Sunday 1-28-02 Launch at High Point, NC

[KenParker]

This is a report on a launch that took place in High Point, NC, at an under-construction soccer field site on Sunday, January 27, 2002, from 11:00 AM until about 3:00 PM.

One of the newer guys on the forum, Jase, aka Jason Myers, had contacted me to ask me if there was a group hereabouts that did local launches. Why.... sure there is, Jase - me, Mark Brown, Phil the Gerringer, *sometimes* Milo, and a few various and sundry other folks. We planned a launch for this past Sunday. Unfortunately, only Mark Brown, his daughter Katie, my son Kent and I could make it. Jase filled in the roster with a few of his pals, Randy Cousins and Courtney Wheat. We set up a time to meet at a gas station in High Point at 11 AM Sunday morning. From there we headed out to a soccer field that is under construction that Jase had utilized before. It was a pretty good field. GREAT for rocket gliders. The only problem we had was about a 10 mile an hour wind, and the fact that we only had access to the wrong side of the field for the direction that the wind was blowing.

NOTE: The order that I talk about the flights is NOT the order in which the flights actually occurred. I meant to keep a simple flight log, but limited time and the excitement of meeting and working with some new rocket friends caused me to forget about that plan.

Randy was flying A through D birds, I know one of them was an Estes Bullpuppy but I don't remember what the others were. And one of his friends, Courtney I think, also had a bird or two that he flew. Mark was flying a couple of new ships, a Wraith and a Viper, and he even tried his ole Big Daddy "Cow Patty Daddy." Katie flew her Razor. Kent flew the SR-71 and the Combat Jet, and we also played around with a modified Estes Invader (modified to take 24mm motors.... hehehe) and a modified Big Bertha that has two styrofoam parasite gliders - the same type of gliders that come on the Estes Manta.

Randy and his friends sacrificed several parachute-nose-cones to the rocket Gods due to shock cord separation. Mark, Kent and I clued them into better ways to attach shock cords so hopefully they will avoid that problem in the future.

Mark and Katie flew Katie's new Wraith on an E28-4T 24mm RMS. Great flight, perfect recovery. They also flew the Viper on 3 D12-3s. Only 2 of the engines lit, so it took off in a slow arc and didn't go very high, but fortunately it was high enough for a safe recovery when the ejection charge fired. A very interesting bird. I think March should fly it on 3 F12-5Js. They are an easy to light engine, and I think it would get good height with 3 Fs. It should be a majestic flight as well since the F12s have nearly a 3 second burn time.

Mark also put up his modified Big Daddy on an E28-4T. Unfortunately, it followed its history true to course and did its usual infamous lawn dart routine. Mark decided it was time to retire the Big Daddy, and all of us there had to agree.

Kent flew the SR-71 on an E18 24mm RMS/RC reload (after 4 attempts I finally got the motor to light). This was its first flight since it suffered some minor damage when last we flew it in a school yard. On this flight, the SR-71 went into an immediate flat spin at apogee, and Kent had to use full down to get it to recover. He managed to get the bird safely on the ground. After a brief discussion of what the problem was, I added a small nose weight to it, held on with some electrical tape, loaded up another E18 24mm RMS RC and we sent it up again. This time, it transitioned smoothly into a glide at apogee and Kent greased the landing.

Then Kent flew the Combat Jet on an F40 29mm RMS. I love hearing newbies when they first visually and audibly witness some of the smokier and louder reloads. Jase, Randy, and Courtney all let out "Oh, S**t !!" when the F40 lit off. The bird got good altitude, Kent had fun flying it around, and greased the landing again.

After that, Kent flew the modified Invader 3 times on D11-Ps. I flew the Big Bertha with the parasite gliders 3 times on B6-4s.

I've probably forgotten a ton of details. If Mark, Katie, or Jase wants to jump in here with some replies and fine tune the info that would be great. Also, I am including some pictures with this post. My apologies that there aren't more pictures, but as I said we were kind of caught up in the excitement of the day and we kept forgetting to designate a photographer for each flight. ("Did somebody get a picture of that? No? Oh... crap.") Maybe next time we'll get lucky and Shutterbug will join us and perform the "official launch photographer" duties. Milo, I'll tell you now that I missed having you as LCO. We could have used your cool demeanor to keep us in line.

Here are the pics:

<a href=kpreviews/Photo001.JPG target=_blank>Jason's Bullpuppy</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo002.JPG target=_blank>Katie's Razor</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo003.JPG target=_blank>Jason's (?) rocket</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo004.JPG target=_blank>Mark's Viper on pad</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo005.JPG target=_blank>Mark's Viper at liftoff</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo008.JPG target=_blank>Jason's (?) rocket</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo009.JPG target=_blank>Katie's Wraith</a>

<a href=kpreviews/Photo010.JPG target=_blank>Jason's Bullpuppy</a>

Looking forward to the next local launch.

 

[Jase]

It was a fun time had by all. A couple of corrections though.

Courtney's lone rocket (the gray one in the first Jason ? pic). This was the 4th time he's launched that one and the last. It fell victim to a group of RETs nearby.

If somebody in Virginia or Maryland finds a black nosecone with a plastic parachute attached to it, it's mine.

As soon as Randy lands a job (he's a software engineer if anyone knows somebody hiring) he's discovered his new hobby. At our next launch, he'll have his video camera available.

Anyway, I'm glad to be a part of this and can't wait for my new The Launch Pad Sparrow AIM 7F rocket to show up today!!

Ken and Mark, I'll be calling to get some construction advice for shock cord treatment this time.

Jason