How low was your level 2 certification flight

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It came in at 14lbs. The J-415W is my go to motor for all of my 7.5" builds for low and loud flights that stay in the 2000' range. Great size and motor combo for a cert 2 attempt.

Here's the J-415W doing it's thing on a similar weight 7.5" CBU-97 Cluster Bomb:

thebomb.jpg
 
Here is one of Tom Cohen's rockets .. N3700 to less than 1000ft. I love watching the videos of his flights... I don't think I would try that even if I could afford it, but cool to watch.
Can be done, but takes LOTS of experience.



[Edit: just saw that on this flight, he did tear a shroud line on the nose cone chute.]
 
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Here is one of Tom Cohen's rockets .. N3700 to less than 1000ft. I love watching the videos of his flights... I don't think I would try that even if I could afford it, but cool to watch.
Can be done, but takes LOTS of experience.



[Edit: just saw that on this flight, he did tear a shroud line on the nose cone chute.]


That’s crazy! That size motor going to such a low altitude.
 
(O25000 to... can't remember if it was 600-something or 800-something feet. @OverTheTop?)
624'. Electronics was three RRC3 altimeters and some custom made DTMF command telemetry.

There were two high-pressure gas cylinders between the sections, one aluminium, one composite. One was pressurised to 20bar and the other to 40bar. They provided the separation forces. There were also car airbags to throw the chutes out from each section if the primary method of chute deployment didn't work. The top of the chutes were attached with Velcro to the opposite section which effected the deployment.
 
I see myself working my way up through these big sized rockets at low altitude too. Maybe not a full sized V2 or a flying submarine, but similar whimsical flights that use big motors, but don’t go out of sight. I love these kinds of flights. I like watching the big rockets drift up, especially the ones that just hang suspended at the top. And I like seeing the huge chutes bloom.

I might be on the wrong coast. In the West, we get high waivers, and a lot of rocketeers are into altitude. I gather that a lot of East coast fields have lower waivers, and rocketeers fly a lot of large rockets to stay under the waiver.
 
Yeah, east is hard to find 1500' away from occupied buildings. Impossible to find area without trees.... usual waivers less than 5000'. Only way to play with big motors is low & slow....(or drive a few more hours.)
 
Then there was his Yellow Submarine on a "P" 17,500! That was incredible, you get to really experience all the raw power, noise, smoke, and flame of that motor.


I was there for that. It was quite impressive.
 
I might be on the wrong coast. In the West, we get high waivers, and a lot of rocketeers are into altitude. I gather that a lot of East coast fields have lower waivers, and rocketeers fly a lot of large rockets to stay under the waiver.

Yes, that pretty much sums up the East Coast fairly well. We do have some wide open spaces, though.

Tripoli East North Carolina (Bayboro) has 6 square miles of land area overall, with 4 square MILES of recovery area devoid of trees and a waiver to 17,500. Some call it the "Black Rock of the East". Lots of high flying projects launch there for that reason.
 
Agreed. It's an amazing location, with only corn stubble, rocket eating bean plants, and the occasionally flooded irrigation canal too wide to jump over to contend with 99% of the launch days.

There are few unforgivable transgressions in HP rocketry, dropping outside the waiver area being one of the most heinous of them.....yet even with 6 square miles, it happens with alarming frequency.
 
Cross posting future efforts on this un-lofty goal in the scratch build threads. If you're interested you can find it there as "Crossing threads"

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/crossing-threads.164224/

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Alright, after binge-reading the scratch build thread from @neil_w which is massive and broad ranging. I decided to jump back into designing something ridiculous to accomplish the following objectives:
1) Scratch build a level 2 cert rocket that is interesting different to look at (this implies no oddrocs)
2) With a K motor, fly a nominal apogee under 1000 ft
3) Dual Deploy
4) Keep under 25 lbs (without the motor & case)
5) Has a sweet name

Here is what I have so far...not quite there but close to my objectives

Render v1.JPG

Introducing the Sweet'N Low
--------------------------------
Currently sim'd at 1100ft on a K665 (518ft on a J575)
Weight is at 24 lbs
Dual deploy
Sweet name
 
6” x 12’ blue tube/FG wrapped rocket with Fins from the Loc Big Nuke. 26lb and did 1100’ on a 54mm 2gr J.


To give a sense of size the shroud is for a contour Roam 2 and sticks 5” out of the rocket.
1605B39B-CA36-4992-A82A-9EC2264DBCF3.jpeg
 
6” x 12’ blue tube/FG wrapped rocket with Fins from the Loc Big Nuke. 26lb and did 1100’ on a 54mm 2gr J.

Congratulations! 🎉🎈 if that was your L2 cert flight I believe that makes you our current leader, which in this case is at the bottom of the scoreboard
 
Yeah... I hit 7,000 feet on my level 2 qualifying flight...
Go BIG or go home. Just sayin.

I congratulate you on your achievements, but here that’s totally missing the point of the thread.

It’s very challenging to design performance at the boundary cases. Nearly anyone with some build experience and a few bucks can buy, assemble, and fly a totally safe middle of the road flight.

I think @Walter Longburn nailed it, not BIG enough.
 
I congratulate you on your achievements, but here that’s totally missing the point of the thread.

It’s very challenging to design performance at the boundary cases. Nearly anyone with some build experience and a few bucks can buy, assemble, and fly a totally safe middle of the road flight.

I think @Walter Longburn nailed it, not BIG enough.
I see it like this... some want fast...some want slow..

I chose FAST and put everything into it, my L2 will never be forgotten, I'd like to see the author take the same tenacity to go the low and slow route to the extreme I took mine.

Everyone is diffrent and we ALL share the love of this sport, I'd love to see him succeed however he choses to.

Tom
 
Everyone likes big (at least watching it, if not doing it). But there is more than one kind of big, and they tend to trade off each other. There’s big in terms of speed and altitude, and then there’s big in terms of rocket size. I’m sure everyone would love to see both of those things combined, like that submarine going to 7,000 feet, but the motors required would be far bigger than anything in the hobby.
 
I see it like this... some want fast...some want slow..

I chose FAST and put everything into it, my L2 will never be forgotten, I'd like to see the author take the same tenacity to go the low and slow route to the extreme I took mine.

Everyone is diffrent and we ALL share the love of this sport, I'd love to see him succeed however he choses to.

Tom

Absolutely! I just recommend reading the first post in a thread to make sure you’re on topic. Posting your LPR project in an HPR thread or vice versa will get similar reactions to what you saw here. I started the thread in response to watching a thread about how high and fast people’s rockets went with each making bolder claims of their L2 flight, some of which are total fabrications.

Anyway, this thread is the antithesis to that type of thread. Try not to troll. And again congrats on the successful L2 flight and certification.
 
In testing for my variable drag project, I got altitudes from 460' to 728'. All dual deploy with main set to 300 feet on CTI J244 motors. These rockets were 4" diameter and made from LOC parts. Pad weight was 8 lb.

With no drag plates, I get 2300'
 
In testing for my variable drag project, I got altitudes from 460' to 728'. All dual deploy with main set to 300 feet on CTI J244 motors. These rockets were 4" diameter and made from LOC parts. Pad weight was 8 lb.

With no drag plates, I get 2300'

Yes, yes, yes!! Some nice launches and recovery, your playing in such a narrow window and its awesome to watch. You have gave me a few ideas though.. 👍👍👍
 
An ultimate wildman on a K2050 would be a really interesting L2 flight (lob)
 
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