| Scattered clouds appr. 3000 AGL, winds 5-20, blowing dust! |
|---|
| Model | Flt
# |
Recovery Type | Motor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha III | 1 | Estes 18" parasheet | Estes A3-4T w/ adapter | I didn't want too much motor in the wind -- mine was the first launch of the day for the site, and I didn't know how recovery conditions were; in addition, the club-supplied low-power pads had no provision for tilting the launch rods. Parachute failed to open, rocket recovered nearby with no damage. |
| Blue Star | 2 | 12" plastic streamer | Estes 1/2A6-2 | This was my first tower launch, using my new tower -- rocket boosted straight, ejected still going up; motor kicked (again). Seemed like more height than with the piston; perhaps the piston had too much friction. |
| Stellar Designs Spinnaker | 1 | 12" plastic parasheet | Estes A8-3 | First flight on this model; spin-fins give a rapid roll in flight. The parachute was slow opening, but did open fully; recovered close to pad in spite of wind. |
| Alpha III | 2 | Estes 18" parasheet | Estes A3-4T w/ adapter | Another perfect flight -- this motor seems to have the perfect delay for this rocket. Strong weathercocking sent the rocket upwind enough to recover near the pad. |
| Mongoose | 12 | 24" plastic streamer | Estes A10-3T w/ adapter | Combination of weathercocking and rapid descent on streamer landed rocket appr. 10 feet from pad. |
| Blue Star | 3 | 12" plastic streamer | Estes A8-5 (discontinued) | This long delay was just right for this rocket; the A8-3 would eject with the rocket still rising fast. Rocket flew about 400 feet even wtih weathercocking; drifted appr. 100 yards. Careful trimming of inside rear of tube allowed better friction fit, motor stayed in. |
| Spinnaker | 2 | 12" plastic parasheet | Estes A8-3 | Afte untwisting the shroud lines, this rocket flew as well the second time as the first. A pretty good rocket in windy conditions; small parachute and relatively heavy rocket limit drift. |
| Alpha III | 3 | Estes 18" parasheet | Estes A8-3 | Launched during lull in wind; nice vertical boost and descent, landed about 25 feet from pad. |
| Spinnaker | 3 | 12" plastic parasheet | Estes B6-4 | Good boost and recovery deployment, but ejection blew out one side of rear body, taking one fin with it. Fin and body section later recovered, rocket repairable. |
| Alpha III | 4 | 24" plastic streamer | Estes B6-4 | First try with a streamer on this bird, hoping to reduce descent rate as the wind picked up -- worked okay, but in higher winds without pad tilt, there's still a lot of walking. |
| Alpha III | 5 | 24" plastic streamer | Estes B6-4 | Another good flight, drifted about 100 yards even with the streamer. |
| Alpha III | 6 | 24" plastic streamer | Estes C6-5 | Last flight of the day; winds getting worse and blowing grit getting in my eyes. Rocket weathercocked just enough to eject directly above the pad; even on streamer drifted over 300 yards. Found by another rocketeer whose rocket drifted on same line; I returned the favor by finding his much further out. |