March 2007 launch report (3/26/2007)
On Saturday, March 24th, MASA held its first launch of the
year. This launch was held at Apple Valley High School to coordinate
with TARC team flights. (The January & February launches were
canceled due to poor weather.)
A few of the flights:
MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the
launch!
Ted Cochran writes:
The fog lifted promptly at 10:00 AM, and a small but
busy band of MASA members started doing what MASA does best. All
three AVHS TARC teams flew multiple times, with unofficial
scores ranging from 1.6 to over 100. One official attempt was
made by one team, and it was successful with a score under 17.
There was one TARC casualty for the day--a fin can that got hung
in a high tree after a separation (the egg survived a free fall
from apogee).
I flew a stomp rocket, my Silver Comet (twice), and my
Custom Lightnin' twice, the last time on C11 to D12-7 motors.
There were probably close to 50 flights before the launches
dwindled off by around 2:30.
Rick Vatsaas writes:
My report is pretty brief. My frequent travels have put
a serious damper on my rocketry activities, but I want to at
least make an effort to get some of the members their badges and
with AVHS so close, I had to come. My son needed to come with
me, and said "Dad, we have to fly at least some rockets) so we
grabbed the plucky orange Space Brigader to go burn some motors.
We got a couple of nice flights off but managed to
hit the hard ground in sight with on one landing and fractured
the nose cone. Oh well. That nosecone came cheep. Other than
that, I mostly enjoyed hanging out with new and old members and
enjoying their flights.
If you plan to be at the April Meeting and want to pick
up your badge there, or if you will be there ready to pay, let
me know and I will have your badge ready.
Buzz McDermott writes:
It was a beautiful day to fly some rockets! I added the
following:
Lil Tex (stretch Fat Boy) on a D12
3FNC (BT-60) on a C11
Edmonds Tinee on an A4 (not such a great flight)
Spool Rocket on a C6
Bashed Estes Pathfinder (BT60 to BT-55) on 3xB6
The remarkable thing was one attendee was able to fly an
under-one-pound rocket on a G64 and actually get it back! This
was the biggest flight of the day. There were also at least a
couple of ther composite flights with F20 and other motors.
The AVHS teams were great. I bet they put up close to a
dozen flights, including the one 'oficial' flight.
Ken Jarosch writes:
It's been since September that Paul & I have been able
to get in any flying, mostly due to weather. It's been exactly a
year ago that I traded Mike E. 3 packs of C6-5's for his last 3
packs of C5-3's. I use these core burners for my heavy lifters.
I wanted to rerun some egg lofters on these in comparison to the
C6-3.
After the fog started to lift in St. Paul at 9:45 am we
packed the car and headed to AVHS for the MASA March launch. In
keeping with the egg theme, I brought 3 small egg lofters. The
Custom's Elite, Estes' Omloid and the Eggstravagnza 18. These
all flew great on the superior C5-3's. (Report to Mike E.)
The Elite always breaks it's shock cord on the 3 flight.
Today with the higher thrust C5-3 it broke at the kevlar knot on
the first try. Egg and pod came down by chute and rocket drifted
in. The Omloid always flies great but the C5-3 is best. A
true vertical flight in the calmer winds and high peak thrust
motor. The Eggstravaganza 18 on a C5-3 really takes off
the pad and with the 22" home chute I really had a good drift.
Altitude was over 400ft. It played chicken with the trees but I
got it back. On a low thrust AP D you should get close to 900'+.
I flew 3 Art Applewhite's paper rockets to mix up the
styles. These are all made with 110# card stock.
The paper Scimitar 18 flies great on the C6-3 for the
usual fast spin on climb. The paper Red Super Delta Saucer on a
D11-P had straight vertical flight in the calm winds to a
reasonable altitude. But the Yellow Super Delta Saucer on a E9-P
really made good height on the longer burn. Both these saucers
fly with that woosh-woosh sound on ascent.
While it was sparse today, two young families did fly
off our two pads. Rounding out the day I flew an old Quest Pip
Squeak on a C6-7 with 1.75" x 18" streamer. One of the young
boys helped me find the rocket so I gave it to him. Next I put
up a old Estes Design kit rocket, the Cloud Buster on a C6-7
with a Competition rocket 5" x 50" condenser streamer. These
usually drift several blocks in the wind. Yes, lost that one.
One family helped look for it but it must be out of the field.
Finally I launched a modified Quest Antari on a A10-3T with dual
1.75" x 18" streamers. This stayed in the field.
One note of humor! The young boy who found my Pip Squeak
came to thank me before we left and asked me "Don't you have any
BIG rockets?"
I launched 9 rockets in just under 2 hours. Paul did
well too including a G64 Saucer Egg Lofter. This carries the egg
pod aloft and at ejection the pod and egg parachute down with
the Saucer floating in slowly. He has a camera pod for the
Saucer also.
Rick Rider writes:
As a fairly new member, it was good to get out and talk
with other members. It was a great day for flying and my son
Jacob and I had been looking forward to getting out there. We
had a great time but ended the day, down one rocket. I lost a
brand-new SquirrelWorks Firebird in the trees. We did get a good
amount of flying in though.
Rocket Flights Motors
Estes Mercury Redstone 4 C6-3
SquirrelWorks Firebird 2 C6-3
Estes X-15 3 C6-5
Sunward Icestorm 1 C6-5
Estes Thunderstar 1 2xC6-5
The Icestorm was the most entertaining of all the
flights. Grossly underpowered, it nosed over and flew to the
baseball diamond. The ejection charge fired just as the nose hit
the ground, sending the body of the rocket skyward. Since the
motor mount is setup for C engines, we're going to have to
figure something out for future flights.
The Details:
Full launch tally (in Adobe Acrobat PDF form, requires version
6
or newer of the Acrobat reader)
The totals were: ? flights, ? motors. The cumulative
total impulse was ? Ns with an average total impulse of Ns.
The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
|
|
1/4A |
|
|
1/2A |
|
|
A |
|
|
B |
|
|
C |
|
|
D |
|
|
E |
|
|
F |
|
|
G |
0 |
|
H |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
