Level 3 Build - Wildman "Extreme Wildthang"

[CarVac]

View attachment 144336View attachment 144337

He shoots, he scores! Got a birdie, on the first try!

Congrats, Scott!

-Kevin

What constitutes a birdie in rocketry?

 

[Golfpro62]

What constitutes a birdie in rocketry?

This has to qualify - maybe even a hole-in-one! Thanks

 

[Golfpro62]

Boy do I have a story to tell for years to come about the day I went for my Level 3 cert. First, the flight was a success and here are the details according to both of the RRC2 minis that were on board: 14009 feet, 1960 feet per second peak velocity - somebody help me here because I can't believe my rocket went 1336 mph? Rocksim had it going 13900 feet and 994 mph.

I'm at Airfest - Day 2, and Kevin (Troj) and Roy Polmanteer (one of my TAP's) were helping me track the rocket down and we must have been within a few hundred feet of it or so when we got a call on the radio to go check out a fire that had started nearby. We stopped the search and the next thing I know, we are actually fighting a fire! - kicking dirt, shoveling dirt, trying to put out what we can until the fire department got there. Two hours later and smelling like a ashtray, the fire was under control and we got another radio call that my rocket had been found just minutes from where we had been tracking it to hours ealier. The rocket was in perfect shape - level 3 attained! It was a great relief too because about 1 minute after she was launched we spotted something free falling in the sky and it wasn't a rocket under drogue. I was thinking the worst. Several rockets had been fired from the away pads in rapid fire so who knows what we saw but the timing was just about right, I thought the worst for a while, my mind was seeing half my rocket coming down. I don't think we ever figured out what it was we saw because everyone seemed to be retrieving entire rockets?

I owe a huge thanks to my TAP members Greg Rothman and Bruce Lee. Bruce couldn't make it to Airfest so Roy Polmanteer volunteered to help me out, I owe him an even bigger thanks. It just goes to show you the quality of people you meet in this hobby. Roy didn't know me, probably never even heard my name, but he knew I needed help and he offered it - I didn't even ask him, I just got a email from Roy offering to help about a week before Airfest. You don't meet folks like that every day. Also I have to say thanks to Kevin, I wouldn't have had a motor without him. He offered me the use of his 75mm CTI hardware for my launch and he also helped me at the pad and took some great photos for me. There are others who need to be thanked too but this will do for now.

 

[crossfire]

Great job Scott. Sounds like you had a great time. What started the fire? 2hrs to put it out it must have been a large fire.

 

[troj]

What started the fire? 2hrs to put it out it must have been a large fire.

We don't know. I'd say it was close to 3/4 mile north of the range.

All we know is a field was burning that wasn't supposed to be, and they needed help. So we helped.

-Kevin

 

[chadrog]

We don't know. I'd say it was close to 3/4 mile north of the range.

All we know is a field was burning that wasn't supposed to be, and they needed help. So we helped.

-Kevin

So it wasn't launch related? That's weird.

 

[crossfire]

Chad
Down in KS they burn off the fields rather than till under left overs from the harvest like the farmers do in WI. Maybe one of their burns got away from them.
gp

 

[Golfpro62]

I think your absolutely right, the farmers do burn rather than till so when we first saw the smoke, we didn't think anything about it - you see it all the time. Luckily the Kloudbusters are one prepared group of guys and girls and before long it was contained and the fire dept took care of making sure it didn't start back up. Still, a launch I won't forget anytime soon for more reasons than one. Just my 2 cents but no question it was to far away for it to be rocket related, I think a spark from somebody else burning a field was probably the culprit - it was a long ways from the launch site.

 

[Golfpro62]

Ok, so nobody has jumped on this yet. Both my RRC2 mini alts recorded a maximum velocity of 1960 feet per second: 1 beep, 9 beeps, 6 beeps, a weird beep for 0. They both read the same exact number and I come up with 1336 mph and that's Mach 1.7??? I can't imagine that is accurate or even possible. I was planning on it barely going Mach 1 but nowhere near that kind of speed. But, unless I'm misinterpreting the RRC2, that's what it was. Anybody that has more experience with these units, what do you think?

 

[troj]

Vent hole size/placement could have something to do with it, too, Scott.

-Kevin

 

[blackjack2564]

I can't imagine that is accurate or even possible.

You are correct. It is not accurate at all.
Unlike the new units which are extremely accurate, the older mini's were just beginning to explore with velocity codes & readings.

 

[rdbones]

I think your absolutely right, the farmers do burn rather than till so when we first saw the smoke, we didn't think anything about it - you see it all the time. Luckily the Kloudbusters are one prepared group of guys and girls and before long it was contained and the fire dept took care of making sure it didn't start back up. Still, a launch I won't forget anytime soon for more reasons than one. Just my 2 cents but no question it was to far away for it to be rocket related, I think a spark from somebody else burning a field was probably the culprit - it was a long ways from the launch site.

The field fire was rocket related - the offending rocket was located partially in and partially out of the burned area.

There are many factors that could contribute tot he start of the fire, things such as smoldering dog barf coming in to contact with the stubble and the wind fanning it in to a flame just to name one.

 

[Golfpro62]

You are correct. It is not accurate at all.
Unlike the new units which are extremely accurate, the older mini's were just beginning to explore with velocity codes & readings.

Thank-You Jim, I'd been struggling with that one - I was hoping to break Mach 1 - just barely though and for a brief time. Hey 1.7 would have been cool but but reality was it just wasn't possible for it to go that fast.

 

[Golfpro62]

Ok, thanks to Kevin I have some pretty good pics of the the entire process from start to finish. Here are just a few, I have a video too from the flight line and not the greatest quality. If I can figure out how to get in on here I will though. Thanks again to everyone who helped with the project.

 

[JMZawodny]

Congrats on the L3. I did mine with an Extreme WildMan that was also pretty high and fast. A true thing of beauty that you'll recall for the rest of your life.

 

[Glasspack]

Scott

That is very impressive thank you for thread !! Someday.. Maybe someday