April 2006 launch report (5/1/2006)
On Saturday, April 22nd, MASA held its fourth launch of the
year. This was only the second time in MASA's history that the
weather cooperated and allowed club launches in all four months from
January through April.
The launch was held on the Buffalo/Rockford/Hanover farm field.
The field was bare dirt, but it had been worked and planted (looks
like it'll be wheat this year). The sun came out about 10am,
and the day was mild and pleasant. There was an annoying and
variable breeze. Most rockets recovered on the field, but a
few drifted over into the next one.
Turnout was small. Launch equipment and range were "misfire
alley" style. Flight cards were used, but cards were not
filled-out for the last couple flights of the day.
A few of the flights:
MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the
launch!
Alan Estenson writes:
I got there about 9:30 to find Ken and Paul already set
up and flying. I brought the "club" equipment for the day
- flight cards and a tiny table to set them on. David
Whitaker and Glen Overby arrived after 10.
The field was soft dirt; it looked like it had been
worked up and planted already (I'm guessing wheat this year.)
The next field south had not been worked up or planted yet.
I found that out from chasing two of my rockets over there.
The breeze was variable, but mostly seemed to be from the NE.
I just flew a bunch of ol' reliable rockets on A through
D motors.
Glen Overby writes:
It was a little windy, always seeming to want to blow my
rockets into the trees.
When I arrived, Alan, Dave, Ken and Paul had 3 pads set
up. The field was dry and seeded (Alan says it's wheat).
I didn't fly much:
4FNC BT60 D12-3
'up' part went fine. The parachute just barely carried it
over the trees to the south
3FNC BT56 C11-0 to B6-6
A little squirrely (rocket had small-ish fins - this was the
middle fin size of 3 rockets built to see how much fin span I
really need - they may need some nose weight). Was at a
45deg angle (or lower) on staging and it went over the trees to
the north of the field. Wind brought it back to the field.
38mm Tube fin mailing tube rocket F39-6(9) drilled to -4
Yes, it's 'legal' to drill delays now! Seemed to take
forever to prep. The ejection charge fired at burnout and
produced a lot of smoke on the way down. No dammage,
though. With the low ejection it didn't go far.
Ken Jarosch writes:
It just finished raining on my deck around 3:00 am and I
almost didn't go. But Paul offered to drive so we thought we
would try it anyway.
We got there before 9:00 am and decided to set up off
the end of the road to take advantage of the dogleg to the left
with the winds from the North.
We set up only one pad at that time as we were alone at
that time. I used the Estes Pro Pad which has holes for 1/8",
3/16" and 1/4" rods which were all used.
I stayed with the odd rocs because it was a little windy
for my Aerotech rockets. I flew 8 rockets.
On 4 of the D11-P's I flew a Yellow Ultra Delta Saucer,
the SpaceShip Earth Delta Saucer, the Stars and Strips original
Saucer and the Black Scimitar. These usually float down nicely
inverted but lately they have
only tumbled. I noticed that this last batch of D11's has the
clay end further down the throat of the casing. I added a little
clay to the motor end to stop the tumbling. It worked.
I also wanted to retry the Elite Egglofter which flew so
lousy at the TARC flights with the egg. I used a A8-3 and empty
it flew straight and high. It danced all over the sky with the
changing winds but landed near the pad.
I have many old (1999 $11.44 E's and $15.25 F's)
Aerotech motors to burn up so I asked Paul if he could stay
another hour for me.
So I loaded a almost white slug (oxidized) E18-8W(0)
into the 24mm casing and put it into the Stars & Strips Saucer.
With a certified and redipped copper head it got a big igniter
blast followed by another big
hiccup and then blasted off the pad with the usual noise, flame
and smoke.
I had one F12-3J(0) left and that is suppose to produce
the best flight in these 24 mm Saucers so I wanted to try it
again in the Stars & Stripes Saucer. The Black Jack age well.
This motor started right off the pad with the black smoke and
slow burn to take the Saucer to a very good altitude. I got to
get me some more of these things for the lighter Flame and
SpaceShip Earth Saucers. Should get 400'+.
I forgot to bring my 29 mm G's but I did have one F20-W
that I put in the Smilely Delta Saucer. This was the usual White
Lightning flight but the Saucer did not fly as true as previous
F40 reloads with the greater
nose weight. By then it was 12:10 so Paul and I packed it in.
The Details:
Full launch tally (in Adobe Acrobat PDF form, requires version
6
or newer of the Acrobat reader)
The totals were: 35 flights, 39 motors. The cumulative
total impulse was 558 Ns with an average total impulse of 14.3 Ns.
The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
0 |
|
1/2A |
0 |
|
A |
6 |
|
B |
7 |
|
C |
8 |
|
D |
14 |
|
E |
1 |
|
F |
3 |
|
G |
0 |
|
H |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
