NERRF Has Started!

[Hospital_Rocket]

This thread is for those of you who must live this one vicariously through those of us thers..

Today the TRF team wes Gregzo, JDcluster, Phil125, and myself.

We set up two ranges one using the equipment from NEPRA the other from METRA.

On the NEPRA side we have the standard low power rack, 13 mid power pads, and 5 high power pads

On the METRA side, we have the low power stuff, 5 pads at 100' 5, at 200' , and 5 at 300'. There is also an away cell for the M's (which looks like it's in another time zone).

Pictures will go up as I download them. No flying today, but the starting gun is set for 9:15 on Friday morning.

 

[rstaff3]

Sweet! Now I'm POed that I didn't go

 

[rocketgroupmike]

I'll be there tomorrow afternoon! I hope I don't miss too much! Then, hopefully, L2 on Saturday...

 

[sandman]

Hospital_Rocket,

Not to be critical...but just to warn you...

Jim Flis seems to have one "pet peeve"

It's not the "Estes rack"...it's the "low power rack".

He gets sensitive about it..hehe

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

I have no earthly idea what you are talking about....

Ah the power of the edit.

 

[Rocket Al]

The "Estes rack"? Are you saying that the fine young lady who does the Estes Oracle magazine ad is going to be there? I wouldn't actually call that a "low power rack"......





Al

 

[Reed Goodwin]

Originally posted by Rocket Al
The "Estes rack"? Are you saying that the fine young lady who does the Estes Oracle magazine ad is going to be there? I wouldn't actually call that a "low power rack"......





Al

Bad and good, all at the same time. That made me chuckle. For a while I was confused about the conversation anyways because I saw no mention of the "Estes rack" but then realized what happened when Hospital said he had edited the post.
Reed

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Originally posted by Rocket Al
The "Estes rack"? Are you saying that the fine young lady who does the Estes Oracle magazine ad is going to be there? I wouldn't actually call that a "low power rack"......





Al

If we said yes, how fast could you pack?

 

[Phil125]

Originally posted by Hospital_Rocket
Today the TRF team wes Gregzo, JDcluster, and myself.

I'm setup 3 feet from ya tent and I didn't make the trf team

cya bright and early

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Geez, I can't please anyone.....

all fixed.

I am bad with names. and my MAWG memory is shot.

At least my center point tent retention system seems to work.

sorry Phil

 

[Phil125]

Couple T-storms rolled through about 5:30 we will see if the tent is still there lol

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by sandman
Hospital_Rocket,

Not to be critical...but just to warn you...

Jim Flis seems to have one "pet peeve"

It's not the "Estes rack"...it's the "low power rack".

He gets sensitive about it..hehe

Hey, when Estes Industries shows up with a BOOTH they can call in the "Estes Rack"...

 

[jflis]

Truck is all packed and we're ready to go. Should be heading out about 5am with the hopes of getting to the field between 9 and 10...

here's hoping... !

See you folks there.
jim


NOTE I will not have internet access (eg: email) while at this launch.

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Shoulda stayed at the Marriott - The broadband is free!

 

[dtomko]

Hope you all got off the field before those storms rolled through yesterday.
The weather today is gorgeous and looks to be just about perfect through the weekend. Too bad I couldn't get out of work today
See you tomorrow and Sunday.
Drew Tomko

 

[Planet Andy]

yup,

It is a perfect morning here in the metro NY area. Man if i could only play hookie from work with a clear conscience I'd be out there today. See you all Saturday.

Andy

 

[GlennW]

Originally posted by dtomko
Too bad I couldn't get out of work today
See you tomorrow and Sunday.
Drew Tomko

Too bad my son has school today and my wife doesn't want me gone the whole weekend or I'd be there all 3 days too! I'm happy to be going at all, see ya Saturday!

Glenn~no banner but look for my black Chevy Equinox

 

[Lugnut]

Hope to make it out there on Saturday. Can't wait! Weather is supposed to be good I think

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

I have never seen this many flights!

The weather is stunning, even with a brief shower late in the afternoon.

Big TRF news for the day is Phil123 making L2 on his Performance Rocketry Little John Congrats Phil!

I forgot my media reader so I can't upload the pictures I took today.

Saw several flights by Doug Gardei.

Failure of the day went to yours truly as I had a railguide bind, and watched a Loki H144 perform a static fire test.

I was a lousy note taker, so that was all there is.

Tomorrow will be my L2 attempt. I've kept it secret to avoid jinxing myself.

That's it for now.

Al

 

[thomasrau]

Day 1 of NERRF was great. A large turnout for a friday and lots of flights. Can't wait for tomorrow.

And Al thanks for the "static" firing and deployment simulation

Tomorrow I'll see what trouble I can get into after range duty.

 

[jcsalem]

I'm always impatient before a big launch when I have new rocket. And when the speedometer read "0 MPH" in the middle of I-84 about 30 minutes from NERRF I was VERY impatient. We got past the long single lane backup and finally rolled in around 2:40.

The field is the best I've been to in the northeast. Huge and it's great walking on the well-drained sod (which alternates with fields of dry, black, moon-like soil.)

We arrived just before a beautiful L Skidmark flight. Loud, high and sparky! The day ended with a great L flight to 10,000 feet on a home made bright yellow motor.

My first dual deployment rocket (the QuickBase Smoothy), did great on its maiden flight to 2,350 ft. via an H148R. I'm going to fly it on an I218R tomorrow and may go up to the 4 grain motor if all goes well.

I had a band of mylar wrapped around the rocket which made the rocket quite visible on the way down. I liked how that worked.

Two more days!

-- Jim

P.S., I, too, forgot the MMC reader so I have no photos.

 

[Chuck Rudy]

Day 2....I'm guessing today there were 500 flights.....one of the most memorable was Ed Miller's monocopter which flew on 2 staged Js and a K......it killed the mono but was a really cool flight.

All the large projects have gone without incident and there were some geometries really pushing the envelope....but low and behold a sparky started a fire which took over an hour to attend to and the launch stopped 40 minutes early......ah well, myself and another couple knuckleheads are considering the great monocopter drag race. I've got one G008 left, and the 16 second flight today was just too much fun not to repeat without a few of my buds.

I was absolutely shocked when I returned from the away cell at noon to see a mass of humanity at the flight line......it's impressive. Well off to dinner and one more day of fun.....Neil McGilvray will be throwing his hat into the ring with what he's calling either an M 2000 or M 2,000,000 depending on how well it behaves.


Chuck

 

[Adam Selene]

Originally posted by Hospital_Rocket

Big TRF news for the day is Phil123 making L2 on his Performance Rocketry Little John Congrats Phil!

Tomorrow will be my L2 attempt. I've kept it secret to avoid jinxing myself.

That's it for now.

Al

HEY! Let's not forget MET (Neil's Dad). He got his L2 on friday also!

Al, i wasn't paying attention today, did you get yours?

what about the TRF pic?

 

[Adam Selene]

My first flight friday: Initiator on an F20. nice flight but broke a fin on landing.

2nd flight friday: Wild D'ufo on 2 C6, only one lit, hung on the rod.

3rd flight friday: Wild D'ufo on 2 C6, both lit and it flew ok but it launched right after the rocket next to it with no anouncment, so no one saw it.

1st flight saturday: Minnie Magg on a Loki J528. CATO. burned through the forward closure, flame out both ends, set the body tube (and the field, i think) on fire.

2nd flight saturday: Art Applewhite 38mm saucer on a G61W. ok flight.

3rd flight saturday: Art Applewhite 38mm saucer on a I154J. Great Flight!

then somebody set the dirt on fire with a skidmark so they shut the field down to put out the fire.

d*mn i'm having fun though!

 

[thomasrau]

Day 2 was a huge success. A really great turnout (I don't have the figures for the number of flyers handy) but we had in excess of 190 vehicles there. With all the pads, lines were kept short and lots of rockets were flown. And yes, as mentioned earlier dirt burns!

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

There are so many people here I don't see how I can get the TRF grop shot. I will ask that we make an announcement for a group shot around 2 on Sunday.

I only got one in today and that was the Endeavor test stand on an H144. I spent most of my time helping out and prepping for L2.

First thing Sunday, the Apache will head up on a J350 for my L2 attempt.

I have seen J's, K's, L's, M's.

I have seen red fire, blue fire, purple fire, orange fire, green fire, and white fire.

I have seen smoky, sparky, an a sugar EX that just went BOOM!

I have seen slow graceful lifts, nice fast launches, ans a Shadow Composites model that, we think was doing almoist Mach 3....

The line of parked cars was almost 3/4 of a mile long.

LDRS eat your heart out.

This is as good as it gets.

Al

 

[Adam Selene]

Originally posted by Hospital_Rocket
There are so many people here I don't see how I can get the TRF grop shot. I will ask that we make an announcement for a group shot around 2 on Sunday.


First thing Sunday, the Apache will head up on a J350 for my L2 attempt.

I planned to use a J350 in my Minnie Magg, but Bobby didn't have one and Ken wasn't there yet so Bobby talked me into trying the J528. STILL want to try a J350 when i rebuild it.

LDRS eat your heart out.

This is as good as it gets.

Al

It really is a great launch! I just can't understand why when there were 20 empty, COLD pads, there was a line of people waiting to rack rockets. The whole pad asignment thing seemed very discombobulated. I hope it becomes annual.

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Even as an organizer, I don't understand the whole pad assignment thing. I think what is going on is the erratic flow of volunteers.

There are two things on my hit list for the post launch discussion.

1. How to get the volunteers more organized and get more people motivated to volunteer and actually do the work.. I do think there was some confusion as from club to club job descripions vary.

Some ideas I have are:

Volunteers get a break on flight fees

Reserved pads for volunteers who complete their assignment

Written job functions for the volunteers.

2. Figure out a much better fire response method than filling ice chests full of water.

It is year one, and we are learning. I do think this is going to be an event that rivals all the other major events.

I do want to ask each and every TRF member to make sure they visit Hangar11 and tell Bobby Bucharski thanks. This was his idea and he rode it home.

 

[rstaff3]

Originally posted by Hospital_Rocket

First thing Sunday, the Apache will head up on a J350 for my L2 attempt.

Al

Good luck Al! Sound's like I missed a good one. I hope people are taking photos. Any plans to host them on the NERRF site?

 

[rstaff3]

Adam, sorry about the CATO - it comes with the territory. Also, J350s ain't perfect either.