As Spring ROCstock 2023 approached, I had the bright idea of setting up a rocket specifically for flying at night.
My first night flight at Fall ROCstock 2021 ended in failure: I spilled a bunch of CA glue all over my Estes Phantom, had to take the parachute out, and cracked the tube beyond easy repair. I scrapped most of the kit but saved the nose, thinking it would be suitable for future night flight attempts.
While I got a successful night flight and recovery with a blinking light shoved into the unpainted nose of an Estes Hi-Flier, that flight demonstrated to me the challenges of flying the field at night. It’s very difficult to judge visibility at a distance while just prepping and carrying a rocket around the range.
My latest night flight, on an Estes Athena equipped with the ill-fated Phantom’s nose, is the one that convinced me to get serious about my night rockets, plan them ahead of time and not stumble around in the dark trying to install a blinky (yes, I call them that, please excuse this annoyance) in a day rocket.
Losing this Athena taught me a few things and forced me to rethink my approach.
First, I realized that a night rocket is a payloader pretty much by definition. Regardless of how I have it set up, the chemical reaction that produces the illumination (glow stick or battery) must stay in place during flight but be easy to replace when depleted. If using an electric light, it must not become deactivated by flight forces acting on the switch.
The rocket should also be designed and prepped to tolerate moderate winds, both in the air and on the ground, staying over the downrange recovery area or the spectator area instead of being blown off the range. It should also resist winds dragging it across the ground should I have to abandon the search until daylight, as I did with the Athena. To me, this pretty much dictates streamer recovery.
With at least one clear option readily available, I made my purchase: an Estes Ghost Chaser, a BT-50 rocket with a transparent BT-20 payload section and an 18mm mount.
I threw this together in a few minutes at ROCstock yesterday and flew it immediately. With a Q-Jet D16-6FJ installed, it went so high that I lost sight of it until parachute deployment. On the second flight, where the chute failed to eject from the tube, the clear plastic glinted in the sun and made recovery easy. It descends sideways with no chute, which is also nice.
I probably won’t fly it on Ds for night ops unless I get really good at recovering it on C power.
Currently it is equipped with a parachute in the stock configuration, but I do plan to install a streamer before the next night flight attempt at Holtville or Lucerne Valley.
I will need to reinforce the ends of the payload section. The clear tubes have a tendency to crack in hard landings, as happened on Flight #2. A bit of clear cellophane tape made it good for flight again. I originally superglued the payload tube on, but the landing knocked it loose and I was able to get it off without further damage. I reinstalled it with tape shims on the end of the transition piece to make it secure.
As demonstrated at ROCstock,The Ghost Chaser is also a capable day flier, and probably a good fit for Fiesta Island on A or B motors.
One thing that I’m also excited about is that the transition piece is equipped with a shock cord mount on both ends. Installed backward into a BT-20 rocket and with a clear BT-50 payload tube, the payload section may end up being a versatile swappable module to grant night flight capabilities to smaller rockets as well. The tricky bit will be sourcing a plastic BT-50. The only source I can think of is the Estes Phantom, expensive at $22. But if I can get one individually or source one from somewhere cheaper, I think I’m in business.
My first night flight at Fall ROCstock 2021 ended in failure: I spilled a bunch of CA glue all over my Estes Phantom, had to take the parachute out, and cracked the tube beyond easy repair. I scrapped most of the kit but saved the nose, thinking it would be suitable for future night flight attempts.
While I got a successful night flight and recovery with a blinking light shoved into the unpainted nose of an Estes Hi-Flier, that flight demonstrated to me the challenges of flying the field at night. It’s very difficult to judge visibility at a distance while just prepping and carrying a rocket around the range.
My latest night flight, on an Estes Athena equipped with the ill-fated Phantom’s nose, is the one that convinced me to get serious about my night rockets, plan them ahead of time and not stumble around in the dark trying to install a blinky (yes, I call them that, please excuse this annoyance) in a day rocket.
Losing this Athena taught me a few things and forced me to rethink my approach.
First, I realized that a night rocket is a payloader pretty much by definition. Regardless of how I have it set up, the chemical reaction that produces the illumination (glow stick or battery) must stay in place during flight but be easy to replace when depleted. If using an electric light, it must not become deactivated by flight forces acting on the switch.
The rocket should also be designed and prepped to tolerate moderate winds, both in the air and on the ground, staying over the downrange recovery area or the spectator area instead of being blown off the range. It should also resist winds dragging it across the ground should I have to abandon the search until daylight, as I did with the Athena. To me, this pretty much dictates streamer recovery.
With at least one clear option readily available, I made my purchase: an Estes Ghost Chaser, a BT-50 rocket with a transparent BT-20 payload section and an 18mm mount.
I threw this together in a few minutes at ROCstock yesterday and flew it immediately. With a Q-Jet D16-6FJ installed, it went so high that I lost sight of it until parachute deployment. On the second flight, where the chute failed to eject from the tube, the clear plastic glinted in the sun and made recovery easy. It descends sideways with no chute, which is also nice.
I probably won’t fly it on Ds for night ops unless I get really good at recovering it on C power.
Currently it is equipped with a parachute in the stock configuration, but I do plan to install a streamer before the next night flight attempt at Holtville or Lucerne Valley.
I will need to reinforce the ends of the payload section. The clear tubes have a tendency to crack in hard landings, as happened on Flight #2. A bit of clear cellophane tape made it good for flight again. I originally superglued the payload tube on, but the landing knocked it loose and I was able to get it off without further damage. I reinstalled it with tape shims on the end of the transition piece to make it secure.
As demonstrated at ROCstock,The Ghost Chaser is also a capable day flier, and probably a good fit for Fiesta Island on A or B motors.
One thing that I’m also excited about is that the transition piece is equipped with a shock cord mount on both ends. Installed backward into a BT-20 rocket and with a clear BT-50 payload tube, the payload section may end up being a versatile swappable module to grant night flight capabilities to smaller rockets as well. The tricky bit will be sourcing a plastic BT-50. The only source I can think of is the Estes Phantom, expensive at $22. But if I can get one individually or source one from somewhere cheaper, I think I’m in business.
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