June 2, 2007 launch report (6/12/2007)
On Saturday, June 2nd, MASA held its third launch of the
year. This launch was held at the VFW soccer fields near Elk River.
This "extra" launch was scheduled due to the cancellation of the
regular May launch. Flying started around 9am and wrapped up
around 1:30 when dark clouds started threatening to the south.
The morning weather was actually fairly nice with only a slightly
annoying breeze out of the south.
A few of the flights:
MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the
launch!
Ken Jarosch writes:
I got in 11 flights in a mixed bag of BP rockets. I
started with 2 planes. First flight was a Tinee with a 1/2A3-2T
for a good long glide. The 2nd plane was a CiCi on a A8-3. This
made a big power loop and crashed into the ground breaking the
body stick.
I tried the modified Elite Egg Lofter on a B6-2. At
ejection the body came down with a streamer and the egg pod
drifted in with the 12" chute. The second flight with a C5-3
ripped the heavy duty shrod lines because of the velocity.
A freebie paper rocket called the "6 Sider" was flown on
a A3-4t never to be seen again.
I flew two Ultra Delta Saucers. The red saucer on a
D11-P and the yellow saucer on the E9-P. I also flew 2 odd rocs.
The first was the 2 part Pyramid on a C6-3 and the other was the
foam board Scimitar on a D11-P. The Scimitar spins in flight.
I also put up 3 of my Junkyard Rockets on C11-3's. The
Katy-Shaw Slim put in a great flight with a close descent. The
High-Flying Jester caught the wind and ended up in a small tree
by the VFW sheds. Without a pole to get it down it was offered
up to the rain Gods. It was accepted with a later down pour.
Lastly I flew the 2X Solar Warrior with the rod angled more out
into the field. This was a good flight but the winds drove it
into one of the large tires for some paint damage.
John Carlson writes:
Number 3 son and I made it to the field about 9:30 Am
just as it started to get breezy.we managed to put up 15 rockets
by the time we left at about 1:30 Quinn launched his custom
Galileo and a scratch built rocket from summer camp last year. I
had a Eiffel tower rocket make from a 3d puzzle kit, flew good
but the D12-3 just wasn't enough, it did a half lawn dart with
no damage. I also launched cloned Centuri Orion, force 5, tie
fighter, V-2,Nike Ajax, X-15, plus a few more. Had great time,
can't wait till next month.
Dwayne Shmel writes:
We flew 9 rockets in the morning. In no particular order they
were:
Elizabeth’s Baby Bertha on a C6-5. Great flight and recovery
on a rocket that is proving itself to be one tough little
customer. We christened Richard’s Bull Pup 12D using a
B6-4. Great flight and thank goodness no damage to this little
scale rocket. Elizabeth flew her No. 2 Estes Sky Writer on
a B6-4 for its second time. Nice flight and safe recovery.
Our tiny little Quark got its inaugural flight on a 1/2A3-4.
It went up so quickly we didn't see it. Then it landed about 10
feet from me with a small thud as it nosed into ground. No
damage. Maybe we should change the color from flat black???
We flew our camouflaged painted StormCaster and our “Yellow
Jacket” themed Fat Boy both on D12-5’s. Both were very straight
and high flights with successful recoveries thanks to the soft
grass.
Our FlisKits - A.C.M.E. Spitfire was launched for only its
second flight on a D12-3 Apogee. It was a PERFECT flight which
we caught on video. I spent a great deal of time crafting this
odd-rock and always breathe a sigh of relief when it returns
safely. We bid farewell to our black and blue Estes
X-Flier. We sent it up on a C6-5 never to be seen again. Thank
goodness it only cost a few bucks and took only 20 minutes to
build. But hey, we have to get rid of a few of the old rockets
to make way for the new ones. [note - this rocket was found
later]
We also launched our scratch designed video camera rocket
built using a BT-56 airframe tube. The 6.5 ounce rocket was sent
up using a D12-5. I recorded 40 seconds of flight time from lift
off to my son’s run and catch recovery. You can also see a few
frames of the ejection charge going off with the parachute and
cellulose wadding visible as it scatters about, and Elizabeth
holding the rocket body she recovered separately. You can also
see a few frames where the nosecone recorded the image of the
rocket descending below. The video has been edited and is
posted on the site. I have
higher rez version that I can e-mail should you have the ability
to receive a 50 meg file.
We look forward to the Solstice launch.
The Details:
Full launch tally (in Adobe Acrobat PDF form, requires version
6
or newer of the Acrobat reader)
The totals were: 79 flights, 84 motors.
The cumulative total impulse was 822 Ns with an average total
impulse of 9.8 Ns.
The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
0 |
|
1/2A |
2 |
|
A |
13 |
|
B |
18 |
|
C |
27 |
|
D |
21 |
|
E |
3 |
|
F |
0 |
|
G |
0 |
|
H |
0 |
|
I |
0 |
|
J |
0 |
[These numbers are known to be low. It was discovered
after the launch that some attendees had not been filling out flight
cards for their flights.]
(Alan Estenson)
|
