My Level 2 Attempt - a Diurnal Flight of "Nocturnal Missions"

[kjhambrick]

Before I say anything else I want to thank the members of AARG for the great launch last Saturday Nov 4 at the Hutto, TX site.

AARG is a great club with more than their fair share of very experienced rocketeers -- I've learned so much from them about flying in Texas -vs- CA and NV !

Here goes:

I flew Nocturnal Missions, my 25-year old Hawk Mountain Fiberglass "Designer's Special" Vulcanite Upscale for my level 2 certification attempt:



Photo by Harry Spears

She was set up long ago for dual deployment with an AltAcc, but this time I flew a Blue Raven with a Power Perch on a plywood sled that mounts like an AltAcc.

I also decided it would be wise to fly an ejectable Walston Transmitter connected to the drogue shock cord in the booster airframe ( wise choice, given our site ).

The flight was successful and I learned a lot from the 6-DOF data that the Blue Raven collected for the flight.

For example, the flight appeared straight with a little weathercocking into the wind as expected but Nocturnal Missions rolled almost 8 times in 16 seconds from liftoff to apogee.

I could not see the roll on this most recent flight and flying the 1-DOF AltAcc and hot motors all those years ago, I did not know that she rolled in flight !

I need to find a better way to attach the Walston Transmitter to the rocket. It tangled pretty hopelessly with the drogue shock cord.

Had it been connected to the Main, it might have caused a crash.

This is the Altitude Data for the Full Flight:


Glossary: IAlt - Blue Raven Inertial Altitude, PAlt - Raw Blue Raven Pressure Altitude, DAlt - Blue Raven Pressure Altitude corrected for Site Temperature.

Note that there are no pressure spikes due to the ejection charges at apogee and 700 ft. The 'Simply Tacky' goo from Hobby Lobby worked pretty well.

This is the axial inertial data from liftoff to apogee:


These are the Tilt and Roll angles ( mod 360 ) for the flight from liftoff to apogee:


The Roll is definitely fin-induced because you can see that the frequency increases with velocity once the rocket left the rail.

There is a lot more data to re-hash, including CD -vs- Mach Number and a thrust curve but those are for another post.

I want to relay my special thanks to Dave Ivey, my level 1 TAP and who administered my level 2 test and who put up with all my whining since July about 'when can I launch this thing ?' and to Gordon Bain who stood in for Dave to witness my flight because he was out of town when I could finally send Nocturnal Missions.

Huge thanks to Harry Spears for all his photos and for the new J350 that actually burned normally ( I have a 25-year old J350 for another day ).

Thanks to Jim Jarvis who predicted where my rocket would land to within 50 feet the day BEFORE I launched it and which scared me into flying the Walston no matter what.

And finally, thanks to all the members of AARG who work so hard to put together our monthly launches.

-- kjh

These are the flight parameters for Nocturnal Missions:

# Rocket Name       = Nocturnal Missions - 73 mm Glass Vulcanite
# Diameter          = 2.95 in
# Length            = 70.9 in
# Dry Mass          = 2819 g
# Launch Mass       = 3539 g

# Motor Mass(i)     = 720 g ( including 38-to-54 mm adapter )
# Motor Mass(f)     = 354 g ( including 38-to-54 mm adapter )
# Propellant Mass   = 366 g

# Drogue Chute      = 18 in flat ( 1.5 g BP )
# Main Chute        = 60 in flat ( 1.2 g BP )
# Dog Barf          = 58 g

# Launch Site       = AARG Hutto, TX site
# Site Latitude     = 30.617158375589348 deg
# Site Longitude    = -97.49690197952224 deg
# Site Altitude     = 640 ft
# Site Temperature  = 76.0 F
# Site Pressure     = 997 mb ( pressure altitude = 440 ft )
# Wind Speed        = 10 mph
# Speed of Sound    = 1135 ft/sec
 
# Drogue Eject at   = 3907 ft at 16.3 sec
# Main Eject at     = 560 ft at 73.5 sec

# Landing Lattitude = 30.61909296238743 deg
# Landing Longitude = -97.49517000035904 deg
# Landing Distance  = 2000 ft ( approx )

 

[tsmith1315]

Well done, Konrad!

Great analysis, and Huge bonus points for using a vintage Hawk Mountain rocket!

 

[kjhambrick]

Well done, Konrad!

Great analysis, and Huge bonus points for using a vintage Hawk Mountain rocket!

Thanks Tim.

I should have thanked you in my original post -- I am certain that your three crossed fingers had a lot to do with the successful flight (*)

-- kjh

(*) not to mention that I went out in the field by myself to say aloud, again and again the "Astronaut's Prayer"

kjh out in left-field:



Photo by Harry Spears

EDIT: Harry's photo reminded me that I forgot to thank Andrew ( ? Knippa ? ) for watching me build the J350 motor per the Tripoli level 2 requirements.

Thanks Andrew !

 

[bad_idea]

Was glad I got to see that flight, Konrad. You made it look easy. (And Jim made your recovery look spooky. The man is a seer!)

 

[Fattbank64]

Congratulations!

 

[kjhambrick]

Thanks @Fattbank64 --

Where are you from in TX and where do you mostly fly ?

I REALLY like your sig-line !

When did RAH say that ?

Thanks again !

-- kjh