L1 Fail

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Flew my first L1 attempt Saturday. Great flight, everything went according to plan until the wind shifted and carried my rocket to an unpicked cornfield. My awesome wife helped me search for over 4 hours with not luck. Vanderburn Leviathan clone on an H135W.
 

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Oh I will. I think my next attempt will be with a LOC IV on the same motor.
That is a great choice. I would expect about 2,000 feet, give or take with that motor. And, the LOC IV is a high power classic. It is to high power rocketry what the Estes Alpha is to model rocketry.
 
Wait until the Corn is cut, then you will pass.

Finding rockets in the corn is very hard if there is no way to track them. At our club launches when the corn is tall, a Loud beeper/buzzer, RF Beacon (RDF) and even GPS are used to help find them.
Other option is ALL the Club members go into the Corn and walk the rows. We try to have some distant landmark to walk towards and hopefully walk to the rocket. We have learned that it is distance we can not properly judge.
 
Another tip…if you see the direction of the rocket just before it lands, use the compass program on your smartphone to take a bearing. Once you have that, simply track along that bearing until you recover the rocket.

My smartphone savant kid came up with this idea and it works like a charm.
 
Oh Im definitely trying again. I think Im going with a LOC IV on a smaller H. I do have a 4 inch Goblin thats half done I can fall back on. Next launch isnt ubtil April, so I have a bit of time.
Good luck next time. You should use the noise maker or a tracker and the smartphone compass thing to cover all your bases.
 
Yes, it was my Level 1 rocket, and it was a good one. Landed right in a tree, right at the very limit of the long pole we had. In my case, finding it wasn't the problem, but getting it back was a real challenge.

Good luck on your next L1 attempt!

View attachment 543531
Looks like you are using one of those extension poles power line workers use. My RC airplane club got one for free when our electric utility had one that aged out. An indispensable tool for getting airplanes and rockets out of trees.
 
Looks like you are using one of those extension poles power line workers use. My RC airplane club got one for free when our electric utility had one that aged out. An indispensable tool for getting airplanes and rockets out of trees.

Yup, fortunately MDRA had some available for us to use. I think that this was the longest one in their trailer, and we needed every inch.
 
Yes, it was my Level 1 rocket, and it was a good one. Landed right in a tree, right at the very limit of the long pole we had. In my case, finding it wasn't the problem, but getting it back was a real challenge.

Good luck on your next L1 attempt!

View attachment 543531
Maybe one of these might be useful with a lot of trees in the area;
RC parachute.jpg
 
Flew my first L1 attempt Saturday. Great flight, everything went according to plan until the wind shifted and carried my rocket to an unpicked cornfield. My awesome wife helped me search for over 4 hours with not luck. Vanderburn Leviathan clone on an H135W.

It happens to a lot of folks. Do not let it discourage you. Build another, and hopefully, it will have better results. Since it flew well, your construction is at least adequate for high power, and this is a huge plus.
 
Oh Im definitely trying again. I think Im going with a LOC IV on a smaller H. I do have a 4 inch Goblin thats half done I can fall back on. Next launch isnt ubtil April, so I have a bit of time.
Have you thought about what you will do after you get the L1 cert? Are you going to fly that LOC IV on large H and I motors?

I've always suggested that you should build a full L1 rocket for a L1 cert instead of spending the time and effort to build something you are only going to use on a cert flight and then having to build another rocket to fly the full range of L1 motors. Of course more rockets is always a good thing.
You might want to consider something in the 4 - 7 lbs. range and even dual deploy. Maybe a LOC Iris, LOC EZ-I65 or even a HyperLOC 835. Once you get that cert there is no reason to fly MPR motors in that rocket any longer so why not build a rocket that is too big for MPRs but works well on H & I motors?

Just a thought.

Good Luck.
 
Have you thought about what you will do after you get the L1 cert? Are you going to fly that LOC IV on large H and I motors?

I've always suggested that you should build a full L1 rocket for a L1 cert instead of spending the time and effort to build something you are only going to use on a cert flight and then having to build another rocket to fly the full range of L1 motors. Of course more rockets is always a good thing.
You might want to consider something in the 4 - 7 lbs. range and even dual deploy. Maybe a LOC Iris, LOC EZ-I65 or even a HyperLOC 835. Once you get that cert there is no reason to fly MPR motors in that rocket any longer so why not build a rocket that is too big for MPRs but works well on H & I motors?

Just a thought.

Good Luck.
I overbuild my rockets just for that reason. But at the same time I have to keep mpr in the fleet as the club I’m in only does 2 hp launches a year. Our launch field is a cornfield so we’re limited by that. I’m working on one of the sod Farmers to try and get more hp flights in, but until then I still have to be able to fly G and smaller. Trust me, I love watching the H and I motors going up.
 
Have you thought about what you will do after you get the L1 cert? Are you going to fly that LOC IV on large H and I motors?

I've always suggested that you should build a full L1 rocket for a L1 cert instead of spending the time and effort to build something you are only going to use on a cert flight and then having to build another rocket to fly the full range of L1 motors. Of course more rockets is always a good thing.
You might want to consider something in the 4 - 7 lbs. range and even dual deploy. Maybe a LOC Iris, LOC EZ-I65 or even a HyperLOC 835. Once you get that cert there is no reason to fly MPR motors in that rocket any longer so why not build a rocket that is too big for MPRs but works well on H & I motors?

Just a thought.

Good Luck.

I think I disagree with this. When I scratch build a rocket, I typically design the rocket around a single motor, for example, the Aerotech G61W motor. (38mm 120 case). Can the rocket fly on bigger motors? Of course, but that's not the point.

If your cert rocket (any level) flew well on the motor you certified with, and it should have, right?, you can fly that same rocket motor combination every time you fly it. There is nothing wrong with having other bigger rockets for bigger motors. After all, building bigger rockets with bigger motors is the best way to work your way up to your next cert level, right?

And if you have a level 1 cert rocket that flies well on MPR motors, why not do just that? Mpr is way cheaper than the bigger motors. I still have just as much fun flying Estes rockets as I do with a J motor 4 inch Dual Deploy Dark Star, but I spend way less money and don't have to chase them nearly as far.

Just my opinion...
 
I think I disagree with this. When I scratch build a rocket, I typically design the rocket around a single motor, for example, the Aerotech G61W motor. (38mm 120 case). Can the rocket fly on bigger motors? Of course, but that's not the point.

If your cert rocket (any level) flew well on the motor you certified with, and it should have, right?, you can fly that same rocket motor combination every time you fly it. There is nothing wrong with having other bigger rockets for bigger motors. After all, building bigger rockets with bigger motors is the best way to work your way up to your next cert level, right?

And if you have a level 1 cert rocket that flies well on MPR motors, why not do just that? Mpr is way cheaper than the bigger motors. I still have just as much fun flying Estes rockets as I do with a J motor 4 inch Dual Deploy Dark Star, but I spend way less money and don't have to chase them nearly as far.

Just my opinion...
In your situation, building a rocket for one motor, that makes a lot of sense.

In my case, I never build a rocket for one motor, I always want to fly on a range of motors. For a L1 rocket, I want to fly a baby H motor on windy or low ceiling days and a large I, or baby J, on those calm, clear days. This way I can "fly the field" under various conditions by using different motors and/or recovery gear and not having to have a different rocket for each condition. But that's just me.

That difference is what makes this hobby so great. Everyone can pursue it in the way that gives them the most enjoyment.
 
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