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December 2002 Holiday Party (12/18/2002)
On Saturday evening, December 14, many MASA members
and their families gathered at the residence of the Hoyme family for
the annual club holiday party. Talk filled the air while
snacks filled the stomachs. Cards (and rockets) were signed.
Ken's home theater was admired.
One of the evening's activities was a fun gift
exchange. Going in order of drawn numbers, each person could
unwrap a gift or steal someone else's gift. As in previous
years, lots of things got swapped around with a book about the
Apollo program being the hot item.
Later in the evening, MASA President Alan Estenson
had a program of year-in-review, presentations, and awards.
This year, MASA had 11 official club launches (click
here for all the stats) with 1,161 flights for the year.
MASA also had 10 successful meetings and a huge summer picnic.
Alan thanked everyone who organized or presented a
meeting topic this year: Jeff Hove, Ted Cochran, Stuart and
Ellison Lenz. Thanks were also extended to Jeff Hove, Mike
Erpelding, and Ellison & Stuart Lenz who each organized a
contest at a launch this year. Other notables were: Ted
Cochran for all his hard work as editor of the Planet newsletter and
Lee Frisvold for serving as launch director for November.
A round of applause was raised for the three
outgoing MASA officers: President Alan Estenson, Vice
President Ted Cochran, and Secretary/Treasurer David Fergus.
The critical volunteers at every launch are those
people who give up some of their time to serve as LCO or RSO.
Without them, the launches couldn't happen, so a big Thank You goes
out to all of them. The LCO volunteers this year
included: Alan Estenson, Rick Vatsaas, Ted Cochran, Mark Thell,
Ellison Lenz, Stuart Lenz, Walter Kjellander, Glen Overby, Lee
Grimm, Ed Eastman, Leland Cheng, Art Gibbens, Mike Erpelding, Kerry
Hodges, David Whitaker, and Neal Higgins. The RSO volunteers
this year included: Rick Vatsaas, Alan Estenson, Ted Cochran,
Steve Hum, Steve Robb, Dave Leininger, Walter Kjellander, Lee
Frisvold, Dave Fergus, Ellison Lenz, Stuart Lenz, Glen Overby, and
Mark Thell. At the July launch, Steve Hum pulled RSO duty all
day! Thanks everyone! (I hope that you as well as other
members will volunteer in 2003!)
As an additional thank you to these people, Alan put
each of their names in a drawing once for each time they had
volunteered this year. Unlike the door prizes, these people
didn't need to be present to win. The winners of the RSO/LCO
"thank you" drawing were:
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Mark Thell - Custom Tri-Star kit
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Rick Vatsaas - pack of C6-5's
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Ted Cochran - Neubauer Micro Saturn 1B kit
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Stuart Lenz - ASP FOTL kit
There were two level 1 high power certifications
this year at MASA launches: Neal Higgins and David
Whitaker. Dave Fergus and Leland Cheng also achieved
certifications while flying at the Minnesota Tripoli launches.
Mike Erpelding and Glen Overby represented MASA at
NARAM down in Texas. Mike also attended the Midwest Regional
Contest in Wisconsin.
This year, many MASA members participated in the
NARTREK program. Completing the NARTREK Bronze were Ted
Cochran, Alan Estenson, Mike Erpelding, Joe Schneider, David
Whitaker, Ken Hoyme, and Stuart Lenz. Ted Cochran also went on
to complete the Silver and Gold levels!
2002 MASSY Awards
In grand MASA tradition, President Alan Estenson
created this year's awards in a particularly inspired session of
lunacy. Recipients were given a lovely paper certificate
suitable for framing (or wiping glue off their fingers). As
usual, most of the awards were rather "tongue in cheek".
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The "Ambition Award" - Leland
Cheng: Flew his first "E" motor from the snow,
had his L2 cert by mid summer!
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The "Flying Brick Award" - Ted
Cochran: For making an Estes Masters Series Space Shuttle
actually fly well!
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The "Flying Lumberyard Awards" -
Steve Hum and David Whitaker: For their ECEE Thunder
rocket glider flights.
New members of the Ballistic Fenceposting
Club: John Stenberg, Derek Lynch, Dave Lynch, Ryan Schwartz,
Joe Schneider, Ed Eastman, Stuart Lenz
[From 2001, charter members of the "Ballistic
Fenceposting" Club: Alan Estenson, Kent Peterson, Mike
Kutzke, Tim Bush, Mollie Frisvold, John Carlson, Randy Miller, Ted
Cochran, Josh Handeland, Philip Gibbens, Art Gibbens, Lee Grimm,
Dave Fergus, Steve Hum, Ellison Lenz]
2001 MASA Prang Awards
The "Percussion" Award - Jeff
Hove: For his CATO of an ancient C motor in a Stomp rocket
during the summer picnic.
Prang Award - "Dishonorable Mention":
Alan Estenson for his "More Gopher Holes" and "Super
Duper V2" flights.
Alan Estenson's "More Gopher Holes"
on an E9-6
"I launched it on an E9-6 for 1st flight. It went straight up
150 feet, then took a hard right turn, flew horizontal and did a
javelin impression right into the drainage ditch. When it ejected,
it threw the back half up onto the bank, but the front half was
completely submerged. Had to pull hard on the shockcord to yank it
out of the muck. Postmortem showed that the tube had kinked hard
over, right in front of the tube fins. Was bt-55 that I bought
from ASP. Must have had a _really_ weak spot. Was wet, green,
smelly, muddy, and mortally wounded, so I gave it away." -
nominated by Larry Schwartz & Stuart Lenz
Alan Estenson's "Super Duper V2" on a
D12-3
"I nominate ALAN ESTENSON's V2 Flight. After a completely
normal countdown and ignition, the rocket took a hard turn and
went into cruise missile mode directly towards the crowd, coming
to a rest about 5 feet from the LCO. It then proceeded to provide
wonderful up-close-and-personal display of the ejection sequence
for those (un)lucky enough to have a ring side seat." -
nominated by Steve Hum
"I also nominate Alan's purple V-2 launch for the prang
award, I was standing right behind the LCO with the deer in the
headlight look as well, it was quite amusing." - John Carlson
Prang Award of the 3rd Order: Martin
Dietl's "The Launch Pad" Exocet MM-40 on two E15's
"Martin Dietl wanted to fly his Exocet MM-40
on a cluster of two E15s using copperheads. We gave it the best
chance we could - Glen lent him a clipwhip made out of jumper
cables (OK, lamp cord, but at least we're not talking bell wire
here). I lent him Thumper, which has lit 7 AP motors before
(albeit not with copperheads). Thumper did its part, and both
igniters fired. Unfortunately, one of them got spit. The other
motor lit, and vectored thrust led to a very scale-like flight
trajectory. Alas, the full size Exocet flies horizontally. The
model Exocet did work up a little spin, but that served only to
increase the realism of the flight profile. It did its programmed
pop-up maneuver and acquired a target before entering terminal
flight. Ellison Lenz (who, whether he knew it or not, was playing
the role of signal officer on the HMS Sheffield) watched the
impact, and then the ejection (the ejection charges on both
charges blew, to add to the overall excitement. Fortunately, the
second motor's AP didn't burn from the top down, which sometimes
happens). The only factor that detracts from the nomination is
that the rocket was not completely destroyed--indeed, with a new
section of BT and some motor mount repairs, it will likely fly
again (hopefully not on copperheads!)." - nominated by Ted
Cochran
Prang Award of the 2nd Order: Mollie
Frisvold's 2-stage Fat Boy on D12-0 to C6-5
"It had a little problem getting off the
launch rod, so it decided to take the launch pad with it. First
time I ever saw a lunch pad actually get off the ground! The
launch pad then fell over and unfortunately the rocket
successfully staged. The second stage was still stuck on the
launch pad (good thing) laying on it side. It just sat and burned
there until ejection." - nominated by Ron Hammer
"Lee Frisvold with his "Don't forget the launch
pad" flight of his two stage Fatboy that brought along the
pad for good measure, albeit for only about a foot before ramming
the ground." - Rick Vatsaas
Prang Award of the 1st Order: Stuart &
Ellison Lenz. On numerous occasions, this father-son duo set
lofty new MASA standards for unstable, underpowered flights and the
creation of impressive debris fields.
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Stuart Lenz' modified 2-stage ARV Condor on
B6-0 to A8-5
"Stuart Lenz gets first place in my personal prang award
competition, for his Estes ARV Condor modified for two stage (!)
flight. It was seriously underpowered on a B6-0 (My
Condor--without the booster--is marginal on a B6-2) and it
started arcing over at about 80 feet. It then (unfortunately)
successfully staged, and the A8-5 drove it right into the ground
before ejecting. Pieces flipped all over--glider nosecones,
glider bodies, pod parts--but it looked surprisingly
repairable." - nominated by Ted Cochran
"I wasn't happy with it when I looked at it before it flew.
Next time, something like this goes to the away cell on the
other side of the first irrigation ditch." - seconded by
Glen Overby
"I second the prang nomination on the full power ARV Condor
impact and impressive debris field. It looked like Roswell all
over again." - thirded by Tim Bush
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Stuart Lenz' Black Cat Turbo Flash (multiple
flights)
"Stuart gets an honorable mention for his Black Cat turbo
flash, A converted fireworks fountain, flown as a cone rocket,
that was every bit as unstable on a B6-2 as it was on a
A8-3." - nominated by Ted Cochran
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Stuart & Ellison Lenz - various rockets
"Besides, what would a MASA launch be without a few
skywriters? The Lenz family was there, right? The Lenz family
may just want to print up a bulk set of decals for their scratch
built rockets with the name "Skywriter". They could
add I, II, III, IV, etc after them with magic markers. They may
be up to MCMXLVII by now. (I'm thinking here of Stuart's D
powered tubefin red white and blue rocket, or maybe it was the 3
x A8-3 red white and blue rocket. Or both. And a few last
launch, too. Maybe they could get a deal if they ordered those
decals at the same time as the "Aw, Chute!" decals (in
memory of "With Liberty", for example). They could
loan one to Dave Fergus (and a whole lot of other people, too, I
think)." - nominated by Ted Cochran
Drawings were held for a huge number of free door
prizes. The winners were:
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Philip Gibbens - Estes Astrosat LSX kit
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Alex Carlson - Estes Exo-Skell kit
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Sarah Fergus - Quest Nike Smoke kit
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John Carlson - Quest Lightning kit
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Kirsten Hoyme - Estes Skywriter kit
-
Eliot Carpenter - Estes Banshee kit
-
Blayne Carlson - Quest Q-EZ Payloader kit
-
Tom Lawell - ASP Micro Corporal kit
-
Russ Durkee - Titan Missile Museum T-shirt
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Quinn Carlson - Quest Nike-K kit
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Jeff Hove - Estes Banshee kit
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Matthias Gibbens - Estes Exo-Skell kit
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Susan Fergus - Quest Big Rage kit
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Mollie Frisvold - Estes Astrosat LSX kit
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Sue Carlson - Estes Comanche 3 kit
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David Whitaker - The Launch Pad Anubis kit
A BIG thanks to Hub Hobby Center for donating many
of the prizes! A HUGE thanks to Ken & Julie Hoyme and
family for hosting the party this year! An enormous thanks to
everyone who attended!
(Alan Estenson)
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