MWP 11 - memories

[Rrwjr]

Well it’s hard to believe 1 week ago I was able to participate in MWP11. A lot of time and effort went into preparing for it. Not only by the people who put on the event, Thank you QCRS and Wildman Hobbies but even as a flier there is quite a bit of prep put into getting ready and getting to this event. I thought I would share some memories and pictures of a very special weekend.

This year was going to be my 2nd year and I thought I had a great plan. Last year as a newbie I was so overwhelmed with everything that went on it was hard to remember to prep and launch a rocket. This year was going to be different (or so I thought). I had planned what I was bringing and what I was going to launch very carefully. By way of Murphy’s Law my job and life got in the way and I wasn’t as prepared as I wanted to be. This year was also going to be just me and my youngest son. No Mom to supervise the kids (yes I am referring to myself as a kid as who isn’t at MWP)?

We left on Thursday the 31st around 11:00am to embark on the 3 plus hour drive to Princeton Illinois. I decided a picture of our fleet was in order so while it was raining outside we found a place to snap a picture.



Off we went, I checked and re-checked my list, yep we had everything. About 20 minutes down the road I realized that my rocket table and chairs were not in the vehicle. Why weren’t they on the list- I always keep them in my suburban. It just so happened that I had to take them out earlier in the week to pick something up for my wife. Well there was no way I could survive the weekend without my table and chairs. Back home we went, and reloaded. Back on the road again we were pretty lucky as it only rained for 2 hours and 55 minutes of my drive there instead of the full 3 hours and 15 minutes.

We checked into our hotel and I realized my next slight miscalculation. I hadn’t asked for a first floor room. By the end of the weekend I would have ridden up and down the elevator with my rocket stuff enough times that I think renting a trailer for the weekend would be easier.

 

[Rrwjr]

Friday the 1st:
Friday morning arrived and off we went to the launch. It was cool, cloudy and breezy. When we got there we realized we wouldn’t be able to park in the fields as we did last year with the recent rains. A trip to the RSO/LCO from our vehicle was over a 5/8 of a mile away. We registered and got some flight cards, picked up my order from Tim’s ( Wildman’s) trailer and walked back to our vehicle, only to realize I forgot a box back at Tim’s trailer, so off we went back again. to the trailer to pick what I forgot and heck since I’m there I might as well pick up a couple of motors.

One of my objectives was to make this a special weekend for my son. So after we set up we decided to let him fly first. He prepped his Jart which he did by himself. I watched him and offered up advice. He was receptive, so he learned how to tape and loop his shock cord and he became quite well with it. We decided we would fly his Jart on an F59 white thunder. He looked to his dad for some advice and we decided on a 5 second delay. He filled out a flight card and off we went with the camera and 2 big smiles.

He loaded his rocket on the rail and put in the igniter. Dad did a quick double check and he had done it right. A quick photo on the pad and we were ready to launch. Off it went to approximately 575 feet- the delay was a bit short as we hadn’t quite hit apogee yet. It landed nice and close to the pad which was our goal for the Jart contest on Sunday.



Next we decided to fly the Jart again as my son really wanted to fly it on a skid motor. Since it was cloudy and wet, it was a good time to do it. He chose a G106 and again prepped the rocket himself (only after he cleaned the case from the previous flight). We decided to go with a 9 second delay and even though this flight would only be about 1975 feet the wind was blowing pretty hard and we were using a 12 nylon chute. I decided we should put the tracker on it. After the flight card was filled out we went back up to RSO. We set up the rocket and walked back behind the tape barriers and waited. It was about this time I realized I forgot the camera back at the vehicle. No pics. It was a nice flight and an uneventful recovery – other than the walk.

Next up was a trial flight for the White Wizzard. I intended to fly this on a night flight so I wanted to at least check it out as it was its maiden flight. We selected an H123 skid with a 7 second delay. Again we decided to use the tracker as this rocket has a pretty big chute and I would rather walk than have damage to rocket.

As you can see from the pictures we had an excellent flight and I did remember the camera this time. I didn’t fly this as dual deploy and in the future I will add just a bit more BP as the chute came out but barely.




How time flew it was time to do my shift of LCO so that was all of the flights we got in on Friday as after that the rain started up again.

One of the things I like about this hobby is the people you meet. I was looking forward to meeting up with friends I had made thru our club for dinner a bit later on in the evening but first I had the pleasure of actually going out to see where the magic happens for Wildman Hobbies. I was greeted as I walked in by many familiar faces and lots of new faces, Tim greeted me with a handshake, an adult beverage, and a tour. After seeing some cool pieces of equipment we talked about some items for the upcoming Comp 3 competition on Saturday and the next couple of hours were a whirlwind of meeting new people, seeing old familiar faces and watching kits get fabricated for the sale he had offered up on Friday as a special.

I could have easily spent the rest of the evening there as it turns out some did, the hospitality and all of the cool equipment and rocket pieces were just awesome. Truth be told I was a bit concerned that after 4 hours I might need to seek medical attention with all of the goodies at Wildman’s home base.

I ended the evening with a great meal with friends from Woosh. Mark - his wife, Scott and his family, Andy and Chad and his family. Chad and his family had volunteered to let my son hang out with there son. Thanks again guys. Before I knew it, it was 11:00 PM. Time for bed as there is a big day tomorrow.

 

[Rrwjr]

Saturday the 2nd

Saturday morning was here and once again I was dragging all my stuff back to the Suburban. It was cool again and cloudy and there were a few lingering raindrops, but inside we were all smiles and filled with excitement for the upcoming day.

We started off with flying my sons Jart again on an F59. The Jart had undergone a transformation the night before with his friend Lucas. They had put chrome refecting tape on the fins and on the nosecone. So the Reflect “O” Jart went out to the pads. We had increased the delay to 7 seconds and that was perfect. A great flight and a quick recovery and 1 flight in the books. We are off to a great start.




It was time for me to prep the Comp 3 for the feature which was happening at noon. For those who don’t know if you have any sort of failure, you have to wear a dress at the Banquet on Saturday. This was something I was hoping to avoid. I carefully prepped, re-checked and checked again. Before I knew it they were calling us up to check in. This wasn’t all of the rockets but it certainly looked impressive. The countdown started so I got one picture on the pad and I was ready to get a liftoff picture. Now I have to admit, I was re-thinking thru my checklist so I didn’t really get any pictures of its liftoff- was a frame or 2 to late.



With so many rockets going off at once- it was hard to visually keep yours in a field of view, so I used my tracker, we were able to follow it up and down ( or so we thought). Again we used the trackerBased on the winds and the fact I was using a large reacon 40 inch chute for the rocket I knew we would be doing some walking so I decided to use my vechicle to get us close. Long story short- We partnered up with another club member thinking multiple eyes would help out. When I did pick up the signal I was elated, my son and I were walking thru this thick mud and the signal is stronger and stronger but no rocket in sight. All of a sudden we get to the edge of a field and there is a deep ditch and low and behold I see my chute. We run down the ditch to recover and my heart sinks. All I have is a nose-cone, tracker, part of my main shock cord and chute.

Upon close inspection I can see that the shock cord is burned thru. Later I would see that I forgot to put a shock cord protector around the re-enforced nylon cord. At this time I am bumming, I’m thinking about a lost rocket, a lost case, a lost altimeter, a lost tailcone retainer. As I make the long walk back to the vehicle, I reflect on my errors. How could I forget the shock cord protector, why didn’t I put the tracker on my drogue? My son was trying to help comfort me, he felt bad as well. He offers up his allowance to help buy another one. Its then that I realize “why am I so bummed about the loss of my rocket” I’m there with my son enjoying a wonderful event and you cant take those memories away. We drive back to our area and relay the news. I had a lot of offers for help from club members and I appreciated that. I continued to think about what happened and since the shock cord was burned thru, my main must have gone off – so now was it at 700 feet or did it fire at apogee? I start thinking about how I was tracking the rocket and about how we found the chute, cone and tracker in the area near where others were finding there complete rockets.

I decide it had to have been at 700 feet. I decide I’m going to start walking in a grid thru the black plowed fields looking for a black rocket. 2 and a half hours later, exhausted mentally and physically I found it. It was in great shape no damage and the altimeter was still beeping. It went up 7,951 feet. I carried my dirty, muddy prize up to the check in and get my altitude recorded. It wasn’t a winner but I didn’t care. I had my rocket back.

By this time I here my name being paged- it was time to do LCO again. So only 2 flight but tomorrow was another day and I was going to make the best of it.

In case you’re wondering yes I wore the dress at the banquet on Saturday. If anyone has a photo can you post it and send me a PM. I would like to get a copy of it?

 

[Rex R]

funny, I seem to recall one or more people asking me how I got a ground level room last year...one drawback is you get to hear everyone coming and going and 'chatting' on the sidewalk.
Rex

 

[Rrwjr]

Sunday the 3rd:

Sunday- Wow its day 3 already, my son and I decided to skip the nite launch as we were so tired from walking and we wanted to prep some things for flying on Sunday. The weather was going to be awesome and we wanted to get in as many flights as we could.

We started the day out with Jeremy and the Jart on an F85. We used a 24mm adaptor and had a blast getting that thing up about 1000 feet and another soft recovery.




Next up was the Formula 75 on an I180 skid. Once again my son helped prep and load the rocket. I think he will be ready when he is old enough to get his JrL1. Again we used the tracker. A great flight as you can see in pictures up to just under 2600 feet. Another long walk but those are the times where the conversations I had with my son will stay a part of my memories.

 

[Rrwjr]

Formula 75 pics cont:




While we were loading our Formula 75 friends and club members Mike and Jean loaded there Darkstar on the pad right next to us. One of the things I enjoy about any launch is the social aspect of the launch as well as the actual launching and recovering of rockets. Mike and Jean are always a hoot to talk to and they had some interesting flights as well. However this one was a beautiful flight and they actually landed not to far away from us in the far fields.



We got back to the RSO area to here them calling for the Jart drag race (closest to the pad contest). For this flight Jeremy wanted to try something different so we went with a F120 V-max.. Again since we were rushing I forgot the camera but it was a great flight and I was proud of his flights and all that he had learned thus far over the weekend.

Immediately after the Jart race it was time to help a friend and President of our club Woosh with his level 3 attempt on a ½ scale Nike Smoke. This was one sweet looking rocket. I don’t want to take away from Marks story so I will show just a few behind the scenes pictures. As you can see in the picture below, Mark didn’t get the best of help as one of us was backwards, hint- it wasn’t Chad in the brown coat either. Oh well- off to the RSO we went with a sixty something pound rocket. Loading this beast on a rail was a bit of a challenge- but all in all it went smooth. A beautiful flight (again if you look here on TRF you can find Mark’s L3 cert build with pics).

 

[Rrwjr]

After an awesome flight it was time to recover and once again I was fortunate enough to be able to participate. Chad and I brought it back from about a half mile away and again its those times of joking and talking with friends you make in the hobby that add just a bit of something extra to an event. Thanks again Mark for letting us help out on your special flight and congratulations.



The day was starting to slip away abd we figured we would only have time for 1 more flight. We decided it was time to fly our 5inch jart in the short configuration ( no DD). We selected a J430 white thunder for the flight. I added some additional BP to the stock load and added 1 shear pin to the nose cone. My son carefully help coil the shock cord with tape and wrapped the chute (60 inch reacon) in a nomex burrito. We headed out to the pad with Jeremy basically running there with excitement. We got to the pad and how could I not let him load it and put in the igniter, he had been such a help. We went back behind the tape barrier and listened to the countdown, as it hit 1 I started clicking and finally got a few nice shots. It flew to about 2550 feet and then that beautiful chute deployed. Another long walk but it was a great flight to end MWP11 with.



We figured it out later based on using the odometer in the Suburban we walked just over 12 miles at MWP chasing rockets, or helping others. As we loaded up for the ride home I couldn’t help think about the flights we had and some we didn’t have. I haven’t quite figured out MWP yet but you can be sure, we will be back next year.

 

[chadrog]

funny, I seem to recall one or more people asking me how I got a ground level room last year...one drawback is you get to hear everyone coming and going and 'chatting' on the sidewalk.
Rex

Good memory Rex, but that was MWP X.

 

[halcro1]

I like interesting... Russ you and your son are a joy to hang and fly with.. Good times..

 

[halcro1]

Their all beautiful flight... For the most part... Lol. Hey 2 successful Woket llaunches..

 

[scsager]

Good friends, good times, and rockets... who could ask for anything more!! - Thanks for sharing, Russ!!!

We were so busy prepping our night rocket, that we got to the dinner a bit late. Totally missed the dress thing <sigh>

 

[halcro1]

He wore it like a champ...