Ray Dunakin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2003
- Messages
- 1,021
- Reaction score
- 0
Last weekend I attended the Tripoli San Diego launch, and attempted a two-stage test flight of the BoosterVision onboard video system.
I arrived in the desert Friday night. Before going to the club launch, I went to the site of my private launch a couple weeks ago, where I had lost an entire rocket and camera. I'd already spent at least 10 hours searching for it on previous occasions. I spent about three hours looking for it Friday night without success. (Both the rocket and payload have reflective vinyl trim which makes it easy to spot with a flashlight at night.)
It rained off and on Friday night, so I ended up sleeping in my car -- oh, my back! Saturday morning was rainless and windless, but overcast. My first flight with the BoosterVision system was to be a two-stage flight on a K700 to K570. Payload contained the BoosterVision video system and a 35mm sequence camera. After waiting all morning for the cloudy weather to clear up, finally got a large patch of blue sky and sun, giving me a window to launch.
The sustainer rocket has flown several times on K motors, usually in single-stage configuration or as a booster for parasite staging. This was the first time with two cameras and two mirror shrouds on the payload.
The rocket went up to 952 feet, then veered sharply and came apart at the interstage coupler. The booster went horizontal and was destroyed on impact about a half mile away. The sustainer descended under chute, but landed on Andy Woerner's ATV. The payload lost its chute and landed flat on its side, knocking most of the paint off the nosecone but causing no damage to the payload or to the cameras and transmitter.
My first thought was that the interstage coupler had failed. Since the sustainer and payload were intact, I decided to try a single-stage flight on a K570. This had to wait until Sunday, as the weather became cloudier and windy late Saturday. I returned to my old launch site and spent a few more hours searching for my lost rocket and camera. More rain Saturday night, so another night spent in the car -- ouch!
Sunday brought perfect flying conditions: mild temperature, sunny, clear skies with just a few fluffy clouds and no wind. I prepped the rocket and payload, again with the 35mm camera and video system. Once again, the rocket encountered problems early in the flight. At about 1000 feet the rocket suddenly veered, this time making a complete loop. It straightened out and continued flying but at a 45 degree angle, corkscrewing as it went. I estimate it reached an altitude of about 3500 feet and about a mile from the launch site.
At ejection, the payload chute deployed but didn't open, and the payload fell hard, tail-first. The payload coupler was crushed, seriously damaging the altimeter inside. (Hence only a visual estimate of the altitude.) The camera bays were both shoved downwards a couple inches, and the mirror shroud to which the TV camera was mounted was torn loose. The 35mm camera had no damage; the only damage to the TV camera and transmitter was that the antenna cable was pulled from the antenna housing, and the wires were pulled from the battery pack.
Obviously, there was no interstage coupler on this flight. This rocket is very stable and has been flown on a single K motor before, without incident. However, on previous flights it had only one camera, and one mirror shroud. I can only conclude that the root problem was the positioning of the two mirror shrouds. They are mounted one on each side of the payload, offset vertically. Somehow this configuration must be causing a high degree of drag-induced torque. I have tried a similar dual-camera configuration on two previous rockets, as far back as 1989, and both of those flights had strange drag-induced problems too.
The video system worked beautifully and everyone was very impressed with it. But of course, I was unable to achieve the altitude required to test the transmitter range. I will be constructing a couple new payloads for the video system alone, and will be doing more flights in various configurations.
Some highlights of the club launch:
One fellow had built a rocket which was topped with a real bird house! It was a round bird house with a pointed roof, and on the peg in front of the hole he had mounted a very realistic looking fake bird. The rocket flew beautifully and to everyone's surprise, the bird remained attached!
Someone else had a delta-winged R/C plane that was originally powered by an electric motor and pusher prop. He removed the motor and prop and fitted a motor tube into the plane. It blew great on Estes E9's, performed some cool acrobatics, and came in for a smooth landing to much applause.
Andy Woerner had a successful test flight of his new 10" diameter Honest John kit, and his wife Joanna flew her own 10" diameter scratchbuilt rocket which was loosely based on an Estes design.
Before heading home, I spent another hour or so searching for my lost camera rocket. Still no luck!
I arrived in the desert Friday night. Before going to the club launch, I went to the site of my private launch a couple weeks ago, where I had lost an entire rocket and camera. I'd already spent at least 10 hours searching for it on previous occasions. I spent about three hours looking for it Friday night without success. (Both the rocket and payload have reflective vinyl trim which makes it easy to spot with a flashlight at night.)
It rained off and on Friday night, so I ended up sleeping in my car -- oh, my back! Saturday morning was rainless and windless, but overcast. My first flight with the BoosterVision system was to be a two-stage flight on a K700 to K570. Payload contained the BoosterVision video system and a 35mm sequence camera. After waiting all morning for the cloudy weather to clear up, finally got a large patch of blue sky and sun, giving me a window to launch.
The sustainer rocket has flown several times on K motors, usually in single-stage configuration or as a booster for parasite staging. This was the first time with two cameras and two mirror shrouds on the payload.
The rocket went up to 952 feet, then veered sharply and came apart at the interstage coupler. The booster went horizontal and was destroyed on impact about a half mile away. The sustainer descended under chute, but landed on Andy Woerner's ATV. The payload lost its chute and landed flat on its side, knocking most of the paint off the nosecone but causing no damage to the payload or to the cameras and transmitter.
My first thought was that the interstage coupler had failed. Since the sustainer and payload were intact, I decided to try a single-stage flight on a K570. This had to wait until Sunday, as the weather became cloudier and windy late Saturday. I returned to my old launch site and spent a few more hours searching for my lost rocket and camera. More rain Saturday night, so another night spent in the car -- ouch!
Sunday brought perfect flying conditions: mild temperature, sunny, clear skies with just a few fluffy clouds and no wind. I prepped the rocket and payload, again with the 35mm camera and video system. Once again, the rocket encountered problems early in the flight. At about 1000 feet the rocket suddenly veered, this time making a complete loop. It straightened out and continued flying but at a 45 degree angle, corkscrewing as it went. I estimate it reached an altitude of about 3500 feet and about a mile from the launch site.
At ejection, the payload chute deployed but didn't open, and the payload fell hard, tail-first. The payload coupler was crushed, seriously damaging the altimeter inside. (Hence only a visual estimate of the altitude.) The camera bays were both shoved downwards a couple inches, and the mirror shroud to which the TV camera was mounted was torn loose. The 35mm camera had no damage; the only damage to the TV camera and transmitter was that the antenna cable was pulled from the antenna housing, and the wires were pulled from the battery pack.
Obviously, there was no interstage coupler on this flight. This rocket is very stable and has been flown on a single K motor before, without incident. However, on previous flights it had only one camera, and one mirror shroud. I can only conclude that the root problem was the positioning of the two mirror shrouds. They are mounted one on each side of the payload, offset vertically. Somehow this configuration must be causing a high degree of drag-induced torque. I have tried a similar dual-camera configuration on two previous rockets, as far back as 1989, and both of those flights had strange drag-induced problems too.
The video system worked beautifully and everyone was very impressed with it. But of course, I was unable to achieve the altitude required to test the transmitter range. I will be constructing a couple new payloads for the video system alone, and will be doing more flights in various configurations.
Some highlights of the club launch:
One fellow had built a rocket which was topped with a real bird house! It was a round bird house with a pointed roof, and on the peg in front of the hole he had mounted a very realistic looking fake bird. The rocket flew beautifully and to everyone's surprise, the bird remained attached!
Someone else had a delta-winged R/C plane that was originally powered by an electric motor and pusher prop. He removed the motor and prop and fitted a motor tube into the plane. It blew great on Estes E9's, performed some cool acrobatics, and came in for a smooth landing to much applause.
Andy Woerner had a successful test flight of his new 10" diameter Honest John kit, and his wife Joanna flew her own 10" diameter scratchbuilt rocket which was loosely based on an Estes design.
Before heading home, I spent another hour or so searching for my lost camera rocket. Still no luck!
