosecone...

I wonder what it is with Paris anyway...???

Steward
 
I've lost many rockets. Some drifted away never to be seen again.
Some get stuck in trees and hang there month after month taunting me.

I've built several Estes Condors. I carefully trim the gliders by painstakenlingly
tossing them and adjusting the weight. I even add weight to the wings
if it doesn't fly straight.

I flew a Condor at a lauch in the parking lot of a community college.
A gust of wind grabbed one of the gliders and it just kept flying and flying
and flying. I never did find it.
 
At a launch this spring, with really light winds, I launched my Scissor Wing Transport clone. I had used a Mylar chute for the pop-pod, as there is not much room for the chute and the plastic ones always get singed. The pop-pod caught a thremal, but there was not much wind to blow it away. we watched that chute for 15 minutes, and it was still plainly visible, getting higher, but still glimmering mylar. We went back to preping and launching, occasionally looking up and seeing that chute still hanging there. It was in view for almost 40 minutes! :eek: :eek:

On the same day I launched my Caveman goblin clone - D12-7- way high
(chute instead of a streamer) and almost hung it on the launch rod after recovery, missed by a couple of feet. :eek:
 
I've started rocketry approximately 3yrs ago. Since I've started I've created a retired rocket list. It states what I've lost, how, and how many flights. I'm up to 28 rockets!
 
I too have lost an Estes Black Brant II, it really needs a streamer, but I didn't know that at the time. I also lost an AeroTech Mustang which *did* have a streamer in it, but it got caught in a tree branch overhanging a good sized stream. The only other rocket I lost was a modified Vaughn Brothers A.S.P. which I flew on a G80; so it was kind of a given that I wouldn't get it back. (It actually needed a smaller streamer.) There's been a lot of close calls too when I'm ready to give up looking for a rocket and I happen to spot it on my way back.
 
Originally posted by mkmilion
I've started rocketry approximately 3yrs ago. Since I've started I've created a retired rocket list. It states what I've lost, how, and how many flights. I'm up to 28 rockets!


Thats a Good Idea, It's easy to keep track now, but i'll soon ferget i'm sure...
 
This afternoon I was launching some saucers and cones in my back yard which is 100' X 150' with thick woods in all directions around it. They were reaching altitudes of about 100' or less and landing within 20' of the launch pad.

Then my daughter asked if I could shoot one higher so I took a Midnight Express and put a C6-5 in it. :rolleyes:

Needless to say, it was long gone and far away. The nice thing about the Midnight Express is that for about $0.20 and a nights work I can have another one :D

It was the first flight of that particular one. I seem to have this desire to launch them on C engines. ;)
 
I predict I'll be losing one tomorrow. Gonna break out the old MachBuster with a G-55......I'm gonna enjoy the boost cuz the recovery is well in doubt. :cool:
 
I've lost plenty of rockets, or just lost track of them...

First rocket I ever saw fly was a friend's BT-5 Estes IQSY Tomahawk on New Year's Day 1990 on a golf course in Fairfield, CT. One minute its sitting on the pad, then one 5-second countdown later, its gone never to be seen again. We walked every inch of that golf course and never did find it [to my knowledge].

First rocket I ever lost was an Estes ATA-31 [BT-50 4FNC kit] flying it at a shoreline state park. It went up, way up, on a C6-7, chute came out and it drifted, drifted, drifted out to sea. Being a typical 14 year-old, I sulked the rest of the day while everyone else flew their rockets free of splashdowns.

I seemed to have had a spat of bad luck flying at Battle Park launches in the early 1990s. In consecutive years, I lost a LOC Vulcanite on an H140 [undera 28 inch chute], a LOC EZI-65 on an I-95 [left the rod at a 45 degree angle], and a THOY Falcon on an I132 [perfect flight if it didn't drift into the next field owned by a hostile landowner].

And, yes, an 18 inch chute is WAY too big for an Estes Black Brant 2.
 
I've lost several over the years but the most frustrating was my Estes Mini Mars Lander at a SERFs meeting in Hampshire (UK) in May 96. The field was rough with the previous year's stubble (setaside in EU parlance) and the conditions were windy with showers.

I launched on the usual A10-3T in a drag race with another lander type. Both flew fine and recovered on small streamers, landing about 30yds in front of us. The other lander was retrieved straight away - mine was never seen again.
 
Today i lost my Estes Laser Guided Missile today.. Just the standard UP wow gee looked nice, what is sad is when it's the First flight.
 
Well, the old MachBuster is history. Today it flew like a raped ape, it was under boost long after it was out of sight. A bittersweet moment, but that rocket was born to be sacrificed, it just fulfilled it's reason for being.
 
I built a Cherokee D clone years ago and never had the courage to fly it.

Finally flew it at NARAM last Saturday on a D12-7.

No chute, no streamer...just popped the nose...it still drifted waaaaaaay into the next field...or two...over.

I knew I should have put my name in it!

R.I.P. Cherokee D

sandman
 
I built a Cherokee D clone years ago and never had the courage to fly it.

Funny you should mention that.

I built a Cherokee-D from as soon as they were available from Estes...

I still haven't had the courage to fly it :rolleyes:

One of these days... When the field is huge, winds are non-existent ;) ... Yeah right, sure I will :D
 
I was 13. It was a newly built Estes Drifter.

2PM on a hot July afternoon.

A C6-5 and the 24 inch standard parachute.

You can probably figure out the rest.:rolleyes:
 
My first loss was a Centauri(?) Jayhawk (18mm) about 28 years ago. I'd flown it numerous times, but on it's third flight one day (on a B motor, just like the first two that day) it caught a thermal on the way back down and was blown over a road (four lane street) into the next section of the park I was flying in... last saw it about 40-50' up from 600-700' away... me and two friends searched for it for about an hour but never found it.

Then, my old Orbital Transport and two other 3FNC rockets were lost, not to the rocket gods, but rather to a cleaning woman (either my mother or ex-wife... I don't even know when they went missing).

As a BAR (since June of this year), my daughters and I have lost:

First launch day ...

- Alpha III (Miranda, age 8, 1st rocket... two perfect A8-3 flights, went for a B6-4, chute popped, and it went even higher and a gust of wind took it about 700-800' into a crowded section of the park, where I believe someone decided to keep it (I lost sight of it about 20' from the ground, falling behind an overpass... it wasn't anywhere around when my older daughter and I got there a minute or so later).

Next day (after hitting the hobby shop to get Miranda another rocket)...

- Wacky Wiggler (Rebecca, age 11, 1st rocket... nice A8-3 and B6-4 flights yesterday and a B6-4 flight (though had to repair the shock cord after the three flights)... fourth flight on a C6-5, over-corrected for wind and it came down in the lake... recovered after 45+ minutes in the water and it will fly again, though with a modified engine mount and kevlar shock cord).

- Gold Chrome Dome (Miranda's 2nd rocket... two nice A8-3 flights, then used an A8-5 and the ejection charge didn't blow until the rocket was about 20' from the asphalt headed downwards... broke off all the fins and zippered the body tube a bit, but it is probably repairable)

Several launches later (the Snitch is a very fun rocket!)...

- Athena (Rebecca's 2nd rocket... she worked on it for quite some time, finishing it beautifully... a nice first flight on an A8-3 and the tallest tree (45') around our launch field reached up and grabbed it... haven't looked for it for about three weeks (vacation, etc.) but it is probably still there... lowest branches on the tree are about 15' up... Rebecca wanted me to get her up to those branches with climbing ropes, but I eventually said no).

I like the idea of a list of rockets lost... (not sure why... it is rather morbid, in a sense).
 
Lost a custom redliner on its second flight. I had constructed it so that it split in the middle rather than pop NC. The fueslage split where the body tubes would normally be coupled together.
This was a tight friction fit in my mod.

The first flight went well and was easy to track on B power. The second was on a C6-7... I was able to spot the tracking smoke and hear the ejection pop. But that was it. No speck in the sky, no chute...overcast skies at dusk didn't help either.

I can only surmise that the motor mount was ejected along with the motor and that the rocket came in balistic.

At least with a lawn dart there exists evidence of finality and closure I guess....

Also launched a twister on a B6-4....end of story.

Next one will be modified for 13mm power.
 
Stewart, I put a D13-7 RMS in a Redliner, with a streamer. it went waaaaayyyyyy up there but it came back :) my son was mad because the decals peeled off the leading edge of the fins.
 
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