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| Model | Flt
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Recovery Type | Motor | Comments |
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24" nylon parasheet |
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First flight after a major repair of the Thug resulting from the lawn-dart recovery in July, I was also testing my theory that the previous mishaps with this rocket in May and July, using the consumer RMS, were due to insufficient ejection powder to pressurize the airframe -- the largest I've ever built or flown. Flight was straight, ejection just past apogee, and deployment was completely nominal -- lending strong credence to my theory. |
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18" nylon parasheet |
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Conditions were so inviting, with others flying high and landing near the pads, that I had to think about burning some of those (possibly soon to be regulated) G motors in my bag. After all, conditions good enough to launch the Spike on a G aren't something I get every launch day. So, I prepped up the Econojet with a thrust ring of 3/8" masking tape, installed it in the mount of the Spike, tightened up the UMRS, and headed for the pads. Flight was dead straight, with the three second boost dwindling to burnout well above 1000 feet before the coast to around 2000. Recovery was a little farther from the pads than I prefer -- just across the access road in an adjacent field, but easily accessible -- but there was no damage and everything worked as it should. |
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The results with the G35 were so good, I thought it was worth the risk
(of loss of rocket and motor case) to send the Spike up again on a maximum
consumer G -- once again, one doesn't get conditions suitable for flights
above 2000' at every launch, and things were going well. I prepped
up the motor, installed it in the Spike, and off to the pads. Ignition
was immediate, again (those Copperheads really have improved), and the
rocket leapt off the rod -- despite a shorter burn than the G35, the rocket
almost went out of sight under thrust; I lost sight of it immediately at
burnout, and had trouble locating the tracking smoke as well. Finally,
though, by tracking on the last bit of smoke as it drifted on the breeze,
I spotted the Spike descending under a full parachute, finally to land
less than 200' from the pads after an excursion estimated at 2500 feet.
As I commented at the time, that's about all the motor the Spike wants... |