Lengthy video of my Tall Boy that landed in a tree after an otherwise successful flight. I didn’t have an altimeter installed, but my guess is it went about 500 feet and I was surprised by what it caught in the video.
About the last half is just the rocket hanging in the tree, best ignored.
Begins with onboard video with views to Lake Washington, Mt. Rainier and downtown Seattle. It’s a bit choppy, it’s a cheap spy cam, nothing fancy. (Launch from Lake Forest Park, WA, which is just barely north of Seattle proper.)
Includes launch video (by T.), stills from the onboard video, pics from the rescue, and before and after shots of part of the rocket that was damaged and repaired. The parachute remains in the tree and I may tree rescuing that next time it’s not raining and not above 80 degrees.
The rocket wasn’t all the high off the ground (I could just reach it with a pole lopper) but was surrounded by blackberries taller than me (which, I suppose, is not saying much). I had to wait until it wasn’t so hot before attempting to hack through the berries. In the end, of course, the berries always win, but I did get the rocket and the camera! For you not local to WA state, Himalayan blackberries have invaded the state. They're yummy, but they crowd out the natives berries which are even yummier, and they have seriously vicious thorns and they mean business!)
Tall Boy info: https://www.asp-rocketry.com/ecommerce/Tall-Boy-Model-Rocket-Kit.cfm?item_id=584
This was a roughly 50% configuration, so not the entire 10 feet (and since I've repaired it numerous times, some of the segments are not the original length). Powered by an Enerjet. I think an E something but the label disintegrated and I don’t recall exactly which motor I used. A little too big for this field, but if it had landed just 15 feet different in any direction it would have been safe.
About the last half is just the rocket hanging in the tree, best ignored.
Begins with onboard video with views to Lake Washington, Mt. Rainier and downtown Seattle. It’s a bit choppy, it’s a cheap spy cam, nothing fancy. (Launch from Lake Forest Park, WA, which is just barely north of Seattle proper.)
Includes launch video (by T.), stills from the onboard video, pics from the rescue, and before and after shots of part of the rocket that was damaged and repaired. The parachute remains in the tree and I may tree rescuing that next time it’s not raining and not above 80 degrees.
The rocket wasn’t all the high off the ground (I could just reach it with a pole lopper) but was surrounded by blackberries taller than me (which, I suppose, is not saying much). I had to wait until it wasn’t so hot before attempting to hack through the berries. In the end, of course, the berries always win, but I did get the rocket and the camera! For you not local to WA state, Himalayan blackberries have invaded the state. They're yummy, but they crowd out the natives berries which are even yummier, and they have seriously vicious thorns and they mean business!)
Tall Boy info: https://www.asp-rocketry.com/ecommerce/Tall-Boy-Model-Rocket-Kit.cfm?item_id=584
This was a roughly 50% configuration, so not the entire 10 feet (and since I've repaired it numerous times, some of the segments are not the original length). Powered by an Enerjet. I think an E something but the label disintegrated and I don’t recall exactly which motor I used. A little too big for this field, but if it had landed just 15 feet different in any direction it would have been safe.
