St. Louis Rocketry Association Launch Report

18 November 2000

Elsberry, Missouri

By Mark McGraw

The St. Louis Rocketry Association gathered for a high power launch on Saturday 18 November at the Elsberry launch site. On my 4 point scale of warm temperatures, low winds, high ceilings and dry fields, I would give this launch a 2.5 as the field was dry, the ceilings high and the temp was decent for November. High winds were the big negative for the day.

Tom McAtee was the first to fire an igniter at 9:18 am with his Quest UFO on a B6. Unfortunately it was a Cato! Tom had better results the rest of the day with his Estes Bailout on a B6, Loc Forte' on G33 power, and a scratch built he called "Good to Go" on an I-161, Which I believe might have been Tom's first I motor. Could level 2 be just around the corner Tom?

Let me provide the numbers for the launch before I get too far into this. 33 Flyers flew a total of 66 flights on motors ranging from A to L with 1 cluster and 1 hybrid. And let me talk about that cluster flight right up front as I believe that it was one of the highlights of the launch. Fred Gruis flew a scratch built rocket that he called "Coronary Event" on 3 I284s air starting a Kosdon L850 for a total of almost 4500 Newton-Seconds. It was a great flight that went off without a hitch, with the possible exception of Fred pushing the wrong button on the launch controller but more on that later. By the way Fred, I've got some great video of the flight.

Michael Tate was the high flyer for the day with 5 flights. These included a Fat Boy on an E28, Loc Onyx and Graduator on G64s, a 3 mail tube scratch built on an H-180 and his "Video Rock II" on an F40. Dan Appelbaum flew 4 flights that ranged from an Estes Banshee on an A8 to a PML Explorer on a G40. Ryan Howland brought out some beautiful rockets including an NCR Patriot which flew on an F62 and an Aerotech Astrobee D on a G64.

The Buckley clan combined for four flights as Katyee flew her Estes Fat Boy twice on C6s and John flew a really nice Aerotech Mustang twice on G38s. And John also flew his trusty Big Bertha on a C6. Jeff Brundt, our resident master model builder, had three good flights including an Aerobee 150 on a D12, an NCR Bomarc on a G75, and a Cosmodrome Black Brandt II on a G80. We all held our breath for a second as that Bomarc took a little longer than anticipated to kick out that chute. Brian Mazdra gave his Super Big Bertha a workout as it flew three times all on D-12s.

Claude Paquin flew a scratch built called "Autozone Special" on a D12 and then stepped it up to an E15. Claude's big flight was his scratch built "J.P. Express" on a K550. This was an minimum diameter rocket that modeled out at almost 11,000 feet. Two stage recovery was used to try to keep this one somewhat close to the launch site. This rocket had a great flight but got off to an early start when Fred Gruis, LCO wizard, pushed the wrong button. All worked out as the rocket had a locating beacon and I believe Claude recovered the rocket a week later off an island in the middle of the Mississippi.

Jack Hollister had three good flights with the Silver Comet on a D15, Solar Sailor on a C6, and his scratch built "Really Big Bustard" on an F20. Heino Pull had tough day as his Caliper ISP with a scratch built GPS payload had an ejection failure and core sampled. It was tough to watch but I know Heino will be back again to give it another try. Mark Geislinger, coming off his Level 3 certification at the last launch, had a great flight of his Loc EZI-65 on an I284. Rob Chapie was not so fortunate with his EZI-65, modified for hybrid operation as it shredded on a Hypertech K240.

Larry Mills had a great flight of an AMRAAM-4 on a J135. Travis Banks stressed his Aerotech Mirage on an I154 but it held together nicely. Dan Schneider had a long walk with his PML Phobos on an I435 as the main chute came out a little early. As for me an Alli, I would say we had a good day. Alli launched her Loc Legacy on a G64 which we lost in the sun and thank you to whoever found it in the field. I had three good flights for the day with a PML Cirrus Dart on an H123 that was flying a Altacc, a PML Sudden Rush on an I300, and my favorite which was my scratch built "Club Mac III" on a J415. This flight re-created a previously failed Level 2 attempt and the Cambridge accelerometer worked great.

And finally, we did have one certification attempt, with Mike Hill flying his scratch built "Urban Menace" on a J415 with two stage recovery and a camera onboard. All went well with the exception of the quick link ripping out of the nose cone which precluded the certification. Tough break but I know Mike will be back with another attempt.

Thanks to all who helped with set-up, tear-down, and LCO, LCA, and RSO slots throughout the day. And thanks to Chad from Ring Rocketry for supporting the launch.