My girlfriend recently designed and built her first rocket. She had no plans to fly it, but was instead intending to send it to her 3-year-old nephew for Christmas. She figured that in a few years, with the help of his parents, he could fly it himself.
But for some reason, she brought it to our launch last weekend. Silly ol' evil me, I talked her into giving one short inaugural flight. It turned out to be quite a performer. On a simple A8-3, it went up, and up, and up...
...and away. I heard the pop of the ejection charge, but never saw it again. My girlfriend swears she saw it go over a row of trees, across a parking lot, and behind a nursing home. But her search turned up nothing. All she found, to her dismay, was a fast-moving stream.
Looks like she's going to have to build a new one really fast.
Saddened, I decided that the day was going to get only one more launch, as we'd been otherwise lucky, and I didn't want to temp fate.
So I set off my prized Tall Boy with a B6-6, expecting to a glorious flight and an easy recovery. The launch was indeed spectacular. As it reached apogee, my girlfriend exclaimed "How come your rockets always go up straight and come down straight? They always come down straight. Hey! Come down straight!"
We watched as it drifted off the field -- in the opposite direction from where we lost the other rocket. Gotta love New England weather. It went past some trees, and it appeared to come down in some guy's front yard. My girlfriend went off in search of it, and turned up nothing. She even ventured to go into the guy's yard a little. Nothing.
But dang if I'm going to lose two in one day, especially my favorite. So I made the search myself. I even went so far as to trespass into the guy's back yard. Nothing.
Resigning myself to my loss, I left his lawn, shaking my head, letting my eyes drift to his roof. Ah, his roof! Looky what I found!
Now normally I'm a pretty shy person. I barely talk to my coworkers when critical work-realted issues come up. So it was way out of my character to ring the doorbell of a complete stranger whose property I was trespassing on.
Far from chasing me off with a shotgun, he said "Eh, I'm tired of watching BC lose anyway. Let me get my brother-in-law's ladder." He then went up on his own roof to retrieve my precious. And he was full of curiosity. "How often do you do this? How high do they go? Is this cool or what?"
Other than his violent toss off the roof (which broke a fin in two), he was very pleasant to deal with. I suspect most people wouldn't have gone outside, on a cold day, in their pajamas, to climb on their roofs to recover a toy for a complete stranger.
Dude, whoever you are, I thank you. You are most cool.
But for some reason, she brought it to our launch last weekend. Silly ol' evil me, I talked her into giving one short inaugural flight. It turned out to be quite a performer. On a simple A8-3, it went up, and up, and up...
...and away. I heard the pop of the ejection charge, but never saw it again. My girlfriend swears she saw it go over a row of trees, across a parking lot, and behind a nursing home. But her search turned up nothing. All she found, to her dismay, was a fast-moving stream.
Looks like she's going to have to build a new one really fast.
Saddened, I decided that the day was going to get only one more launch, as we'd been otherwise lucky, and I didn't want to temp fate.
So I set off my prized Tall Boy with a B6-6, expecting to a glorious flight and an easy recovery. The launch was indeed spectacular. As it reached apogee, my girlfriend exclaimed "How come your rockets always go up straight and come down straight? They always come down straight. Hey! Come down straight!"
We watched as it drifted off the field -- in the opposite direction from where we lost the other rocket. Gotta love New England weather. It went past some trees, and it appeared to come down in some guy's front yard. My girlfriend went off in search of it, and turned up nothing. She even ventured to go into the guy's yard a little. Nothing.
But dang if I'm going to lose two in one day, especially my favorite. So I made the search myself. I even went so far as to trespass into the guy's back yard. Nothing.
Resigning myself to my loss, I left his lawn, shaking my head, letting my eyes drift to his roof. Ah, his roof! Looky what I found!
Now normally I'm a pretty shy person. I barely talk to my coworkers when critical work-realted issues come up. So it was way out of my character to ring the doorbell of a complete stranger whose property I was trespassing on.
Far from chasing me off with a shotgun, he said "Eh, I'm tired of watching BC lose anyway. Let me get my brother-in-law's ladder." He then went up on his own roof to retrieve my precious. And he was full of curiosity. "How often do you do this? How high do they go? Is this cool or what?"
Other than his violent toss off the roof (which broke a fin in two), he was very pleasant to deal with. I suspect most people wouldn't have gone outside, on a cold day, in their pajamas, to climb on their roofs to recover a toy for a complete stranger.
Dude, whoever you are, I thank you. You are most cool.
