How high have you gone?

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How high have you flown to?

  • I don't know, I never fly with an altimeter

  • 0 - 1000 Feet

  • 1001 - 2500 Feet

  • 2501 - 5000 Feet

  • 5001 - 10,000 Feet

  • 10,001 - 20,000 Feet

  • Above 20,000 Feet


Results are only viewable after voting.

C.O.B.H.C.

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I thought I would bring back an old thread from the old TRF. Just wondering what is the highest altitude people flown their rockets.

My highest flights was with an Aerotech M1850 White Lightning in a Performance Rocketry Competitor 4 to 18,600 Feet and change at XPRS 2008 up at the Black Rock Desert.
 
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My highest flight to date has to be when I sent my Binder Design Excel Plus-named Wally's Ride in memorium of my roommate who passed a couple years ago- up on a K805G to an altitude of 6762' :D We fretted a little bit on recovery as it drifted some ways. It landed about 30' adjacent to the service road which is adjacent to the eastbound on ramp onto I-26:y: Apparently the apogee charge was pretty violent as there was a nice crease in the payload tube where it had smacked one of the fins, made me glad I glassed the tubes! :)
 
+ 20,000 and i did it with less then an a motor for thrust, maybe a c i had a lot of beans that day, no ballons involved. tell me how i did it. total flight time 14 hours.
 
Why stop the poll at above 20,000? Does TRF only allow polls with 7 options, whats so special with 7?
 
12k and change with my L2 AMRAAM on an AT L2200G (followed closely by my Cirrus Dart on an I600, which went 11,950). I'm hoping to break 3 miles with it this October, on a new CTI M motor.
 
Broken a mile a few times, gonna
try for two one of these days...
:)
 
Tickled 20,000 twice. Both with N's in a 60lb 6in diameter rocket.
N-1100 CTI 12 sec. burn 19, 780
N-1000 AT 16 sec burn 18,898
 
7694 feet.

Set today :D at NERRF 5 with 'Ludicrous Speed', a 3" Wildman. Motor was an AT K-805G.

Probably will be my highest attempt till I can get some type of tracker.
 
I never know exactly how high any of my rockets go and I am not good at guesstimating. People with much more experience with that sort of thing who were present at the launch estimated that one of my rockets "probably" hit around 4,000 feet, so that would be my highest flight so far. (That altitude is in general agreement with what RockSim predicts that it would have gone. Of course with it reaching that altitude, there was just about no chance that I would recover it, and I didn't.) But for this poll I answered that I don't use an altimeter, and thus I cannot say for certain how high any of my flights go.

But then, in the field that I launch in locally, I am not comfortable sending anything up more than about 800-900 feet anyway. Higher flights will almost certainly end up in the surrounding woods, unless there is absolutely no wind. (I think that we have had 3 or 4 days like that in the past 10 years.) At either one of my club's fields, a reasonable upper limit is 2,000 feet. I have built stuff that will easily go higher than that, but I have no place where I can really air them out.

MarkII
 
The poll question could easily be rephrased to say, "Where Have You Launched?" because that is an important predictor of how high a person has launched a rocket. Field size, not to mention waiver limit, are often the most important factors in determining how high one can go. My prediction: People who have launched rockets at the Black Rock Desert or the Lucerne Dry Lake will tend to provide higher numbers in response to the poll question than those who have not.

Another way to rephrase the poll question is, "What Is Your Certification Level?" because of course, people who can purchase and launch larger motors will most likely put down higher altitudes. My prediction: People who are certified at Level 2 or above will tend to answer the poll question with higher numbers than people who are certified at Level 1 or below.

So which question is the poll really asking? Is it "How high have you gone?" Or is it "Have you ever launched anything in a huge dry lake bed and had an almost unlimited waiver?" Or is it "Are you certified at Level 2 or above?" The answers to three questions are very tightly intertwined.

Another very relevant question would be "How big is your rocketry budget?" but I don't even want to get started on that issue right here.

MarkII
 
Ehh I haven't gone too high. I'd guess 1100 with my Patriot on a D13.
 
The poll question could easily be rephrased to say, "Where Have You Launched?" because that is an important predictor of how high a person has launched a rocket. Field size, not to mention waiver limit, are often the most important factors in determining how high one can go. My prediction: People who have launched rockets at the Black Rock Desert or the Lucerne Dry Lake will tend to provide higher numbers in response to the poll question than those who have not.

Another way to rephrase the poll question is, "What Is Your Certification Level?" because of course, people who can purchase and launch larger motors will most likely put down higher altitudes. My prediction: People who are certified at Level 2 or above will tend to answer the poll question with higher numbers than people who are certified at Level 1 or below.

So which question is the poll really asking? Is it "How high have you gone?" Or is it "Have you ever launched anything in a huge dry lake bed and had an almost unlimited waiver?" Or is it "Are you certified at Level 2 or above?" The answers to three questions are very tightly intertwined.

Another very relevant question would be "How big is your rocketry budget?" but I don't even want to get started on that issue right here.

MarkII

Well I had already started a thread a while back about cert flights like what rocket you used, motor used, and altitude achieved. Click Here

I started this thread to see what altitudes people have achieved with their rockets.
 
The poll question could easily be rephrased to say, "Where Have You Launched?" because that is an important predictor of how high a person has launched a rocket. Field size, not to mention waiver limit, are often the most important factors in determining how high one can go. My prediction: People who have launched rockets at the Black Rock Desert or the Lucerne Dry Lake will tend to provide higher numbers in response to the poll question than those who have not.

Another way to rephrase the poll question is, "What Is Your Certification Level?" because of course, people who can purchase and launch larger motors will most likely put down higher altitudes. My prediction: People who are certified at Level 2 or above will tend to answer the poll question with higher numbers than people who are certified at Level 1 or below.

So which question is the poll really asking? Is it "How high have you gone?" Or is it "Have you ever launched anything in a huge dry lake bed and had an almost unlimited waiver?" Or is it "Are you certified at Level 2 or above?" The answers to three questions are very tightly intertwined.

Another very relevant question would be "How big is your rocketry budget?" but I don't even want to get started on that issue right here.

MarkII

To a great extent, that is true. I would not have built my current personal record holding rocket (capable of over 15k) if the local club were not launching from an almost empty national grasslands with waivers up to 35k available.
 
Sounds like someone is suffering from rocket envy.
It's not suppose to be a personal question & did not ask about your "rocket budget". This a fun little poll with no hidden agendas.

You don't need a K motor to go 10k , & yes you can do it on an I motor which is far cheaper....

I'm Certified L3 & don't fly M's at every launch & reach 15k on each flight either.




JD


The poll question could easily be rephrased to say, "Where Have You Launched?" because that is an important predictor of how high a person has launched a rocket. Field size, not to mention waiver limit, are often the most important factors in determining how high one can go. My prediction: People who have launched rockets at the Black Rock Desert or the Lucerne Dry Lake will tend to provide higher numbers in response to the poll question than those who have not.

Another way to rephrase the poll question is, "What Is Your Certification Level?" because of course, people who can purchase and launch larger motors will most likely put down higher altitudes. My prediction: People who are certified at Level 2 or above will tend to answer the poll question with higher numbers than people who are certified at Level 1 or below.

So which question is the poll really asking? Is it "How high have you gone?" Or is it "Have you ever launched anything in a huge dry lake bed and had an almost unlimited waiver?" Or is it "Are you certified at Level 2 or above?" The answers to three questions are very tightly intertwined.

Another very relevant question would be "How big is your rocketry budget?" but I don't even want to get started on that issue right here.

MarkII
 
I think my highest flight was with my Binder Raptor for my L2 cert flight. I figure it was somewhere in the 3,000-3,500 foot range.

Although, I've got a hunch that a recent flight of my LOC IV on an AT I245G was not that far behind. Man, that thing was up there and took literally forever to come back down.:D

The flight time from liftoff until touchdown was just a tad over 3 minutes.;)
 
Sounds like someone is suffering from rocket envy.
It's not suppose to be a personal question & did not ask about your "rocket budget". This a fun little poll with no hidden agendas.
I think that you read too much into my post. I was identifying some constraints.

I remember the earlier version of the poll, and I posted just a simple answer to it back then. I am not being critical of the poll at all, C.O.B.H.C. I was quite impressed with the answers to the earlier poll, and I'm interested in seeing what comes up in this one. Like its predecessor, the individual posts are fascinating. The set of bars at the top of the page just need to be put in context, that's all. But like probably everyone else who reads this poll, I want to see what other people have achieved as their personal alt. records. I'm also interested in seeing what they achieved them with, too.

I failed to mention that my own altitude record of somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 feet was done with a 1.6x upscale of a FlisKits Midnight Express made from 3 layers of tightly rolled and compressed cardstock and papered basswood fins, 19" long x ~1.18" dia., launched on an AT F25-9 in April, 2006.

You don't need a K motor to go 10k , & yes you can do it on an I motor which is far cheaper....
But I don't think that you can do 10k on a mid-power G, if that is the largest motor that you are certified to use. And not if the largest field that you can fly in only has a waiver to, say, 4,000 ft.

And budget can absolutely be a major constraint as well. Paying $150 for a reloadable motor and another $50 for an I reload would constitute a rather significant investment for many people, not to mention the cost of the minimum diameter carbon fiber rocket that would have to be built to reach 10k on that reload. And then you would need to add in the cost of an altimeter, maybe even two alts for redundancy, plus the tracking device and receiver, etc. (Because you really wouldn't want to lose that CF rocket. Or your avionics. Or your motor.) But if your aim was slightly less ambitious than hitting 10k on an I, such as, for instance, breaking a mile, you could of course do that for a lot less cost. Of the three constraints, budget has the biggest fudge factor, so I really didn't want get into it too much. It is one issue, though.

I'm Certified L3 & don't fly M's at every launch & reach 15k on each flight either.
I don't think that the poll was asking about the highest altitude that people routinely launch to, and I wasn't referring to that, either. To rack up an impressive number in the altitude derby, one needs to have the ability to plunk down some green for a capable rocket and motor, be certified to fly some of the larger motors, and have access to or can travel to a launch event that is being held on a bonus-sized piece of real estate with a tall waiver. That's just reality, not a political statement. There are no hidden agendas here. I do agree with some of what you said; there is indeed a fair amount of wiggle room within the first two constraints (size of investment and one's cert. level), as you indicated. Of the three that I mentioned, most often it is the third constraint (size and location of field) that has the biggest effect.

MarkII
 
I once saw an Apogee Aspire do a mile on an F10--what really made it memorable was the fact that the owner got it back! It magically appeared just a few hundred feet from the pads, perhaps 5 minutes after launching!
 
11600 feet and change on a slightly modified 3" WildMan rocket using a CTI L730 motor.
 
My highest flight was 6,824 ft on my scratch build L2 attempt with a K695R. I have since flown my L1 cert rocket on a J350 to 6,810ft at LDRS-28. The scratch L2 will get a K1275R someday and should just top 9K and Mach.
 
24662 ft back in 1992 at LDRS XI, Black Rock. Rocket was minimum diameter powered by a SU Vulcan O3000. Altitude was determined by sighting in on the 7 lb. chalk dust cloud.

CB110V3.jpg
 
But I don't think that you can do 10k on a mid-power G, if that is the largest motor that you are certified to use. And not if the largest field that you can fly in only has a waiver to, say, 4,000 ft.

Actually, if your rocket is <3.3lbs, and you're using a G motor, the waiver is irrelevant. You can fly as high as you want, since the rocket is beneath the limit for which a waiver is required. It does take some serious effort to go truly high on a G, but I have seen a flight to over 9k on a G25 (unfortunately after it went out of cert, so it didn't count as a record). Of course, recovery could be an issue on a field small enough to only have a 4k waiver...

And budget can absolutely be a major constraint as well. Paying $150 for a reloadable motor and another $50 for an I reload would constitute a rather significant investment for many people, not to mention the cost of the minimum diameter carbon fiber rocket that would have to be built to reach 10k on that reload. And then you would need to add in the cost of an altimeter, maybe even two alts for redundancy, plus the tracking device and receiver, etc. (Because you really wouldn't want to lose that CF rocket. Or your avionics. Or your motor.) But if your aim was slightly less ambitious than hitting 10k on an I, such as, for instance, breaking a mile, you could of course do that for a lot less cost. Of the three constraints, budget has the biggest fudge factor, so I really didn't want get into it too much. It is one issue, though.
True to a great extent, though you don't need any fancy CF bird to go 10k on an I. A stock PML Cirrus Dart with a smooth finish and a PR fiberglass cone (quite a bit lighter than the PML) that is tower launched can reach well over 10k. My personal second best was 11,950 feet on an I600 in a Cirrus exactly as I just described.

I don't think that the poll was asking about the highest altitude that people routinely launch to, and I wasn't referring to that, either. To rack up an impressive number in the altitude derby, one needs to have the ability to plunk down some green for a capable rocket and motor, be certified to fly some of the larger motors, and have access to or can travel to a launch event that is being held on a bonus-sized piece of real estate with a tall waiver. That's just reality, not a political statement. There are no hidden agendas here. I do agree with some of what you said; there is indeed a fair amount of wiggle room within the first two constraints (size of investment and one's cert. level), as you indicated. Of the three that I mentioned, most often it is the third constraint (size and location of field) that has the biggest effect.

MarkII

Very true. It is still interesting to look at the altitudes various people fly to however.
 
Actually, if your rocket is <3.3lbs, and you're using a G motor, the waiver is irrelevant. You can fly as high as you want, since the rocket is beneath the limit for which a waiver is required.
Oops, you are right - my mistake. I'm still stuck in the old FAR 101 terminology. Our club imposes a 3.3 lb. GLOW, a 125 gram total propellant weight and a G motor impulse limit on all of our launches, with a maximum recommended flight altitude of 2,500 feet. The altitude restriction used to be called a waiver limit, but that terminology was dropped from our launch announcements prior to the start of this year's launch season in April. The altitude restriction is still there, but now it is described as a maximum recommended altitude, and it is based on the sizes of our two launch fields. Although as you say, rockets that come in under the other limits do not have a regulatory altitude limit, it is highly unlikely that any of the LCO/RSO's in our club would permit the launch of any rocket that was expected to reach an apogee in excess of 2,500 feet in either one of our current fields.

The flight in 2006 that I described previously as my personal record was not expected to go as high as it did; we were thinking that it would hit around 2,000 feet, not 4,000. It was the maiden flight of that rocket, made during my first ever club launch, it was the very first time that I had ever flown anything larger than a D motor, it was my first (and so far only) F motor flight (I have flown some G's since then), and it was my first ever flight on a composite propellant motor. I flew it on an F25 that had been offered to me by a fellow club member who I had just met that day. (He is a great guy and a good friend who spent hours helping me look for the rocket afterward.) The ironic thing was that if it actually had only reached 2,000 ft., it still would have set a personal record for me, one that would stand as my record even today!

My personal record for a rocket that I actually recovered is around 1,600 feet, set at NARAM-51 on August 9. That is the altitude that RockSim says my FSI Echo-1 clone would reach on the D12-0/C11-7 combination that I used. We didn't see the apogee and chute deployment though, because the sustainer had gone up into the clouds at that point. I reappeared after for a few moments and was already on chute by then.

It is still interesting to look at the altitudes various people fly to however.
Oh, I absolutely agree. I am keenly interested in finding out how the fliers tracked some of those 10k+ flights and then were actually able to find their rockets afterward. I'd love to hear more about rocketjunkie's flight to almost 25,000 feet back in 1992. (Whoa!) Not to mention that mile-high flight of the tiny Aspire (that was found!!!) that Zach Lau mentioned.

MarkII
 
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