TORC Launch, January 7, 2012 - South Charleston, Ohio

[Fishhead]

I don't have the energy to type this whole thing out again, so I'm cutting and pasting from YORF.

As hoped, Saturday dawned cold and clear, leaving me no choice but to head north to fly with the TORC guys in their South Charleston, Ohio cornfield. Well worth the drive. They not only have a great field, but a friendly, well organized launch setup. My initial reaction to the rather raw winds was "HOLY SCHLITZ, IT'S COLD!", but other than forgetting gloves, (and dog barf,) I was well prepared for everything the day threw at me.
I had hoped I'd left home early enough to help with setup, but arrived just as everything was pretty much finished. (Me and the GPS had a "disagreement" about the route to the field. I was pi$$ed, but the trip home by the alternate route made me reconsider. That **** GPS was right again. I HATE when that happens.
I took a bunch of first flight birds with me, three of my five FSI Vikings, the Sprint upscale, the Nova upscale, the Estes Vagabond and Stinger, as well as my repaired Alien Space Probe. The Viking 6 didn't fly because I'd forgotten the screw eye and didn't want to chance having it pull out at ejection.
Winds were very consistently harsh the whole day, but the field seemed to be big enough to hold our rockets. First on the pad for me was the FSI Viking 2 upscale. It's a BT-60 build and flew on an E9-6. There was considerable windcocking back over the flightline, a perfect ejection, then a LONG drift on the 12" nylon chute.

I watched it land, drew a bead on some landmarks, and trusted the orange paint and chute to make it visible on the ground.
Never found it despite a half hour searching.

 

[Fishhead]

(Heavy sigh)
I returned to my car, reeling from disbelief and thoroughly bummed about the loss of a first flight bird. I was sure I'd covered every inch of the possible landing area. I chose the FSI Sprint upscale as my second flight. E9-4 powered but with an 18" chute that was more reef hole than anything, the Sprint followed a similar flightpath to the Viking 2. It windcocked back over the flightline, then started riding the breeze, though with far less authority than the Viking. I nailed down the location and walked right to it. A perfect flight.

Now I was rolling.

 

[Fishhead]

I think it was at this point that I discovered the missing screw eye in the Viking 6, so I loaded the Viking 5 with an E9-4 to see if it could erase the ugly stain of the NARAM CATO. It did so with a perfect flight, and recovered close enough to allow me to make up some lost time.

FEAR THE BIRD!!!!!

Former QUARK deity Jay Berry had an interesting Venus Probe flight around this time. Not sure of the motor choice, but I remember him advising someone to go with 24mm power if they built one. I think the pics say it all.

I couldn't bring myself to photograph the post-impact scene, but it couldn't have been pretty.

 

[Fishhead]

Last flight of the day for me was the FSI Nova upscale on an E9-4. I learned an important lesson with this flight. NEVER fly an essentially cornhusk-colored rocket on a field of cornhusks. I filed this lesson right behind the one about flying white rockets on a snowy field.

I thought I did it all right with this one. Nailed the landing area. Picked out the landmarks. Kept checking my bearings as I walked. As I walked, I passed another TORCer who was carrying two rockets. One was the color of cornhusks, which would have saved me a lot of aggro if it had registered with me at the time. As I was heading out to the spot, I happened upon an old friend.

Then I spent the next 45 minutes stomping the spot searching for the Nova. I couldn't believe my stupidity, and spent the bulk of the time raging at the rocket gawdz. I finally gave up. On the way back I noticed a flash and found a streamer bird that one of the kids had lost earlier in the morning. That made me less bummed and I walked in hoping that my good karma would transfer back to me and that someone else would find the Nova. As I approached the LCO table, there it sat, right where the guy who'd been waving at me earlier had left it. In the end, it turned out for the best. Had I not gone looking for the already found rocket, there's a good chance that both my Viking 2 and the streamer bird would never have been found. As it is, all live to fly another day.
By the time I got back, I had about 45 minutes left in my flying day, so I decided to put the Vagabond up on an E9-6.

We tried three times to launch this one before I finally got the message and quit for the day. All in all, a short day with more walking than I'd hoped to do, but everything performed better than well. Next time I'll have a full day to fly and do some range duty, but I'll take a day like this one any time.

 

[jimzcatz]

Cmon guys..Advertise advertise advertise!!! Or did I miss it? It sux hearing about an upcomming launch the day after it was held!!

 

[Fishhead]

Cmon guys..Advertise advertise advertise!!! Or did I miss it? It sux hearing about an upcomming launch the day after it was held!!

Next one's in two weeks on 1/21.:wink:

 

[Zephhyr]

The guys and gals from TORC are top notch, very friendly and very willing to help with anything they can.

You had some good looking birds there yesterday, they flew nice also. To bad you had so much trouble with the recoveries. With the gusting winds just about every recovery was a pretty good hike.

I did my L2 launch around noon and it was a beautiful flight, with recovery only 1/3 of a mile away. I flew Like Smoke on a J500 to 4980ft with everything working perfectly.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=25892

 

[gdjsky01]

We tried three times to launch this one before I finally got the message and quit for the day. All in all, a short day with more walking than I'd hoped to do, but everything performed better than well. Next time I'll have a full day to fly and do some range duty, but I'll take a day like this one any time.

Super duper launch report! Glad all is well that ended well. Never heard of someone who so liked Estes E's. Great photos.

Next time post here first... YORF aint worth it! :y::y: ok!! ok!! just kidding... You have to inform those three people 1st if you must!! :blush::eyeroll::wink:
:duck::duck::duck::duck::duck::duck:

Seriously tho... thanks for the write up... Very much appreciated!

 

[Fishhead]

You had some good looking birds there yesterday, they flew nice also. To bad you had so much trouble with the recoveries. With the gusting winds just about every recovery was a pretty good hike.

I did my L2 launch around noon and it was a beautiful flight, with recovery only 1/3 of a mile away. I flew Like Smoke on a J500 to 4980ft with everything working perfectly.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=25892

My recovery problems were of my own doing. I took my eyes off of the first bird so that I could get a launch shot of another one. I thought I had the landing area pegged, but I can't say for sure. The other one was recovered by someone else while recovering their own, and he even waved and held it up for me to see. I swear I have NO IDEA what was going through my mind at that moment in time.
The L2 flight happened while I was out hunting, or I'd have gotten a shot for you. I still have a couple of Jay's Bomarc to post, but I spent a LOT of time hiking on Saturday. I'll do better the next time.

 

[Fishhead]

Super duper launch report! Glad all is well that ended well. Never heard of someone who so liked Estes E's. Great photos.

I consider myself a fully committed mid-power guy, so the E's are perfect for my economy builds. I've got a bunch of C11s and D12s in my launch box, so I'll be thinking up some upscale builds that will let me clear some of those up, but I do like the E9s quite a bit. Like someone else said, anything that flys well on the E9s will really be great for the E12s when they hit. Aside from that I have a couple of F & G birds that I plan to take to a coming TORC event, and parts for a level 1 bird, but that'll be a bit in the future, like maybe the fall/winter 2012 season.

 

[RE-ROCKET]

Nice review and pictures.. looks like a great time was had by all.

 

[Fishhead]

Nice review and pictures.. looks like a great time was had by all.

So, when are you going with me?

 

[Fishhead]

I didn't get many pics other than my own, but I did get a few. Jay Berry's Madcow Bomarc was a highlight, mostly because it flew as advertised and because of my own checkered personal history with Bomarcs.

As Jay said at the end of the flight, "Now I can put the stickers on it!":eyeroll:

 

[Fishhead]

Another nice bird was this upscale Alpha, which I believe flew with a keychain camera attached. (Brave soul. I chickened out because it was too windy.) Hopefully we'll see the videos before long.

Notice the rather pronounced windcocking in pic #3. Yeah, it was BREEZY!

 

[Zephhyr]

I had a key-chain camera on my L2 flight that day, pretty cool. It's amazing the video quality and durability of those cheap cameras.

Check it out.
https://youtu.be/u-DLvwxSJZk

 

[Fishhead]

I had a key-chain camera on my L2 flight that day, pretty cool. It's amazing the video quality and durability of those cheap cameras.

Check it out.
https://youtu.be/u-DLvwxSJZk

That's impressive. I've never seen a keychain camera go that high before. I think I could see myself stalking after one of my rockets in the corn.