Spaceport Rocketry Assoc. (Central Florida) 8/21 launch

[lalligood]

ATTN: Rocketeers in Central Florida

Spaceport Rockery Association (SRA) in Palm Bay, FL is holding their monthly launch this Saturday, August 21st starting at 11:00a. We will continue as long as people want to launch & the weather cooperates. The launch site is about a 20-30 minute drive SW of Melbourne (in Brevard County). You can find out more information on the SRA website.

We will have 1 vendor onsite, Rocketry Zone. Rocketry Zone sells various kits, components, & even a nice selection of OOP motors!

NOTE: You will not find directions to the launch site on the website. (Per our agreement with the landowner we are unable to publicly post the location.) Please PM or email me for driving directions.

Hope to see you there!

 

[lalligood]

Yesterday was an awesome day in Central Florida for launching rockets! The winds were pleasantly cooperative allowing EVERYTHING we launch to land close, but had the spectators struggling to keep cool by the end of the day. Even without a vendor onsite, all the big boys brought their big toys & we really let some HPR stuff rip off the pads.

Highlights included:

* Terry Markovich's 3-stage Black Brandt XI. The second stage failed to ignite & came in ballistic, although the third stage kicked in at the right time & still went 4300'!

* The Fackler brothers built matching RDS Thunderbolts & even had matching paint schemes but with different colors. Each one was loaded up with an I300T & we had ourselves a drag race! The red one (Red Rocket) left the pad just a hair faster--we had to go to pictures to determine the first off the pad winner! They had amazingly similar flight paths, chutes opened together in perfect synchronicity, & they both recovered not only within 25 feet of each other but within 50 feet of the launch pads!!! (The Plum Crazy purple rocket touched down about a half second before the other one, too.) Everyone talked about that flight the rest of the day...

* Thad Loar's BSD Thor on a J570. OMG. He flew it with motor ejection & single chute recovery so we have no idea how high it went, but wow... It just kept going & going. The typical Thor whistle, which practically turned into a howl, from the split fins seemed to last forever too.

I'm going to do my darndest to get pics from our semi-official club photographer & post some here in the next couple of days...

 

[eugenefl]

Lance, what are the attendance levels at the SRA launches? I think I'd be interested in making a trip sometime. According to MapQuest the drive to Palm Bay is 2hrs 39 @ 159 miles.

We had the *exact* same weather over here in Tampa yesterday. There was ZERO wind, but it was extremely hot. The field was damp from a previous wind or the evening dew. It just made for a muggy day with tons of gnats and other little flying things flying in your face constantly.

 

[Leo]

Originally posted by eugenefl
Lance, what are the attendance levels at the SRA launches? I think I'd be interested in making a trip sometime. According to MapQuest the drive to Palm Bay is 2hrs 39 @ 159 miles.

We had the *exact* same weather over here in Tampa yesterday. There was ZERO wind, but it was extremely hot. The field was damp from a previous wind or the evening dew. It just made for a muggy day with tons of gnats and other little flying things flying in your face constantly.

How's the weather in October?

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by Leo
How's the weather in October?

Leo, please do let me know in advance when it is you are coming again. If you do decide to fly out at the SRA club I'd be more than happy to drive over to fly rockets with you guys. Also, not sure if you've seen the recent HERC Rocketry threads under the "Events" forum you'll see that we have a new field that we fly on. Either way, let me know when you come back to Florida.

 

[Leo]

Originally posted by eugenefl
Leo, please do let me know in advance when it is you are coming again. If you do decide to fly out at the SRA club I'd be more than happy to drive over to fly rockets with you guys. Also, not sure if you've seen the recent HERC Rocketry threads under the "Events" forum you'll see that we have a new field that we fly on. Either way, let me know when you come back to Florida.

Unofficial date is 8th October till 3rd November (I'm working it out at the moment).

That should give us several opportunities to fly some, I hope

Yes, I've read. Nice to know a field is secure
It's probably more south is it?

 

[lalligood]

There were only about 20-25 of us yesterday with only 3 minors (under 18 yrs old), & all attendees were club regulars. That allowed us to be more informal than we usually are. We're a smallish but closely knit bunch that will gladly welcome in any new faces I must admit it was a little odd not having the kids out there yesterday...I love hearing their reactions

To perhaps persuade anyone who's considering attending next month's launch on September 18th, we will have Dennis Welch of New Horizons Hobbies onsite to satisfy anyone's needs for motors I'm expecting quite a few of our regular folks to bring a LOT of their larger rockets. In fact, we're hoping to have a drag race with 3 BSD Thors if we can get our hands on at least one more rail... Out club prefect, Gary Dahlke lost his LOC Magnum at Tripoli West Palm in the sugar cane fields earlier this month--a real heartbreaker, let me tell you(!) because he's been launching it on progressively larger & larger Pro54 motors--I saw it a couple of months ago on a 5-grain K570 Hopefully he can locate it in the coming weeks & revive it to launchable condition.

The weather in October can't be any worse from a spectator's position (but GREAT for anyone/anything launching!) Let's hope it's at least 10 degrees cooler...I would hope/expect it to be in the low to mid 80s Farenheit for the October 16th flight. Please come & introduce yourself!

eugenefl, I'll email you directions. Anyone else interested, please email or PM me & I'll send them along as well.

 

[lalligood]

PICTURES!

My good friend Karl, who has become our club's unofficial official photographer captured some amazing pictures. Take a look for yourself.

First up is a Polecat Aerospace Nike Smoke lifting off on a J570...

 

[lalligood]

Here's the NS higher in the air...

 

[lalligood]

And finally (at least for now until I get my hands on more pics), a BSD Thor just after ignition on a J570.

Thors rule

 

[Leo]

WOW, those Nike-Smoke pics are great!

Sure would like to see it in real life