SLRA Launch Report - April 15, 2000 

Our March 18 and April 8 launches at Elsberry were rained out.  Finally, on April 15, the weather cooperated, and we were able to get in a good day of flying.  A total of 53 flyers showed up, making 146 flights.  Motors flown ranged from Micro-Maxx to L, with C motors being most popular with 23 flights.  There was one Micro-Maxx flight, 2 1/4A, 1 1/2A, 7 A, 16 B, 23 C, 17 D, 7 E, 16 F, 20 G, 16 H, 14 I, 5 J, 1K, and 1 L-motor flight.   As an added attraction, Ring Rocketry visited, selling kits and motors on the field.

Several folks had been waiting all winter to make high power certification flights, and finally got their chance today.  Eric Wise, Todd Wise, Stew McNabb, and Dan Schneider all had successful  certification flights.  Congratulations, guys! 

Jim Davis had one of the day's most notable flights, blasting a scratch-built rocket to an estimated Mach 2.3 on L power, and successfully recovering it.  A post-flight inspection showed paint blistering and peeling at the nose tip and fin leading edges, apparently due to aerodynamic heating.  Awesome!  Jim also made a first flight with a tricked -up Maniac, reinforced for big motors.

Michael Tait flew a video rocket project, successfully transmitting images to a ground receiver and VCR.  Ever - industrious Jeff Brundt had a couple of new rockets, a Black Brant and an Aerobee 150A.  (Try saying 'Brundt's Black Brant' three times!)  Both made good flights, along with many others from Jeff's impressive fleet.  Paul Graf had a new Scissorwing Transport, a clone of the 70's Estes model.  After a couple of unsuccessful tries, this made a good gliding flight on the third attempt.

Another impressive gliding project was Steve Mizerany's latest X-15 model.  Steve has previously made several smaller X-15's, all of which proved to be good flyers.  This new one, the largest yet with 4-inch tubing, looks like another winner with a vertical boost and a great glide. 

Jack Hollister tested his 24mm scratchbuilt with a G55 motor, and discovered that the fins would not stay on, just as chief RSO Bruce Weidner predicted.  Chad Rogers came out and flew some for the first time in a while, making good flights with his Yellow Rocket and his trusty old US Rockets Banshee.  Claude Paquin had the smallest rocket of the day, a scratch-built Micro-Mosquito for Micro-Maxx motors.  This zipped into the sky for a surprisingly high flight, and was successfully recovered.  Claude’s cluster-powered Fat Boy was not as successful, taking off like a cruise missile to the south. 

Heino Pull flew his LOC Caliber electronics-free for a change. John Buckley had a nice little mini-Sputnik that made a good flight on 1/4A power.  Michael Ludwig had two new two-stagers he'd been waiting to fly, and finally got the chance.  One was a nice-looking original design, and the other an upscale of the old Centuri Firefly.  After being delayed by the failure of our launch system battery, the Firefly finally made a good flight.

Rob Chapie joined the ranks of hybrid flyers, making a good Hypertek J-powered flight.  With Mark Geislinger pitching in, three hybrid flights were made.  On a less successful note, there were a couple of spectacular motor failures.  Kevin Bauer's level 2 attempt ended quickly with what appeared to be a forward closure blow-by, torching his PML Endeavor.  Travis Banks’ rocket suffered a similar mishap.