This is the launch report for 
October 7, 2001.

We had a great day.  It was a little windy.  But the wind slowly died down, somewhat.  At 6:00 pm when we were breaking down the equipment, there was no wind.

We had a very good turn out.  Lots of people.  We had a raffle.  Caleb Hill went away with a new Estes rocket.

Jeff Koffel brought our new SEVRA T-shirts.  They look really great.  Good job Jeff.  You can still purchase T-shirts.  Visit our web page on them for all the information.  We have plenty of extra shirts.

Every time we fly, we should learn something.  When it is windy, a parachute will cause great drift.  Always towards the tallest corn.  Build your rockets tuff so they can take a little harder landing.  Streamers are great for windy days.  A lot of smaller rockets can land with nothing except a deployed nose cone.

We had 30 fliers and 114 flights.  It was a good day.

A word of concern.  We are not doing a good job at picking up after ourselves.  You can't leave wadding and spent motor casings on the ground.  This is trash and it doesn't look good.  There is no excuse for this.  It has to stop or we will lose use of the field.  Also, I had to go into the corn to get my rocket.  I noticed that some people had decided to make a path into the corn by knocking over the corn.  We cannot have this.  The farmer's crop are important to him.  We can't destroy them.  If he complains to the park, we will lose use of the field.

Flier Flights Comments
Scott Brown 7 Scott was not up to his usual pace today.  Only seven flights.

His Big Bertha on a C6 and his Big Bertha + on an E9.  He flew the Onyx on an E30 then on an F72.  If that wasn't enough, it hen went up on an F101.

Bubba took to the air on a G80.

Then came Elara.  One F72 and 4 Dll.  It was to air start the D11s.

Steven Bradford 4 Steven gave his Twister a workout today.  He launched it four times on a B6.  Had great flights.
Pete and Jordan Covell 9 Pete and Jordan also slowed down their usual high pace of launches.

Pete flew his Bertha Shuttle three times.  Twice on a B6 and once on a C6.  He had to do some adjusting.  The shuttle is starting to show a bit of age.  A few to many bend and crooks.  But it still flies.

Pete made a new piston launcher.  His Prowler USA flying on a C5 needed a little extra boost.  Using the piston launcher provided it.  It made a big difference in launching.  If you want more information on piston launchers, see Pete at the next launch.  As an added bonus, Pete put a USA flag in the rocket.  On ejection, the flag came down separately.  It worked very well.

Jordan returned with Corn Dawg.  The farmer doesn't grow corn for nothing.  You can fly it.  Jordan put it up on an A8.

Pete put up his Bertha's Revenge on a C6.

Pete got a couple of other fliers to participate in what is called, "The St. Louis Arch."  Three rockets.  Each with a very long, different colored streamer attached to a fin.  Of course the color of the streamers is red, white, and blue.  With C6s, the rockets lifted off together, trailing the streamers behind them.  It was really impressive.  As the rockets arched over, so did the streamers.

Randy Ejma 3 Randy is a new flier to our group.

He put up his Saturn V on an E-9.  Ejection occurred just after landing.  For a rocket that big, it suffered very minor damage.  It no longer has an escape tower.

Randy then put up his Initiator on an F-25.  Had a great flight.

His Code Red on a C6 had a little aerodynamic problem.  It crashed.  The body tube got damaged.  A close inspection could not determine the reason for the erratic flight path.

Eric and Steven Fadely 7 Stephen put up his Flash on a C6 for a great flight.  Great flight.

Eric flew the Alpha Mod on a B6.  His upscale of the Estes Mosquito which he calls The Big Squiter went up on 6, yes 6, C6s.  It flew quite nicely.  It hauled.

Eric's Bullpup went up on a C6 and the Bertha flew on a D12.

The Lil' Nuke of Eric's went up on an F23, while the Sky Pirate went on an F40.

Caleb Hill 8 Caleb had a pretty good day.  Launched 8 rockets and won the SEVRA Rocket Raffle.

His BTC and Sizzler went up on A10s.  The USS Firecracker flew twice on B4s.

Johnny 5 flew twice on C6s.

His nice looking AIM-97A went up a couple of times on C6s.

Jeff, Jacob, and John Koffel 18 The Koffel family had a big day.  Eighteen flights.

Jacob put up a couple of Alpha IIIs on A8s.  His Scout went up on a B6.

Jacob's Big Daddy flew on a D12.  The Cheetah flew away on an E18.

John flew his Missile Loader on an A10.  His Falcon made two flights.  Once on a B6 and again on a C6.

John's Space Shuttle flew three times.  Each time on a C6.

Then John's Red-White-Blue III left the pad on an E9.

Jeff put up an X-15 on an A10.  Jeff started small.  Blobo went away on a D24.

Jeff then put up a rocket called "Stable or Not?"  Something funny about this one.  He also wrote on the flight card "HEADS UP!"  The flight card was also marked "Original Kit."  I wasn't sure if we should launch it.  It was going up on an F12.  We survived.

Jeff's wonderful Warlock, that big yellow beast, went up on an I357.  What a flight.

Jeff's RWBIII flew on an I366.  It used an altimeter with dual deployment.

Stephen Krall 2 Stephen brought out a rocket named Ugly 2.  Tells you about how it looked.  He flew it twice.

Once it went up on an H123 for a pretty good flight.  Then it took to the skies on an I218.

John Martin 1 John only made one flight with his John Deere.  If you look at the paint job, you will understand the name.  Plus it has two other characteristics that make the name fitting.

1.  It likes to go for the corn field.

2.  When there is a problem with all of the motor firing at once, it likes to plow the field.

This rocket goes up on 5, yes 5, D12s.  Well, most of the time it goes up on 5.  Sometimes it goes sideways on three.  It has a spectacular fin design.  It is a great sight when five flames are coming out the back end as it goes into the air.

Philip and Daniel Mashburn 5 Philip put up his rocket named Push on a F50.  It was his first flight.

Daniel flew the Gnome on an A2 and his Shockwave on a B6.

The Fat Boy went on a B6.  The Mach 3 flew on a C6.

Wayne Miller 5 Wayne flew his V-2 on a D12 two times.

His Norad had a great flight on an F40.

Wayne's Yank Bullet made its first appearance on a G64.  His Binder Design Excel went up on an H128.

Wayne has been spending some time in the trees.  We hope he gets it back down to earth.

Tracy Phelps 4 Tracy put up his Super Nova on a D12.

His Redstone also flew on a D12.

Then he brought out "The Dude."  This the the inflatable rocket made by Estes.  It is impressive.  Seven feet tall and full of air.  Tracy made two flights with "The Dude."  Both on D12s.  Anyone interested in this rocket can purchase it from Ken.  A Dude drag race would be neat, if everyone can keep it up.

Chris Ritter 1 Chris put up Shock Wave on a C6.  This was part of a drag race.
Kristie Rowe 2 Kristie put up "The Fred and Sophie Rocket" on a C6.

Kristie then decided to test the aerodynamics of a small rocket.  I think father Ed had something to do with this.  Talk about your minimum diameter rocket.  The poor rocket's name was "Nike-K-Ristie."  It wasn't very big.  It had a G80 in it.  Well, it left the pad in a hurry.  Somewhere up there it suffered a bit of catastrophic damage.  And then it was gone.  Someone did come across the motor casing and the upper half of the airframe.   Quite spectacular.

James Schoenster 2 James flew his Scorpion a couple of times.  First on a B4.  That went will so he put a C6 in it for another great flight.
Amber Stone 4 Amber had  some corn seeking flights.  the Apollo went up on a B6.  The Spitfire took to the skies on a B6.

Then came Goliath.  First on a B6.  That was good, so lets try a C6.  Into the corn it landed.  They couldn't find it.  Later in the day after they left, someone found it as they tried to find their rocket.  I'll bring Goliath to the next launch.

Chris Spalding 2 Chris put up a big Bertha on a C6.  Then he flew his Saturn V on a D12.  These Saturn Vs are great looking rockets.  We had two of them today.
Micharl Tompkins 2 Michael flew the Mighty Mates on two A10s for its first flight.

He also flew his Navy Guided Missile on a B6.

Jessica and Josh Tschirhart 16 Jessica and Josh came ready to fly today.  Sixteen flights.

Jessica's Monarch flew three times.  It went up on an A8,a B6, then a C6.  That is the way to fly.  Work your way up.

Josh put up his Astrocam 4 time on C6s.  Got to figure out how to get it to fly straight up so that it comes straight down for a picture of the pads.

Jessica flew the Razor three times.  Once on an A8.  Then twice on B6s.

Josh flew a Mosquito on a B6.  Then he brought out his Double Mosquito.  A very good looking upscale of the Mosquito, only with a second stage.  This went up on a B6 staging to an A8.  This was followed by a rocket named "The Rocket Formerly Known As Double Mosquito."  It went up on a C6.  I hope the name doesn't indicate the demise of the Double Mosquito.

Jessica brought out Blorange.  It flew on a B6 followed by two flights on C6s.

Evan, Shelby, and Mike Verbeek 10 Shelby flew Rattle 7 on a C6.  Rattler also flew on a C6.

Evan flew Spitfire on a C6.  His AARAAM flew on a C6.  Then we had the "Red Rocket" which went up on a D12.

Mike then took to the skies.  His Quest flew on a C6.  His Goliath also flew on a C6.

Mike's Quest Ion Pulsar went on a C6.  The AIM120 flew on two E9s.

Jared von Bargen 1 Jared flew his Hijax on a C6.
Don Wittenauer 2 Don brought out his new EZI-65 rocket.  Painted red, white, and blue.  The name is Remember the Alamo.  The first flight was on an H165R.  The delay was too long.  The chute opened just feet above the ground.  Luckily, no damage.  

It was late in the day, but a quick turn around and it was back up in the air on an H180 with a short delay.  This time all was well.  Everyone got to see the new spinning parachute.  It was red, white, and blue with a star in the middle.  It worked perfectly and looked great.

Thanks to Scott Brown for "battling" with the FAA.  Getting us back in the air took a while for the word to trickle down to everyone in the FAA.  But that is okay.  We understand.  Scott got it squared away for us.

I also encourage everyone to join the NAR.  This provides you with a great magazine and that all so important liability insurance.  You must be a member of the NAR to be a member of SEVRA.  You do not have to be a member of SEVRA to fly.  We do encourage you to join SEVRA.  We use the money to pay for NAR section dues and to buy launch equipment which isn't cheap.

You have to be a member of NAR to join SEVRA.  You cannot fly high power (H motors and above) unless you join NAR.

Don:)~