Wow! What a weekend. We smashed all records for Tripoli Louisiana this weekend! We launched 39 flights on Saturday and 38 on Sunday for a total of 77 flights. The average impulse on Sunday was higher due to 4 Ks, 1 L and 1 M. This was the most successful launch we have ever had. The Porta-Potty seems to have made all the difference. So we have decided to have one at all TRA-LA launches from here on out. We also decided to do another two day event in the fall. While Saturday got off to a slow start. We made up for it Sunday. There were great successes and spectacular failures. Everything you would want to see at a launch.
Here's a flight report on what I contributed to this record setting total.
Saturday started off cold and cloudy. I didn't mind the cold but the ceiling made for low flight profiles for most of the day.
The first rocket I flew was my "Coral Snake". This is a modified Performance Rocketry Lil' Dog. I flew it on a G339 "Warp Nine" motor. It punched hard off the pad. The motor only burns for .3 seconds and burned out at 38 ft. off the pad. Then the rocket coasted the rest of the way to 1,100 ft. This was a very cool flight. Recovery was successfully provided by a 100" streamer and my MAWD.
My second flight was not as successful. I put my Alpha 4x up on an I200. The up part was perfect but I forgot to put the drogue chute in the rocket. Subsequently the d-bag never came out of the tube. So the rocket came in flat. It smacked the ground hard. From the sound of it I thought the rocket would be in pieces. To my amazement there was very little damage. A couple of stress cracks on the filets and some on the body tube. It will fly again after some cosmetic repairs.
I quit flying for the rest of the day. I didn't have any thing that would stay under the clouds. I knew Sunday was going to be clear. So I called it a day.
Sunday brought clear skies warmer temperatures and light and variable winds. It was time to fly.
My first flight of the day was my 4" rocket "Research One" on a J350. Once again I got the up part right. The apogee charge blew right on time and the rocket was coming down for a normal dual deployment recovery. But the main charge never blew. It hit the ground hard but flat. Once again I got lucky. Only cosmetic damage. By this time I was beginning to doubt myself. I really needed some successes.
Next I decided to keep it simple. I flew my LOC Aura on a G79W. Nice flight. It went way up there. The 40 feet of surveyors tape streamer made it easy to find.
Then it was time for the Apogee Aspire drag race. I racked up my Aspire with Dave Landry's and the students from ULL who had one also. The button was pushed and the race was on. I don't know who left the pad first. It was pretty spectacular. The students rocket shredded and turned quickly into rocket confetti. Dave's rocket lawn darted in the field. My flight was successful. I saw the chalk bomb at apogee and the streamers deployed. We tracked it down till it landed in the waste high wheat field. I looked for a short while but was unable to find it. I had to quit looking since there were launch duties to attend to. We were getting ready to fly the big stuff. It didn't matter I'll build another one and the whole drag race was worth the loss. We will have to do this again next launch it was way cool!
There was no wind and the sky was clear blue. It was time to air out my 54mm minimum diameter rocket "Bones" on a K550. This flight profile had it hitting 10,000' at just over the speed of sound. I was a little nervous going into the flight considering my earlier failures. But the law of averages was on my side. Surely this was going to be a good flight. I headed out to the new pad. Paul and I set the rail perfectly straight up vertical. This flight was going to rock! The button was pushed and the K550 did it's job and punched another hole in the Louisiana sky. The rocket flew straight as if the rail extended 10,000ft up. We lost sight of it for a few minutes. I had a signal from the Beeline transmitter so I knew all was well. Then off in the distance about a mile away I saw the main deploy. It was a welcome sight and a relief to have a successful flight after the earlier mishaps. After it landed I drove over to the area and started into the field of waste high wheat again. It was an easy find with the tracking receiver and I had my rocket back in a few minutes. The PerfectFlite MAWD was beeping out 9,593ft. This turned out to be the altitude record for the launch. It's also my personal best at the High Cotton field.
That was it for me and the end of an awesome weekend at "High Cotton". The next launch for me will be "Southern Thunder" in Manchester Tennessee. I hope to see you all there!
