SLRA Launch Report –
October28-28, 2000 – Elsberry, MO
Contributed
by Claude Paquin
This
launch was the first edition of the “Mid-America Rocket Festival”, a two-day
event organized by the St. Louis Rocketry Association. Before we get into the details of this
event, I would like to first thank everyone who helped make this launch run as
smoothly as it did. It really does take a whole team of people to make
something like this happen.
We
had cool temperatures throughout the weekend, but fortunately no rain. Winds were from the East both days, and they
were fairly steady at 5-10 mph. Several
people decided to camp on the site to add to the overall experience. We also had the presence of a group of boy
scouts, who camped on site as well. The
boy scouts even offered a complete breakfast to the flyers on Sunday morning
for a small fee. Thank you for adding this nice touch to our launch.
Saturday October 28, 2000
On
the first day we had a low cloud ceiling, and flights were limited to a maximum
altitude in the 1500 – 2500 feet range.
Nevertheless, we had 31 registered flyers for that day, who cumulated
170 flights (a new club record). The
first flight of the day belongs to Joe Meyer who launched an Estes Wizard on an
A8-3 for a nominal flight.
Candice
Turner was our most frequent flyer for the day with 9 flights. She launched several rockets from her fleet
on motors ranging from ½ A to C. Dan
Schneider was also a frequent flyer that day, launching rockets with names like
“Taz”, “Zeus Explorer” and “Transforming Gliding Thing”. The gliding thing worked well, but his most
impressive flight was probably his Pterodactyl Jr., which literally jumped off
the pad with the help of an H220 motor.
Speaking
of creative rocket names Steve Mizerany wowed the crowd with his “Linear
Accelerator”. This rocket flew on a
central H97, airstarting four D11s using thermalite. All the motors ignited for a spectacular flight. Steve also flew his “Lucy in the sky with
diamonds” on a G40 and had two flights on his “Presto-Change-o”, which features
glider and helicopter recovery.
Eddie
Meyer also had a great cluster flight with his scratch-built rocket called
“Black Thunder”. The rocket flew on one
central D12 and 4 x C6-0. All motors
ignited for a great flight. Tom McAtee
had several nice flights, including one high power flight when he launched his
LOC Legacy on an H128. He was less
fortunate with his scratch-built V-3, which suffered a D-12 CATO. I don’t know if this is comforting, Tom, but
the flight card reads “CATO – Nice fireball though…”.
There
was no official contest that day, but it is always interesting to mention some
specific accomplishments. Steven Meyer got the “Closest to the LCO table” award
by landing his Estes Skywinder only a couple feet from the table. Yours truly probably had the most unusual
CATO of the day when his scale LRD-D-1 seemed to collapse on the launch
pad. The rocket is being rebuilt and
the faulty G80 motor has been sent to Aerotech for replacement.
Jeff
Brundt brought many of his immaculate rockets and had several great
flights. Jeff flew scratch-built Little
Joe II on a cluster of 2 x D-12 motors.
He then returned with his Estes Honest John and then his NCR
Bomarc. Later in the day Jeff flew his
now famous upscale Mars Lander on an H123 for another good flight. A scratch-built Terrier Sandhawk followed
this one on an H128 for a good flight and a Boyce Aerospace Mercury Redstone,
also on an H128.
Dan
Appelbaum had two good flights with his new PML Explorer, first on an F50-6
motor and then on a G40-7. Heino Pull
launched a Thoy Falcon equipped with an Adept altimeter and a prototype GPS
flight recorder. Unfortunately the
flight resulted in a crash but we learned that most of the flight data was
recovered afterwards.
Rob Chapie tested the booster and the sustainer of
his PML Quantum Leap on separate flights.
The booster flew on a G64 and the sustainer on an H128. Hopefully we will see this rocket fly soon
in its two-stage configuration.
Motors burned during the day:
1/2A 5
A 12
B 23
C 52
D 25
E 12
F 15
G 23
H 14
I 3
J 0
K 1
L 0
M 0
For
a total of 10,960 n-s. Jeff McCoy
contributed 1600 n-s to this total in one single flight when he launched his 8
¾” upscale Fat Boy on a K1100. The
23-pound beast had a perfect flight, earning Jeff the first place in propellant
consumption for Saturday. This flight
was certainly one of the highlights of the day.
The
range shut down at 5:40 PM after a great afternoon of flying. Thanks to all who
participated for a real fun day of flying.
It is always inspiring to see the craftsmanship and creativity displayed
during these launches.
We had much better flying conditions on Sunday,
allowing us to fully utilize our waiver of 6,500 feet. In the morning, Justin Everinoman (sorry, I
probably did not get your last name right) launched a Mach Buster on a G55-10,
probably as a sacrifice to the rocket gods.
We never saw the rocket again, so it appears they have accepted the gift. In return, they granted us a nice day of
flying and a couple successful certification flights.
Speaking
of certification flights, Gardner Jones was the first to attempt his
certification that day. He flew his PML
Bull Puppy on an Aerotech H123 for a successful level 1 flight. Welcome to high power! He was followed Jim Felt, who flew a Thoy
Falcon on a J350. An Adept ALTS25
handled recovery and the flight was successful. Welcome to higher power!
Finally, Mark Geislinger flew his scratch-built behemoth on an M1939 for
his level-3 certification flight. Only one word can describe this:
Awesome. The 70-pound rocket had a
great flight, the two-stage recovery system worked perfectly, and Mark can now
spend even more money on motors.
Welcome to the highest power!
Lane Douglas was not as fortunate since his LOC
Magnum suffered some damage during his level 2 attempt. The forward closure of his K550 failed and
created some spectacular skywriting right above the launch pad. Scott Kormeier also tried for level 2 by
flying his PML Endeavor on a J350 but I think he had recovery problems. Don’t give up, next time should be the right
one!
Michael Tait had several flights that day. Michael first launched a Fat Boy on an E28
and then returned with a scratch-built rocket he calls “Video 14” 1on an
F40. This one suffered a lawn dart, but
that did not stop him. The highlights
of his day are probably the flight of his LOC Magnum on a J350 as well as the
successful flight of his LOC Hi-Tec on a G64.
This rocket was equipped with a video downlink and apparently everything
worked well. We all hope to see these
images soon.
Benjamin Tihen launched his Estes Free Fall on a
B6 and then on a C6 motor. Both flights
featured an alien coming down under a separate chute. Cool. Dana Morris
launched a scratch-built, high-performance, altimeter-equipped, dual-deployment
rocket called Win-Nuke on a J275 and then on a J350 for two nice flights. Larry
Mills fired a scratch-built rocket he calls Goldfinger on a K185. As expected it went out of sight. Larry later told us the rocket attained an
altitude of over 11,000 feet.
Mark Henriksen blasted his trusty Estes Phoenix on
an I435. The rocket had a beautiful
boost but unexpectedly separated at apogee.
Fortunately Mark got all the parts back. Mike Walsh launched his Aerotech Mustang on a long-burn G25
motor. A nice flight for the rocket and a long walk for the owner! On the other extreme, Steven Meyer and
Dustin Calley both shared the “closest to the launch pad” prize. Dustin’s Estes Prowler got stuck on the
launch rod and never left the pad.
Steven’s Estes Skywinder matched that performance, for a tie.
The only problem that day was the mosquitoes. Big ones.
Jerome Tonnesson launched an upscale mosquito on a C6-5. Jeff McCoy launched an even bigger one
called “Blood Sucker” on a G64 reload.
Finally, Mike Walsh launched his upscale Mosquito called “Stingy”, this
time on a G55 motor.
Motors
burned during the day:
A 2
B 6
C 14
D 16
E 3
F 10
G 16
H 6
I 4
J 6
K 2
L 0
M 1
For
a total of 24,050 n-s. Of course, Mark
Geislinger takes the first place in propellant consumption for the day with the
10,240 n-s he burned during his level 3 flight.
Overall,
it was a great weekend and a successful first edition of the Mid-America Rocket
Festival. Many of us would like to see
another two-day event in our schedule.
Once again thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for their
efforts.