| Weather varied from partly cloudy and near-calm at ground level to squall line conditions with momentarily heavy rain and winds up to 25 mph at ground; winds aloft were pretty consistent at around 20 mph S. |
|---|
| Model | Flt
# |
Recovery Type | Motor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deltie Thunder | 1 | Glide (pod on 12" plastic parasheet) | Estes D12-3 | The boost and separation went as planned, and the launch lugs stayed attached, but the parachute tangled in the joint where the wing meets the stabilizer on the left side, resulting in a flat spin recovery. No damage. |
| Deltie Thunder | 2 | Glide (pod on 12" plastic parasheet) | Estes D12-3 | This time nothing hung up, and I found the glider needed consdierable extra nose weight; it was stalling vigorously during the 15 to 20 seconds it took to return to the ground. With the continuing intermittent bad weather, I elected not to fly this again on this date. |
| Cherokee-D (repro) | 1 | 12" plastic parasheet with spill hole & vents | Estes B6-4 | First flight on this model after months of intermittent work reproducing the rocket, getting the paint just right, and reproducing the decals. It went up, the parachute deplayed, it came back down with minimal walking. Ho, hum, perfect flight. |
| Cherokee-D (repro) | 2 | 12" plastic parasheet with spill hole & vents | Estes C6-5 | More of the same, only higher. The pad angle and wind combined to make for a very short recovery walk, and a picture-perfect flight. |
| Cherokee-D (repro) | 3 | 12" plastic parasheet with spill hole & vents | Estes D12-7 | When I launched this, the weather at the ground was nearly calm, but the greater altitude (around 1000 feet) on the D motor took the rocket into the "winds aloft" region of the local weather, and it made a rapid transit to the north, across the road, and over the swamp before descending into the calm air nearer the ground. The rocket dropped almost vertically into a section of swamp with heavy growth of bulrushes and water up to three feet deep; after a short search, it was obvious I'd have to trip over it to find it, and it was abandoned as lost. |