With as beautiful a day it was, we only had one certification flight. Aaron Edwards made a successful flight with a LOC Expediter on an I211. He burned a grain or two on the pad with a delayed liftoff of a couple of seconds. Once the motor got going, it made a nice flight and soft touchdown. Welcome to high power.
We had a couple hybrid flights as well. Now that Hypertek grains are available again (for how long?) we should be seeing several more. Dane Kell crawled out of the woodwork to fly a PML Tempest on a J220. This was the first flight of this rocket and it made a good trip. Mark Geislinger also had a Tempest into which he loaded a J205. Some ground equipment malfunctions caused several failed ignition attempts, but it finally lifted off. Unfortunately, after trying several times, the nitrous was just about gone and he only flew with a partial tank. Thank goodness for altimeter deployment, as his rocket only achieved maybe 500 feet.
Bruce Weidner made a flight with his Ugly Space Junk on an Aerotech E15. This is the only flight I can remember him ever making at Elsberry. Mark McGraw made several flights with his LOC Viper III and brought out a beautiful Estes Mercury Redstone that he flew on a G80. Comments on the flight card read "Eat your heart out Tom Hanks." Adam Galla made several flights with his Estes X-Ray. He had a test pilot on board each flight, an unfortunate spider that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Steve Mizerany brought out his X-15, what he calls a "crowd seeking missile." It had a good boost, but a long delay caused it to swoop in at the last second for a one-point landing. Steve McAtee came out to join in the festivities and flew several rockets with various motors all the way up to an I161. Ron Divine was in attendance as well, making a flight on a North Coast Avitar Arrow. Unfortunately, the glider crashed. John Buckley had an interesting scratch built rocket called the X-6B, which flew on 6 C6 motors for the most clustered flight of the day.
Steve Seger brought out his repaired and modified (read longer) scratch built Nemesis. It started out as the Nemesis, became Emesis after suffering damage, and is now called the Black Rock. Steve sure likes that textured paint. He loaded up an Aerotech L952 (a full L motor) for a spectacular flight. Thanks to 2-stage recovery, he didn't have to walk very far. I believe this is the largest motor flown at Elsberry to date.
A couple of other people made use of the altitude window we obtained in the afternoon as well. Fred Gruis flew a scratch built rocket named Emma on a K185 for an out of sight flight to 12,500 feet predicted. Jim Davis launched a Black Sky Research Optimal 65 on an I284. Earlier in the day, Fred also lit another scratch built creation of his called Parts 'R' Us. This flew on two outboard (far outboard) H242 motors and airstarted a core J180 for a great flight.
At one point during the launch, I saw Jack Hollister heading back from the barn with a shovel. That image at a rocket launch always makes me cringe. Turns out, his VB Extreme launched on a G55 came in ballistic from extreme altitude and core sampled about 2-3 feet. I guess only the fins were visible above the ground. As he found out the radio beacon he had on board doesn't transmit too well through packed mud. The beacon came back undamaged however, his altimeter didn't fair so well.
Other picturesque fliers included Bob Potter, Dave Daven, Kevin Souers, and Mark Henriksen. A total of 185 motors were burned resulting in a total impulse of almost 25,000ns. Most used motor was suprisingly the C with 52 followed by both B and Ds with 22 each. Our next launch is at Creve Coeur Park on May 16, 1998. Come on out and help us top this record.
