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October 1 2005 launch report (10/1/2005)

On Saturday, October 1, MASA held its "September" launch at the sod farm near Nowthen.  (The launch had been postponed a week from its original date.)

The skies were blue.  The sun was shining.  It was an incredible day for the beginning of October - 80 degrees!.  The only annoyance was a steady breeze out of the south.  Whether it was the start of the school year and all its activities or the change in the launch date, attendance was markedly smaller than at the August launch.

Prez. Mike Erpelding put in stellar duty with launch equipment and range setup.  Mike deserves a big round of applause!  Let's all be sure to help out at launches; Mike can't do everything (and he shouldn't have to!)  A special thanks to those few who stayed and helped pack up the range at the end of the day.

Thanks to the LCO/RSO volunteers:  Mike Erpelding, Ken Jarosch, Glen Overby, and Alan Estenson.

A few of the flights:

The theme of this launch was "CLUSTERS!", and the launch attendees really took it to heart!  There were a total of 26 flights that burned a cluster of 2 or more motors.  David Whitaker had the most motors in a single flight - 7 - with his Mini Katana 2 with a D12 and 6 C6's.  In terms of total impulse, Ted Cochran edged out Dave by putting 5 D12's in "Ted's Testbed".

Deuce's Wild Drag Race - For the day's fun event, five people drag raced Deuce's Wild kits on 2-motor clusters.  Not only did all five launch, but all 10 motors lit!  The drag racers were:  Mike Erpelding, Ted Cochran, Andy Heren, Alan Estenson, and Caleb Boe.

MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the launch! 

Alan Estenson writes:

I didn't make as many cluster flights as I'd hoped, but I did get in three.  I flew "4A-56" on four A3-4t's.  I built this rocket for A cluster altitude at NARAM 47.  I flew my Tube-Ces wild on two C6-5's for the drag race.  This is a Deuce with tube fins.  Last, I flew my Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with a central E9-8 and four C6-0's.  It had a great flight, but suffered some damage.  It may get repaired, or I may just have to build a new one.

John Carlson writes:

It was indeed great weather for a launch.   My number 1 and number 3 sons came out to launch rockets. We ended up shooting nine of them.  The list included a clustered X-prize rocket - the Thunderstar.  My son's Exo-Skell which survived 2 flights with no damage.  My Wuest X-15 chose to loop on lift off with no damage.  I also launched my Quest Space Clipper; this is the first finless design I think I've ever launched and I was really impressed with how well it flew.   I had a large number of chute problems this time, must have been the old baby powder I was using.  Thanks to all the guys that helped make the launch possible.

Dan Keppel writes:

A beautiful morning it was (I got there at about 8:50 and helped Mike set up the flight line) with just enough wind to make most of the rockets land near/on the crowd, minimizing walk time. I got three launches in: My amazing recycled rocket on a C6-5, my heart of gold on an E9-6(gone with the wind), and my dark energy avenger on an F25-7W. Of course my $50 rocket has to be the one to float off into the corn fields (the ones that are in the opposite direction of the pads) I made it over there in time to see my rocket go down into the corn, but I still had to jump the ditch and search the corn for 20 minutes to find it (twilight zone?). I was asked by one of the more experienced members( sorry forgot your name) if I had heard about "evil corn," I had said no. After my experience in the corn, I can say that the corn isn't the problem; it's those darn spikey plants that surround the corn that are evil. They have what appear to be burrs on steroids. They're like grapes covered with hypodermic kneedles. I had to pry about 5 of them off of my chute and 10 of them off my clothes. I decided to quit while I was ahead after that so I packed up and headed home. Can't wait till the 22nd!

The Details:

Full launch tally (in Adobe Acrobat PDF form, requires version 6 or newer of the Acrobat reader)

The totals were:  89 flights, 141 motors.  The cumulative total impulse was 2531 Ns with an average total impulse of 17.9 Ns.  The motor breakdown follows:

(Alan Estenson)