Launch Report March 28 - April 17/18

    As promised, this launch report will combine three days of EX flying at Whitakers, the lost cards from March 28, and Spring WELD, 2004. I’ll remind you of the weather: March 28 was chilly, fairly heavy (high) clouds, and a brisk wind out of the northeast. The weekend of April 17/18 was absolutely perfect, temperature around 50 in the morning, warming up to 70’s in the afternoon, a light wind out of the south to southwest (blowing down the long axis of the field) and a clear, blue, cloudless sky all weekend. If you missed this one, too bad. Even after the last rocket was collected, no-one wanted to go home, we just sat around and chatted in the warm, pleasant afternoon, with not a single biting insect to be found.

    First, the table of motors:

Sunday, March 28     David Cox and Mark Brown made 2 flights each. David flew his Magnum on a 3-grain 54mm J500 and his Mirage on a 4 grain 38mm I150. Both flights were perfect except that the Mirage refused to come out of the tree line until persuaded by John Hamill.

    Mark Brown tried a single use G motor using a slow red propellant in his Big Orange Saucer. The retention of the forward bulkhead or the nozzle continues to be a problem for these non-metallic motor casings. Mark also brought a 2-grain H200 using a blue-flame propellant for a fine flight in his Stretch Diablo.

    Mike Harris loaded up his Intergalactic No2xious Space Explorer with the Ratt works H70 hybrid with some kind of complicated valving or ignition modifications.

    Ed Rowe flew his Standard Arm AGM-78 on a 6-grain 54mm K motor using the latest version of his White Lightning clone. I’ve seen pictures of the lift-off (spectacular) and heard reports of the flight (perfect, to 6251 feet) but your correspondent was deep in the woods past the school way down route 33, tracking down a rocket whose main parachute came out at 6700 feet. My GFI made its first flight, this one on a 4-grain 54mm K motor made from a catocene-catalyzed propellant. We found it about 1.5 miles past the school, deep in a pine woods. Score another save for the Walston Retrieval System.

Saturday, April 17 Spring WELD     Allow me to emphasize how fine the weather was. It was that golden time between the cold and damp of winter and the biting and blood-sucking insects of summer. Alan Whitmore got the show started with a flight of his Spork on a 76mm M1550. Both the boost and recovery were perfect.

    Jim Livingston followed with a flight of his Carbon High on a 4-grain 76mm L1300 made from a high-metal-content formula. About 2.5 seconds into the flight, the forward bulkhead gave way and the resulting damage was rather severe. Jim builds his electronics bays as tough as a tank, and both altimeters rode along later in the day on a flight you will hear about shortly.

    David Cox has discovered a way to make a propellant that produces a flame that is red, white, and blue in discreet bands as it emerges from the nozzle. A beautiful effect and his 4-grain 54mm K800 sent his Magnum on a beautiful flight. David also had another perfect flight with the same rocket later in the day with a 3-grain 54mm J motor.

    Ben Russell made the trip from the D.C. area for the first time in more than a year and brought with him a delightful ring-tail design called That Cardboard Thing. This was the first flight, made on a shorty 115mm L800. Perfect flight and recovery, very stable flight characteristics, and a reported altitude of 1560 feet.

    Jim Livingston then brought out the heavyweight champion of WELD, the Extended 9-O-mite, which he flew on a 3-grain 115mm M3300 made from CP3/200, a copper oxide-containing formula. The sound was prodigious, the flame was long and blue, and flight and recovery were perfect! I cannot wait to see the photographs of that one.

    Alan Whitmore followed that flight with the smallest motor of the day, the Smooth Green Snake flew on a 4-grain 38mm I motor containing a propellant described in my notebooks as “Slow Mix”. There is another motor in the box labeled “Fast Mix” and I hope the labels got mixed, because this one took off like a cannon shot. 4437 feet reported.

    The final flight of the day was made by Ed Rowe, a minimum diameter carbon fiber rocket carrying a 54mm K500 sparky load. The boost was fabulous, but the main chute came out at apogee, and the winds carried it so far away that we could never even get a signal from the Walston transmitter.

Sunday, April 18     Only 4 flights on Sunday. Alan Whitmore got things started with a flight of his Flying Buttress on a 3-grain 76mm L1066 using a cobalt oxide containing formula. This flight ended in disaster when the apogee charge failed to fire and the rocket came in ballistic. Nothing tears up a rocket like a ballistic landing. The main parachute, its shock cord, 4 fins and the motor casing and forward bulkhead are the only pieces that will ever see action again. This is a rocket that I used to fly with 2 altimeters, but had recently fallen into the habit of flying with only the Aaltac. Lessons learned.

    Ed Rowe flew his ¼ Scale Patriot on a 38mm 8-grain sparky motor J400. The flight was great, even the little sparky motors put on a great show!

    Mike McBurnett has recently returned from taking Jeff Taylor’s EX motor class, and had a 38mm 6-grain I250 to fly in his Binder Excel. Boost and recovery were both perfect.

    Mike and Ed then combined forces for a collaborative project, flying Ed Rowe’s Black Brant on a 54mm K550 made by Mike McBurnett. This was a bimodal mix of 1/3 400u and 2/3 200u AP. The motor burned for a long, long time and the reported altitude was prodigious.

    Except for the loss of 3 very fine rockets, it was a great weekend, lots of flights, good weather, the return of several old friends, and a lot of excitement.

    Submitted by Alan Whitmore
    Prefect, Tripoli East NC