SLRA Launch Report - October 28, 2000 Night Launch - Elsberry, MO
Contributed by Kevin Souers

October marked the first 2-day launch for St. Louis Rocketry Association and along with it our first night launch. By all indications it was quite successful. I expected maybe 3 or 4 flights but got a total of eight from seven flyers. All flew successfully with only a couple minor bang-ups. There were also a couple surprises.

For starters we had two out-of-town participants, Nick Stich and Jerome Tonneson from Kansas. Thanks, guys. We really appreciate the effort to show up and participate. Nick gave us the first surprise. He had a modified Estes Fireflash with a single red LED in the nose with a high-domed clear lens. LED's are not known for their wide viewing angle but with the lens proved to be quite visible, even at altitude. Jerome's entry was a bit more classic, an Estes Nova Payloader which has a clear payload tube with a single flashlight lamp and battery. Very visible as expected, with some minor occluding as the nosecone swayed.

Many entrants chose to use chemical lighting. I expected this to be the norm as there are no batteries/wires/connectors/filaments to fail. The range of color seemed to be limited to yellow and green although one claimed their very canary-yellow light was supposed to be orange.

Mike Walsh the Younger made a new nosecone for his upscale mosquito. He bored a hole through the front and placed a BT-50 clear payload tube and nosecone sticking out of it. Inside that was his chemlight and he appropriately named it Stinger.

We heard twice from the Buckley family. Kaytee flew an Estes Warp II on C5 power with a chemlight in the clear payload section. The base of the nosecone was opened to accommodate the chemlight and exposed a potential problem, when the chute deployed the payload section now hung upside down. The chemical in the light stick fell into the nosecone becoming invisible from most angles on the ground. Only when it was very near touchdown did it become clearly visible.

John's entry was a bit more MacGyver-ish. He taped two lightsticks to the body of his Estes Shadow powered by Aerotech Blue Thunder propellant. (I don't recall if it was Duct Tape he used.)

Mike Wiese provided two entries for our enjoyment. The first was an Estes Loadstar he called Gloadstar carrying a lightstick and powered by an Estes C6. His second entry was a bit more creative and the only entry to have three independent 110 volt alternating current powerplants on board. OK, I dressed it up a little. They were inverters to power the three large Indiglo nightlight dots on the fins of his highly modified Estes Fat Boy he called Glo-Boy. He also had three blinking LEDs in the nosecone and was powered by a Northcoast Darkstar F62. Unfortunately a fin broke on landing damaging one of the nightlights.

Jeff McCoy had a shorter variation of his clear rocket. This one had two chemlights, one green and one yellow and powered by an Aerotech Blue Thunder E30.

Now, obviously on everyone's mind was "how would the motors look at night?" Well, mostly quite unimpressive. The Estes black powder motors sparked a little with a barely visible flame. As these were all C motors I'd like to see a D before completely discounting their show appeal.

The Darkstar was also much the same. Almost no flame at all. It was only visible when looking straight up the pipe. The Blue Thunder was the greatest disappointment. I expected a bright blue flame that would light up the launch area. Instead it was a small blue flame that lit nothing. Time-lapse photography definitely shows the best side of this motor.

The best show was without a doubt the Aerotech White Lightning. It was brilliant and lit the whole launch area. The flame illuminating the white smoke trail was quite a sight.

All flights were enjoyable and successful by all accounts. To all the participants I say a hearty "Thank You". You folks made a wonderful show in the Missouri night sky.