SFentress - Dec. 4, 2010:
Launch
Report, from Nick DeBrita:
Yesterday's launch had it's ups and it had its downs. A decent number of
people braved the cold and early hour to come fly. Despite the numbers,
we had quite a few launches. I'm pretty sure Jeff's student had more
launches than all of us combined yesterday. A very enthusiastic flier,
I'm sure he'll be flying for quite some time.
As I said, the launch had it's ups and downs. On the upside, I flew my
Extreme Darkstar on a J415W for a very graceful and majestic flight to
2,258ft. It landed on the runway, but only had a few scratches.
On the downside, I flew my PML Tethys on a Pro29 H410Vmax. The high
thrust of the motor sent the motor adapter into the rocket, destroying
the adapter, and burning through the piston strap. Overall, the rocket
is in good shape and will fly again someday. It will take some head
scratching to mount a new recovery harness, but I've already got some
ideas floating around in my head.
Jeff had some bad luck with his Phobos. He flew it on an I211W, and it
flew much higher than anticipated. We all heard and saw the apogee
charge, but after that, no one had eyes on it. We never heard the main
event either. Phobos's have a tendency to disappear. I have one lost in
the trees by the baseball fields. In hindsight, it may have been a bad
idea to paint it green.
Brian Heywood had a good and bad day too. He flew his ever present
Phoenix Rising twice. The first flight was gorgeous on an H170
Metalstorm. I can't recall the actual altitude, but it was around
2,000ft. His second flight was on a J340 Metalstorm for a Level 2 cert
attempt. Unfortunately, it was a little too much motor for that rocket.
On the upside, it looked like the electronics, motor case, and
parachutes all survived. I'm sure Brian will be back with another rocket
and the flight will be successful.
Photos from Nick DeBrita, & Randy Regan
Brian H's Metalstorm
Jeff's
Joe V.
Randy's G-Force