Before starting, let me make clear that I'm not in any way criticizing Aerotech here -- they only offer their Warp 9 propellant reloads in a plugged configuration precisely because what I'm relating below can happen.
Anyway, I flew my 2.2" fiberglass Hichory Dichory Mach on an H999 Saturday, and the smoke grain got snuffed when the motor burned out! See the attached photo of the grain. There's just a little charring on the end where it started to burn, and that's it. The flight was great; the rocket weighs about four pounds, so it pretty much vanished when I launched it. Without a burning smoke grain, nobody saw it again until it was recovered. Nobody saw the drogue deploy (though one person said he heard it), and apparently I didn't have enough of an ejection charge to eject the main chute (the charge did fire, but the nose cone didn't separate). Altimeter was a Stratologger CF, which recorded an altitude of 2609'. Came down undamaged on the 18" drogue -- let's hear it for fiberglass!
The only reason I got it back was the Big Red Bee GPS unit. Took me right to it.
Anyway, I flew my 2.2" fiberglass Hichory Dichory Mach on an H999 Saturday, and the smoke grain got snuffed when the motor burned out! See the attached photo of the grain. There's just a little charring on the end where it started to burn, and that's it. The flight was great; the rocket weighs about four pounds, so it pretty much vanished when I launched it. Without a burning smoke grain, nobody saw it again until it was recovered. Nobody saw the drogue deploy (though one person said he heard it), and apparently I didn't have enough of an ejection charge to eject the main chute (the charge did fire, but the nose cone didn't separate). Altimeter was a Stratologger CF, which recorded an altitude of 2609'. Came down undamaged on the 18" drogue -- let's hear it for fiberglass!
The only reason I got it back was the Big Red Bee GPS unit. Took me right to it.