Last Saturday I re-flew Violent Agreement, this time with a new av-bay carrying a HiAlt45k. (Some folks are not comfortable with me using a Parrot taken at random from a production run for a record attempt).
It was a nice straight boost, seemingly faster than last time:
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This time I had the transmitter was turned for the whole flight. I heard an increase in signal strength at the expected time when the apogee charge separated the 2 portions of the rocket and the antenna straightened out, and then the signal cut out at 2:37. A little short. After a little drive, I regained the transmitter signal and recovered the rocket 1.36 miles from the pad. Unfortunately, the main chute charge was not strong enough to deploy the chute (despite 2 successful ground tests with the same size charge), and the rocket came in hot, destroying both pieces. The HiAlt45k was beeping out 16,379 feet.
Among the pieces I recovered was the nozzle. This time I measured it before the flight (0.29") and after the flight (0.36"), which matches the post-flight condition from the first flight.
This time the airframe tube split lengthwise almost all the way to the fins, because the ground caused the front of the tube to expand outward for some reason. I'm thinking about doing a repair so I can use it as a booster stage for a 2-stage flight. If I do, I'll put the split airframe on a mandrel (hopefully with better release this time) and wrap it with CF tow at a nearly 90 degree angle. For the booster application I just need to make it strong and keep it relatively lightweight. That section of airframe and fins is still only 60 grams so far, so I can add quite a bit of reinforcement and still come out ahead of where I'd be with FWFG. I'll probably post some pictures later. There's some more information over at the original build thread for this rocket:
https://www.rocketryplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2808&page=16
