For you statistic minded folks here is the break down: 107 model flights 33 high power flights 8 cluster flights (all mod rocs)

Motors burned:

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M
15	18	39	13	13	14	26	17	7	5	2	0	1

A total of 170 motors burned

Motor manufactures:

ESTES	AEROTECH	ELLIS MOUNTAIN	APOGEE	HYPERTEK
83	84	1	1	1

Frequent fliers:

Candy Turner and Stephen Lowry with 8 flights each. Followed by Claude Paquin with 7 flights for the day.

Highlights:

One thing all fliers had to contend with was the steady wind out of the south. It picked up as the day warmed. Many fliers had to deal with severe weathercocking and/or long walks for recovery. It was definitely a day for durable rockets, correct delay estimation and proper chute sizing. There also seemed to be an abnormal amount of recovery problems leading to lawn darts or core samples. Too many of these came dangerously close to the spectator area and the car line. Bruce Weidner wants to caution everyone that angling your launch rod into the wind to compensate for conditions is not acceptable. Safety at the launch is paramount. If you are using electronics for recovery system deployment (altimeters or timers) it is highly recommended that you have a club member experienced with these devices review your set-up. A few of the failures that lawn darted had electronic recovery deployment systems. If you are in doubt, ask Bruce.

Perhaps the best highlight of the day came late in the afternoon. The rocket gods were definitely smiling on Kevin Souers this day. Kevin achieved his level 3 flight with an Ellis Mountain M1000. Kevin's 133-inch, 43-pound, 70%-scale WAC Corporal made a gorgeous flight to an estimated 6200 ft altitude and successfully recovered. Congratulations to Kevin on his achievement.

There were also several other certification flights this day. Travis Banks, Kevin Bauer, Dan Howard, Chris Kallaos, Michael Ludwig, Jon Pennington and Jim Felt all certified level one. Congratulations to you all and welcome to high power. Mark McGraw attempted his level 2 certification with a PML Eclipse but unfortunately his motor kicked out at ejection. The drogue and main deployed via his altimeter but too much black powder possibly caused the rocket to split at the piston and break apart. Mark recovered the booster section but the payload portion with his electronics ended up hanging from a power line off highway P. Michael Tait attempted both his level 1 and level 2 certification flights. Level one was achieved on an Aerotech Astrobee D using an AT H128. His level 2 certification attempt was on an EZI-65 and an AT J350 motor. The boost was straight and good, however, his ejection charge failed to deploy the recovery system and the rocket lawn darted. Attempting both certification levels in one day is no small feat and Michael should be congratulated on his accomplishment of level 1.

Fred Gruis put on a spectacular launch of his highly beefed up Estes Fatboy on an Aerotech I65. Fred called it ‘Estes on steroids’. It was really something to see with that long burning motor pushing the rocket skyward. The rocket unfortunately disappeared and was not seen again. Hopefully someone will find the rocket and return it. Fred’s work is always inspiring and he shows us just what pushing the envelope is all about.

Mark Henriksen put in several flights. His NCR Phantom 4000 flew perfectly on an H242. However, Mark’s luck would not hold. Later in the day he put up his recently repaired Thoy Phoenix on an Aerotech G80. The Phoenix was slow to leave the pad and did not gain much altitude before it came arrowing in and lawn darted. The damage was pretty extensive and Mark doubts about a rebuild. It’s time for a new bird.

One flier who has not been seen around high power launches recently was Chad Rogers. Chad flew his ‘mostly yellow rocket’ in a drag race with Jack Hollister. Both fliers flew on AT G80’s. Chad beat Jack’s Really Big Bustard despite being slow off the pad.

Paul Graf showed up with a clone of an old Estes’ kit called The Spaceman. He had a nice flight with tumble recovery. Paul also brought his recently finished Anniversary Edition Saturn V but wisely elected not to fly it in the wind. Paul did a really outstanding job on this rocket and it will be a real crowd pleaser when he does fly it.

There were quite a few cluster flights as well. Scott Kormeier flew his 429 Straker on a cluster of (2) AT G35’s and (2) AT G80’s. All four motors ignited and provided a beautiful flight. Scott also flew his Tomahawk on (2) AT F39’s and (2) E30’s for another successful cluster flight. Scott likes clusters so much he flew his 429 Straker again on (4) AT G35’s. Jeff McCoy flew his ToolTime on a cluster of (8) outboard C6-5’s and a single D12-5 core motor putting in a fabulous flight.

Rob Chapie came out with several of his rockets, including two new ones that he scratch built. Both his Standard ARM and Bullpup were beautifully finished and flew fantastic on AT H128’s.

Mark Geislinger turned out a beautiful flight with his Hypertek hybrid powered Tempest on a Hypertek J250. It is always neat to hear these hybrid motors go; a very unique sound. Another club regular, Heino Pull , put up a good flight with his Caliper ISP on an AT H123. Of note was that this was probably the first flight in a long time that Heino did not have electronics on board, of any kind.

The Jacob family (Joe, Dain & Jake) was in attendance and put up several nice flights with their fleet, including a perfect flight on their A4V4 (V2) on an AT I211

Steve Mizerany flew his beautiful X-15 on an AT E30. The power pod ejected at apogee and the X-15 glided very well right into the wing. Unfortunately the model suffered some minor damage to the right wing on landing due to the dirt clods in the field. It looks like it can be repaired and flown again.

Bob Schapp came out again with several of his vintage kits. Bob flew his Astron Ranger and his Der Red Max ca. 1972. Bob is certainly not afraid to fly these vintage kits. Bob also flew his Milk Carton to Mars. This rocket is made from milk cartons and has a unique rear ejection parachute deployment system.

All in all SLRA had a very good day. Despite the wind the temperature was warm and the sun was shining. We had a record number of registered fliers; 58 and although the number of flights was not a record there were a respectable amount of those. Perhaps if the wind had not been a strong as it was there would have been more flights.