September 2001 launch report (10/01/2001)
Sunny, warm & breezy
On Saturday, September 29, a small group of MASA members
gathered at the VFW soccer fields in Otsego. The normal
monthly launch had been scheduled for the preceding Saturday but had
been thoroughly rained-out. Feeling the urge to fly rockets in
the fall air, the rare step was taken to reschedule the
launch. It turned out to be a fairly warm, sunny fall day with
a good breeze out of the south.
A big thanks to:
- Steve Robb, for hauling out all the gear
- LCO & RSO volunteers: Tim Bush, David Fergus, Steve
Robb, and others
- Everyone who came early and/or stayed late to help with the
range equipment
MASA member Ken Corey-Edstrom brought out several Scouts from
Troop 415 [IIRC] and their parents. The Scouts had each built
an Aerotech Airspike rocket (same as a Mustang), and they were eager
to fly them under Ken's tutelage and supervision (with help from
other MASA members, too.)
Just shy of 4 hours were spent flying rockets. The small
group made for a relaxed launch rate, and it's doubtful that anyone
ever had to wait for a pad.
A few of the flights:
Flying was limited to 1 lb rockets and E motors (with 2
exceptions). Steve Robb went for the "big altitude"
with an F24 in his "Lampshade of Doom". Dave Fergus
managed to get his Aerotech Warthog under a pound to launch it on an
F20.
Tim Bush flew his twin-glider Edmonds Gemini Thunder. One
glider nosed straight in while the other flew off in a repeating
series of stalls.
A number of flights were made using the new Estes E9 black powder
motors. Alan Estenson flew his Estes Python on an E9-6 and
"Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" on an E9-4. Alan and Ted
Cochran drag raced their Estes Maniac's on E9-6 motors. Ted C.
also flew his Estes Big Daddy and Broadsword on Aerotech
E15's. Unfortunately, an early ejection stripped the chute on
the Broadsword, and that rocket will now need some repairs.
Ted Nolen attempted to fly his "Big Dog 4" on an E9-8, but
that delay proved to be way too long for the rocket as it impacted
and then ejected.
Nick Nolen learned that a 1/4A wasn't enough motor for his R2-D2,
but an A10 was just right. Dan Nolen had a successful 2-stage flight
of his Estes Mongoose. Glen Overby flew several Aerobee
models. Randy Miller flew a Quest Delta Clipper, but it
weathercocked severely to result in ejection after "fence
post" recovery. Steve Robb flew his Swinger II twice, and
it "landed" on a different truck in the parking lot each
time!
The Scouts wisely decided not to fly their Airspike's on the
included F20 motors. Instead, they flew them on either Estes
E9-4's or Aerotech E15-4's. Despite worries about the breeze
and low thrust, the Airspike's performed very nicely on the
E9's. The following Scouts had one or more launches:
Justin Harken, Marc Boeckman, Justin Grainger, Steven Sellers,
Anthony Maahs, Matthew Ziebol, Alex Hedrington. Although they
had more than their share of igniter problems, all of their flights
were safe and successful!
The Details:
Full launch tally (in
Adobe Acrobat PDF form, requires version 4 or newer of the Acrobat
reader)
The totals were: 51 flights, 52 motors. The
cumulative total impulse was 972 Ns with an average total impulse of
18.7 Ns. The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
2 |
|
1/2A |
1 |
|
A |
2 |
|
B |
7 |
|
C |
12 |
|
D |
10 |
|
E |
16 |
|
F |
2 |
|
G |
0 |
|
H |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
