January 2001 launch report (1/27/2001)
Brrr!
On Saturday, January 27, a diehard group gathered at Sunrise Park
Middle School in White Bear Lake for the first MASA launch of the
year.. Launching began at 10am under a blue, sunny sky.
The breeze was light and variable for most of the morning, but it
began to increase around noon. By then, everyone had enough of
the cold and snow and packed up for the day.
As always, a big thanks to Mark Thell who discharged his last
duty as VP by delivering the gear to the site. Thanks to our
new VP, Steve Robb, for hauling it home with him.
A few of the flights:
In fine MASA tradition, the first flight of the year was Mike
Martens with his Stomp rocket on a B6-4. Mike also had good
flights of his Proud Mary II on a D12-5, Spare Parts Special on a
C6-7, and Estes Prowler on a C6-5. Unfortunately, his Estes
Skywinder lost its rotors and took a death-dive on its maiden
flight.
Glen Overby flew his "Junk food junkie" on a
C5-3. This rocket was constructed from various fast food
containers with CD's for fins. It flew quite well, and Glen
withstood some good-natured ribbing about being a "Bob Kaplow
wannabe". Steve Robb flew an egg in his Custom Elite, but
the cold mylar chute, err, scrambled his hopes. Steve also
tried to loft his Swinger II on a C6-3, but it stuck on the
rod. Dave Fergus had a nice flight of his Pratt D-Region
Tomahawk on a C5-3. Mark Thell and Mike Town drag-raced Fat
Boy's on C6 motors.
Alan Estenson flew his 2001 Monolith on a C5-3 for the first
time. He thus proved that, for a trained aerodynamicist,
making a brick fly isn't really a problem. Later, Alan had a
spectacular CATO of a Quest A6-4 motor in his streamer duration
rocket. Fortunately, the rocket survived with little damage.
Jeff Hove flew a vintage Centuri Taurus on a C6-3. It was a
bit too heavy for a streamer, though, and took a snow
core-sample. Jeff also flew his vintage Centuri Orion on a
D13-4 reload for a very nice flight.
Newcomer Dylan Salber had a couple nice flights of his V2 on
D12-3 motors. Dylan thought that he'd lost the rocket, but it
turned up after the launch. Barry Pieterson, another new guy,
flew an Estes SR71 on a C5-3 and a LOC Aura on a D12-3.
The Details:
Full launch tally (in
Adobe Acrobat PDF form)
The totals were: 33 flights, 33 motors. The
cumulative total impulse was 317 Ns with an average total impulse of
9.6 Ns. The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
0 |
|
1/2A |
0 |
|
A |
2 |
|
B |
5 |
|
C |
20 |
|
D |
6 |
|
E |
0 |
|
F |
0 |
|
G |
0 |
|
H |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
