First an apology, no pictures. I know how you guys like the pictures. My wife took the camera and my daughter to a 3 day swim meet out of town.
Well, I got up today, it was cold, high 30s, wet, overcast, a typical nasty winter day in Virgina. But, there was not a wiff of breeze which ment it was a great day to launch rockets! I had two rockets that were still virgins and another that was repaired/redesigned and needed a test flight. I figured this would be the perfect day, no one out and about and no wind. That was about right, I went out to the wet and muddy middle school soccer and football fields and was the only one there.
A quick 800 - 1000 ft. fight of an Estes Outlaw on a C6-7 confirmed the direction of the little bit of breeze in the upper levels was just opposite of gound levels. Flight was straight up and recovery was 100 ft. from the pad.
Next up was my Estes Avenger. This was a remake of the last rocket I flew about 35 years ago. Back then the sustainer never fired and it lawndarted into a muddy field. For its first flight this time I flew it with a B6-0 B6-4. The flight was perfect. Caught the Avenger about 75 ft. from the pad. No mud on the Avenger this time.
Next flight was the Estes Eagle boost glider. I've never had a glider before and was a little worried because I didn't have the recommended B6-2 motor. Its first flight was on a B6-4. The ejection was a little past apogee, but not too bad. The booster recovered fine and the glider made large slow circles coming down. There was a slight amount of stall-glide-stall, but you really had to watch close to see it. The closer it got to the ground, the smoother the glide seemed. All in all, a great flight.
Well, I had my Stormcaster along. Its had two flights on C11-3 motors but today I had some D12-5s. Forgot to bring the E28T reloads.
The first flight was great. A gentleman driving out of the school stopped and yelled "Awesome" as it flew. He wasn't even upset when the nosecone of the StomeCaster hit the side of his pickup bed on the way down. Turns out he launched rockets as a kid. I informed him of where to get kits, motors, etc. locally. Had a really nice conversation. I suspect there's another BAR in the making.
Now I started the second round of flights. This is where things started going wrong.
Next up was the Funny Funnel. This was it's second flight, although it's first today. I had rebuilt and redesigned the motor mount assemby and even ground tested it. Again, the up was fantasic! The spin stablized funnel flew straight and true to about 500 ft. No Ejection! Since this was the sports fields and it's second flight, of course it had to land on the very edge of the concrete pad used for shot putt and discus instead of the soft muddy ground a foot away. Totaled! This one will be going to the trash, even the plastic funnel was cracked. I will salvage the kevlar shock cord.
Tried the StormCaster again. This flight was just as straight and nice as the first. It landed further away, but missed the asphalt track by a few feet. I figure, great, no damage. Wrong. I hadn't added any extra shock cord and the nose cone had spung back and wrinkled the front of the body tube. Not real bad, repairable, but I should know better by now.
Time to try the Eagle again. The first flight was so good, I move the launcher further from the trees it had landed near on the first flight and put a C6-3 in it. It was my fault, not enough attention to detail. The tail of the glider caught the wires from the controller and lifted them about 12 ft. in the air before letting go when the motor burned out and it nose dived into the ground. The ejection charge went off on the ground. The only damage was the melted elevator on the back of the glider. It's also repairable, but...
Ok, the Avenger needs another flight. I preped it with a C6-0 and C6-7 this time. I also angle the rod slightly, 5º to 10º max because the sun had come out and a slight breeze had come up. Big mistake. (NOTE to Self - Always fly Avenger straight up and only in low winds or with a LONG rod) The Avenger tilted coming off the rod, heading down wind. It tilted some more when the second stage lit and was moving at about a 45º - 50º angle during sustainer burn. It was out over the trees, past the school grounds when the chute came out. I tried to see where it came down. I picked up the booster, packed up my stuff and headed out to look for it. Back past the trees was an area of low trees, brush, picker bushes, cattails, and marsh. I crawled through that for a while, but no luck finding the Avenger. When I got in the car, I desided to drive down the street in the housing area that backed up to the area I had been searching in, just in case it had gone a lot farther then I had thought. Well, good luck, there it was, laying in the street. No worse for wear, except the nosecone was missing from the payload section. That'll be easy to replace. I might even have one in my parts bin already.
Well, I have some rockets to fix. It was a little frustrating with the problems on all the 2nd flights today, but hey, it's always good when you're burning motors! Beside, now I have an excuse to lock myself in the basement and work on rockets!
Well, I got up today, it was cold, high 30s, wet, overcast, a typical nasty winter day in Virgina. But, there was not a wiff of breeze which ment it was a great day to launch rockets! I had two rockets that were still virgins and another that was repaired/redesigned and needed a test flight. I figured this would be the perfect day, no one out and about and no wind. That was about right, I went out to the wet and muddy middle school soccer and football fields and was the only one there.
A quick 800 - 1000 ft. fight of an Estes Outlaw on a C6-7 confirmed the direction of the little bit of breeze in the upper levels was just opposite of gound levels. Flight was straight up and recovery was 100 ft. from the pad.
Next up was my Estes Avenger. This was a remake of the last rocket I flew about 35 years ago. Back then the sustainer never fired and it lawndarted into a muddy field. For its first flight this time I flew it with a B6-0 B6-4. The flight was perfect. Caught the Avenger about 75 ft. from the pad. No mud on the Avenger this time.
Next flight was the Estes Eagle boost glider. I've never had a glider before and was a little worried because I didn't have the recommended B6-2 motor. Its first flight was on a B6-4. The ejection was a little past apogee, but not too bad. The booster recovered fine and the glider made large slow circles coming down. There was a slight amount of stall-glide-stall, but you really had to watch close to see it. The closer it got to the ground, the smoother the glide seemed. All in all, a great flight.
Well, I had my Stormcaster along. Its had two flights on C11-3 motors but today I had some D12-5s. Forgot to bring the E28T reloads.
The first flight was great. A gentleman driving out of the school stopped and yelled "Awesome" as it flew. He wasn't even upset when the nosecone of the StomeCaster hit the side of his pickup bed on the way down. Turns out he launched rockets as a kid. I informed him of where to get kits, motors, etc. locally. Had a really nice conversation. I suspect there's another BAR in the making.Now I started the second round of flights. This is where things started going wrong.
Next up was the Funny Funnel. This was it's second flight, although it's first today. I had rebuilt and redesigned the motor mount assemby and even ground tested it. Again, the up was fantasic! The spin stablized funnel flew straight and true to about 500 ft. No Ejection!
Since this was the sports fields and it's second flight, of course it had to land on the very edge of the concrete pad used for shot putt and discus instead of the soft muddy ground a foot away. Totaled! This one will be going to the trash, even the plastic funnel was cracked. I will salvage the kevlar shock cord.Tried the StormCaster again. This flight was just as straight and nice as the first. It landed further away, but missed the asphalt track by a few feet. I figure, great, no damage. Wrong. I hadn't added any extra shock cord
and the nose cone had spung back and wrinkled the front of the body tube. Not real bad, repairable, but I should know better by now. Time to try the Eagle again. The first flight was so good, I move the launcher further from the trees it had landed near on the first flight and put a C6-3 in it. It was my fault, not enough attention to detail. The tail of the glider caught the wires from the controller and lifted them about 12 ft. in the air before letting go when the motor burned out and it nose dived into the ground. The ejection charge went off on the ground. The only damage was the melted elevator on the back of the glider. It's also repairable, but...
Ok, the Avenger needs another flight. I preped it with a C6-0 and C6-7 this time. I also angle the rod slightly, 5º to 10º max because the sun had come out and a slight breeze had come up. Big mistake. (NOTE to Self - Always fly Avenger straight up and only in low winds or with a LONG rod) The Avenger tilted coming off the rod, heading down wind. It tilted some more when the second stage lit and was moving at about a 45º - 50º angle during sustainer burn. It was out over the trees, past the school grounds when the chute came out. I tried to see where it came down. I picked up the booster, packed up my stuff and headed out to look for it. Back past the trees was an area of low trees, brush, picker bushes, cattails, and marsh. I crawled through that for a while, but no luck finding the Avenger. When I got in the car, I desided to drive down the street in the housing area that backed up to the area I had been searching in, just in case it had gone a lot farther then I had thought. Well, good luck, there it was, laying in the street. No worse for wear, except the nosecone was missing from the payload section. That'll be easy to replace. I might even have one in my parts bin already.
Well, I have some rockets to fix. It was a little frustrating with the problems on all the 2nd flights today, but hey, it's always good when you're burning motors! Beside, now I have an excuse to lock myself in the basement and work on rockets!
