March 13, 2009 - Friday the 13th
 
I came home exhausted from what felt like an unusually long work week.  Rather than going over the launch equipment to make sure everything was ready for the launch the following day I fell asleep on the couch about 5 minutes after my last bite of supper.  I woke up about 10:30 and decided to indulge in my procrastination and hit the sack.
 
March 14, 2009 - Launch Day
 
The Saga Begins
 
"WOW!  I feel good! So good - [wha-na-nana- na-na] I feel good!  Just like I knew I would! [wha-na-nana- na-na]"  My cell phone alarm enthusastically greeted me at 5 am.  I had to get up early due to the above mentioned attack of fatigue (and maybe laziness).  Despite the early hour, I felt refreshed and ready for the day.  Fifteen minutes later as I was zipping my jacket on the way out to open the equipment trailer in the predawn darkness and I managed to slip off one of the step stones in my front yard and twist my ankle.  With little harm done and no delay besides a brief bit of muttered cursing (can't wake the neighbors) and walking gingerly for a bit, I was well into the task at hand.  After a quick phone call to make sure that Kevin, my partner in crime, was up and about, I kept at it.  Around 7am Kevin arrived on the scene about the same time as the sun armed with a thermos of coffee and an unabashed eagerness (well, he had the coffee at least).  We started to get the truck ready to pull the trailer.  As we were using a different tow vehicle than we normally do, we had to see which trailer hitch resulted in the best set up - the first we tried seemed way too high.  30 minutes later, with a modified bushing for the stud on the ball we lowered the jack on the trailer to an optimal ride height.  Unfortunately we had to crank the jack down another 20 revolutions or so before all of the weight was off the jack and realized the tongue was drastically too low.  Going back to the tongue we rejected as our second choice a half hour earlier we were ready.  I ran inside to get the rest of my things making sure to leave my thermos of Kool Aid behind along with my granola bars.  [sigh]  "Do you have a trash can?"  Kevin is carrying his nice stainless steel thermos at arm's length with coffee gushing out everywhere.  It seems as he opened the door it rolled out and managed to land just right and broke the liner.  So we are off and running now - a little late - OK it was past the posted breakfast meeting time when we actually were on the road.  A quick detour to the ATM allowed time for the State Highway Patrol trucks right behind us to pass.  Back on the road getting up to speed and WHAM!  "What the h3!! was that!?!"  Kevin advised me to pull over which I did cautiously.  "It's the tire."  But the trailer was rolling fine.  The spare!  I hopped out of the truck in time to tackle the spare that was barreling down the highway.  The strap broke and the trailer ran over the standing spare.  After checking the equipment, we were back on the road.
 
Elsberry
 
Meeting the Riederers and John Buckley at 8:45 pulling out of Rachel's parking lot, Kevin and I passed off the sledge and the signs and sat down for lots of cholesterol and carbs.  Driving down the farm road grateful that the landowner had the cable over the bridge down, the fields were glistening.  I don't mean glistening with harp music in the background like in some cheap fantasy or dream scene, I mean glistening in the sun like they were soaking wet.  Suddenly breakfast was sitting a little heavier.  Buckly and the NAR contest folks wasted no time setting up on the road just past the turn off to the dirt road.  Creeping along the dirt road, disenheartened  by the mud flipping off the front tires, I thought we were going to have last minute bad news.  I was happy to see that there were tire tracks that went beyond where we were parked and foot prints that went out even farther.  Clearly the land owner checked things out carefully and deemed his land fit to use without risk of tearing it up.  Many folks helped with setup.  Set up was going quickly (great because we were getting suich a late start) until people started hailing me from the relay box.  It seemed to have a dead short.  After 15 minutes or so and some field repairs, the relay box was slightly modified but functioning well.
 
The Launch
 
This is the part you've been waiting for, but the events leading up to it had to be told.  Sam Sutter, a member for a few years now, had the first rocket off the pad at 11:30 am (definitely a late start) flying a Hawk Mountain Raptor on an Aerotech G77 redline.  A very cool flight to start the day.  This was followed up by the first cert flight of the Day.  Jerry Cialino, Tom-from-Columbia's, father had a perfect flight of his Performance Rockets 1/4 scale Patriot called (for some reason - I'm sure there's a story there) "Andy" powered by an Aerotech I357.  That was definitely a very respectable way to joing high powered rocketry.  Now we are at a 50% ratio of successful certification flights to total flights of the day.  Admittedly the day was early (in a latish sorta way).  Next up:  Kyle Riederer, Loc Precision EZI-65 (a great choice), AT H148R.  Excellent flight!  Welcome to high powered rocketry.  We are now up to 100% of the high powered flights of the day were successful level 1 certification flights. 
Clayton HS was well represented.  Nathan Peck's group next flew their first of many TARC practice flights.  Most of these flights cold be described as the LCO penned on this flight card, "Nice!"  Not all -but most of them.  A few eggs were scrambled throughout the day.  Next up Kyle Riederer flying a LOC Graduator on a what?  F50.  Hold on, you're certified to fly high power now.  You're going backwards.
High power flight # #:  Kevin Rusbarsky, PML X-calibur, AT H128W.  That's what I like 3rd of 3 consecutive successful level 1 cert flights.  But wait!  That's not all!  If you act right now you get the second half of this father / son level 1 cert team.  Gregory Rusbarsky joined high power by successfully flying his PML Explorer on another AT H128 white lightning.  4 HIgh power flights, 4 successful level 1 certs.  My twisted ankle was not bothering me at all at that point. 
 
Next up was not another level 1 cert flight - because this flyer is level 3 certified already.  Derek Kewley's (Columbia, MO) beautiful scratch built Warlock II flew great on a J350W.  I can't remember the last time I saw a bad flight from this guy.
 
By this time I had my own cheering section.  My brother Mike and his son Mike were the first of my family to arrive.  My sister Jean and her husband and lapsed rocketeer - the one who got me into this obsession- Mike (do you sense a theme with the names yet) was there as well.  I was psyched that I was going to be flying the first K of the day.  I had the booster of my 2 stage Talon fitted with a K550 and a nose cone.  This should be fun.  "..2, 2, 1 ..."[WHOOSH! FWAP! FLAP] and what was left of my rocket was laying on the ground 75 ft from the launch pad with the last bit of flames shooting out both ends of the rockets.  I think the crowd liked that onbe more than me.  But the nose cone, rear closure, din can and motor case made it out unscathed.  Oh yeah, Kevlar shock cord really doesn't burn - but forward closures do.
 
A good way to follow that up is with a successful 2 stage model flight.  Michael Wright had his Estes Mongoose lift off on a B6 staging to a B6.
 
A short time later, Larry Terneus from Coffeen, Il (where?) had the first successful K impulse flight of the day.  His 3" diameter, 8-1/2 ft tall Wildman made a great flight on a Cesaroni K445.  Parents, cover your children's eyes.  Larry called this un-painted rocket "Must Be Young - Still Looks Good Naked."
 
CHS had a number of flights with flight cards indicating that child labor laws have not made it to rocketry yet as they claimed the manufacturer was "under paid students" and called their rocket "Bargain Bin Special" (or "Dave" depending on their mood at the time of each flight.
 
Isaiah Waggener and Don, The launch is this Saturday, Hanson were among the model flyers of the day.  Don's AT Initiator, the Prodigal Rocket fly well on an econoline G40 despite some possible forgery on the RSO inspection.  We won't talk about the rest of the flight card.
 
Lou Goldring, also a level 3 certified flyer, flew his Giant Leap Rocketry's Nuclear Sledhammer that he wisely dubbed "Thanks Hon!" in one of the most spectacular flights (not counting K550 CATOs) of the day.  An Animal Motor Works L1400 Skidmark producing 4,744 Ns of impulse powered this 60 pound rocket on a cloud of dark black smoke flashing with titanium burning spark spitting, crackling fury to a near perfect flight.  There was a mishap that caused the dual deployment to not function as designed, but brought the rocket back down safely (if not gracefull) and in tact (tactfully?).
 
Michael Wright had an interesting rocket.  He brought, for our entertainment, an Estes Skywinder with rotor blade recovery.  The rotors were clear plastic.  Don Hanson at the helm expressed his approval of the flight with his comment "Copters R Cool!" in the permanent record of this event.
 
Back to certification.  Rodney Riederer, the senior partner of the Riederer father/son level 1 cert team joined the ranks (and trust me some of us do get rank) of high powered flyers  using his Quantum Leap Firestorm 54 powered by an Aerotech H123.  Tally to date:  certification flight attempts made: 5, successful attempts: 5.  These guys make us look good.  All of the flyers who certified at this launch clearly did their homework and got to bask in learning not by their mistakes but by theior accomplishments.  Congratulations to all.
 
Ben Glover, Paul Coss, Michael and Jeffery Wright, Roger Waggener and seemingly countless CHS Team America Rocketry members provided many model flights of various shapes, sizes, configurations and permutations.  (I think the cool fins on one of the CHS rockets can aptly be called permutations.)
 
Martin Voruz flew his beautiful Public Missile Bull Pup on an AT I284W (a motor that I always like to see) that gave it that very real look.  A good videographer could have captured this and slowed it down and added some more sound to mock a very convincing full size rocket launch.
 
We had Prodigal Rockets fleeting memories (eg Derek Kewley's PML kit "don't know") and prprodigal rocketeers (welcome back Warren Evans and Jim Harris).  With the good news for rocketry on the legal front hopefully we can get our dedicated RSO, web designer, equipment hauler and general whipping boy, Kevin Souers and the person responsible for getting me involved in rockets, Michael Bollinger, back into flying soon.
 
Jimmy Harris flew a scratch built rocket using an H123W.  I flew Sam Sutters solidly built (almost everywhere) Arreaux on a high powered test flight buring an I161.  There was seperation after deployment but the flight was otherwise good and the rocket sustained minor damage only.
 
While I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off encouraging (okay I was full fleged pestering) Lou to disassemble his burned L1400 to build another skidmark for everyone's enjoyment, rockets were flying due to the work of the relentless Kevin Souers, Don Hanson and Rob Benton.  Warren Evans proved he really was not afraid to fly his scratch built "Biggin" that he dubbed "It's about time!" for its maiden flight.  (A little background on this rocket:  it was completed back 2000 - okay maybe it was 2006..but it has been ready to go for a while now.  It is a scratch built behemoth that I wouldn't want to have to carry far on recovery.)  He sent it into the air on an Aerotech K1100.  The kick from that motor seemed to barely get the rockets attention.  This rocket clearly craves more AP.  It flew great and would fly again on a very smooth flight with a K550.
 
Tom Ciolino's Nike Smoke made a great flight on an AT I215.  I love those redlines!
 
And I thought things were going to go great the rest of the day...
 
Two rockets requiring altitude windows (where we have to call in to the FAA to get permission to use air space to a higher altitude - 14,500 ft AGL (above ground level) were on the pads ready to go.  A third rocket that would be borderline for needing the extra altitude reserved was nearly together.  The FAA granted us a 30 minute window - blocking the air space in the Elsberry "Rcoket Box" to 14,500 ft.  I flip the switch to arm the relay box - nothing.  NO flashing light, no beeping.  AHRG!  The relay box was quickly dismantled, all relays were checked, temporary connections made at the beginning of the day all looked good.  Another component failed.  With the clock ticking away the time for our protected airspace, we chose to do a maual launch.  "...3, 2, 1" and Mark Grant's scratch built rocket "13 Degree Rocket" thundered off the pad on an Aerotech L850 to over 8,000 ft AGL (that's about a mile and a half).  The crowd loved it and the flight was awesome.  From the vantage point of the guy doing the manual launch it was a rush.  Stationed at the relay box I could clearly feel the shock wave from that L motor hit me.  Now we're playing with the big boys!  Next up waiting for the smoke to clear perched on the monster pad is Lou Goldring's rocket "Puppy".  (He has a dog (puppy) named Rocket so he thought it appropriate to name a rocket "Puppy".  OK....)  This is a 3" minimum diameter carbon fiber rocket built by Performance Rocketry.  The L1400 motor we cleaned was reloaded and another L1400 skidmark was stuiffed into the 9' tall dart.  The motor made up about eleven and a half pounds of the rocket's total flight weight of 20 pounds.  Of that, about 6-1/4 pounds of that was actual propellant - solid rocket fuel.  With a simulated altidue of about 11,200 ft this was going to be a high flight.  At ignition I could see a small flame poke out of the nozzle as the igniter worked on getting all that propellant, rubber and titanium buring.  The black smoke and sparks burst from the nozzle and the rocket was gone replaced by a half mile column of black smoke and sparks.  Too cool.  According to the electronics on board, Puppy used up nearly all of our altitude hitting 13,300 ft AGL (that's about two and a half miles).  Sneaking in with a minute to spare we sent Giant Leap Firestorm 54 to the heavens on a Mojave Green J500 by Aerotech.  (Read back and note that we had a level 1 cert flight on a very similar firestorm on a motor in the H impulse level.  Hmm, I wonder what his future plans are.)  This 5.25 pound rocket tore off the rail kicked by the 175 pounds of initial thrust.  Although the onboard altimeter told us that this flight probably didn't need to be a window flight (because it didn't reach the simulated alitude and stayed below 6,500 ft AGL) it is better to be safe than sorry.  This was definitely a great flight.  The rocket sustained a little damage due to a slightly oversized main parachute deployment charge.  The 12 gage sounding report definitely ensured that the contest flyers below would not miss this rocket floating quietly down on them.  It was loud from where I was near launch control.  I suspect some of the contest flyers may have wished they packed spare britches after that.
 
Flights continued until we ran out of waiver.  One flight that I have to mention (because I love this rocket and have seen it fly many times (and only wreck once 3 years ago)) is Derek Kewley's Talon 4.  It flew on a K550.  An awesome flight.  That rocket on a long burn K185 is also a must see flight - especially if it is a little windy and it shifts sideways - doesn't weather cock at all.  Maybe he breaks his rockets out in Columbia, but he sure doesn't seem to have any problems that I have seen.  I have seen him fly many times in Elsberry, in Columbia and his level 3 at LDRS in 2008.  Look for Derek to put up something nice at the Airfest at Scott AFB this year.
 
The last of the equipment (some pieces in better shape than others - some in more pieces than when the day began) was stowed in the equipment trailer.  Several of us (maybe 10) went to Rachel's in Elsberry for dinner.  There we relaxed, joked, told rocket stories and plotted and planned for things to come.  We (ok, I take credit for this) almost had Rodney convinced that every time someone has a successful cert flight that they have to pick up the tab at dinner.  I suspect it won't be long until we see some of the same faces at dinner after getting their level 2 certs.  Despite a few glitches we were able to overcome, the day was fantastic.  It was warm (the jacket I had on in the predawn period was shed before set up was done) with plenty of blue skies, low winds and eager rocketeers.  The wet looking fields turned out to be just about 1-1/2" of soft silt-ish material on top that was just turning to dust when we left.  No mud caked shoes, no dust coated tongues.  Who could ask for more?  (Oh yeah, I would have liked it better had it not been for my CATO.)  I also may remind the level 3 guys that we can fly level 3 motors at Elsberry.  Coming soon to a field near you, Lou Goldring's M maybe N flight....
 
Keep building them so we can keep flying them.

Dan Welling  3/26/2009