Looked at my launch logs

[MrGneissGuy]

I think I’ve mentioned in here that I created a kind of flight log database in Google Docs, with the idea that I complete the log form on my Droid live during the launch. I did not actually do this during our club launch on Saturday, so I manually entered them after the fact. While I was in there, I decided to take a look at the response summary for the year to see if I could find any trends or other useful information. Here are a few things I noticed.

I have six rockets that have not been launched at all this year, including one of my favorites the SR-71 Blackbird. I need to make sure that one gets launched at September’s 2 day event.

I tend to launch my scratch builds more than the kit rockets.

My Madcow Batray has gotten the most use of my MPR kits.

I have yet to lose a rocket, and have only had 4 damaged, all of which were repaired.

I wonder if I'm being too conservative with things.

I have yet to use my Altimeter One this year. Why I don’t know. I make sure it’s charged before every launch and intend to. I guess I am being a bit conservative.

About 80% of my launches have been in winds at least 5 mph usually 8+, and 43% have been in winds more than 10 mph.

The winds would also explain my most common stability issue…weathercocking.

Deployment is most frequently at apogee nose down (50%). But 20% were just past apogee, or late. As expected, those late deployments tend to correlate with weathercocking.


I notice a lot of folks here list their motor usage in their signatures, so I’m guessing others track things as well. What are some of your stats so far this year?

 

[El Cheapo]

I know alot of people who do logs like yourself. Personally, its way more effort than I'm willing to put into things. Other than a scratch build or hp flight here and there, Im a Tin Cup, grip it and rip it, kind of flyer.

 

[[POW]Eagle159]

I was thinking about doing that with my next few launches...keeping a journal.

 

[Wayco]

I started a launch log when I joined the SSS. They post up a nice summary of everybody's launches each month at the club launch. I made up a three ring binder with tabs for each rocket and some loose pages to write everything down on. Each divider has a pouch to keep relevant info in like a list of motors that work with each rocket and a flight card. We record everything we do for repairs and what motor we used and how well the flight went. If I had a accurate way of measuring wind, I would add that, but if it's really blowing I usually mention how far I had to hike to recover it.

 

[MarkII]

I have tried off and on over the years to keep launch logs, but I never kept them up for very long. The one that has finally stuck has been the Flight Log feature at rocketreviews. The linking, the ability to upload photos and videos and the statistical functions and other niceties have made it a winner for me. Plus I can access it anywhere, on any computer. I don't have a smartphone, so mobile integration isn't an issue for me. Now I just need to work on actually launching more rockets more often. I need to do a little housecleaning of my log because there are a few instances of duplication and other glitches that are due to the the somewhat haphazard way that I originally entered data (e.g., calling the same rocket by different names in different places). Last week I discovered a paper log with a list of flights that I made in 2005 that I will enter into my Flight Log. I'm pretty sure that I don't have any list of the couple dozen or so flights that I made in 2004 and I also know that I was really inconsistent about logging flights prior to 2009. I only have a spotty recall of the flights that I made from 1967-71. Back then the thought of recording the details of my launches for posterity never crossed my mind. Any paper journal that I might have kept would not have survived the many moves and life changes that have occurred since then anyway.

 

[BEC]

I keep notes in 3x5 notebooks just as I have done for RC airplanes for many years, only with the rocket logs there is one book at a time, rather than one book per flying machine as it is with my planes. Until recently I've been really good at putting those data into rocketreviews.com but I'm a couple of months behind now with another launch coming up this weekend. Perhaps I'll get it done anyway.

I have no records from my first rocketry period which ran roughly from 1968-1974 or so and was nowhere nearly as active as I have been these last 2 1/2 years.

 

[Fishhead]

When I was a kid, one of the local savings and loans gave out small pocket notebooks to customers, so I grabbed one whenever the chance presented itself. I used one to write down the beer cans in my collection, and used one to write down the flights I made with my 1977-79 Beta, Condor, Wizard, etc. It survived marriage and a move into my first house, but seems to have been sucked into the void along with my large perma-wadding blanket and football jacket. Luckily I wrote them all down in a modern journal and entered them into the EMRR flight archives. All of the flights didn't survive the changeover, but I think I can figure out which ones are missing.

 

[Zeus-cat]

I keep an Excel spreadsheet of my launches. Many of these fields are filled in after the launch and not at the launch site. A lot of them are fields for my altimeters; so if no altimeter is used nothing gets placed in those fields.

I am an engineer so I like to collect data. I use things like descent rate and recovery device to make decisions on future flights; especially if the rockets are damaged or not on landing.


Date
Time
Launch # of the day
Rocket
Launch Designation
Motor
Second Motor (if cluster or 2 stage)
Recovery Device
Estimated Apogee (if no altimeter used)
Altimeter (yes/no)
Video (yes/no)
Alt15K (yes/no)
Alt15K Rev 2 (yes/no)
MAWD (yes/no)
Recorded Apogee
Ground Altitude
Altimeter Two (yes/no)
Apogee
Top Speed
Burn Time
Peak Accel
Avg. Accel
Coast to Apogee
Apogee to Eject
Ejection Altitude
Descent Speed (mph)
Descent Speed (fps)
Flight Duration
Pre-launch Weight
Descent Rate Main
Descent Rate Drogue
Weather
Launch Location
Flight
Notes
Problem?
Damage
Correction
Launcher

 

[[POW]Eagle159]

I think a good idea would be to have a note card for each rocket. With the specs. of the rocket with what engines you have used and how it did with that engine,also the weather...

 

[MarkII]

My flight Log is mostly just a mnemonic device. Looking at an entry jogs my memory and I can usually then replay the specific flight in my mind. I have made less than three hundred flights so far, and most of them have been in the past 7 years, so it's not hard to remember where each one was, when it was, what the conditions were and what the flight looked like. It will probably be harder once my flight numbers get into the thousands. The aggregated stats are somewhat interesting but aren't terribly useful to me.

 

[Fishhead]

Didn't understand much, but very informative thread! :eyeroll:

Thanks for adding so much to it.

 

[Peartree]

Thanks for adding so much to it.

:wink: