Launch Report, March 24, 2007

Before I prepared this launch report I looked back through the archives of launch reports that I and others have written for our activities, focusing on the March launches. There were several gaps indicating launches cancelled for bad weather, and a lot of events at which I complained about the cold, and at most of those I also complained about the combination of cold and severe winds. The weather this month was so completely un-March-like that I can’t begin to describe the sense of disconnect. It was just plain hot and the winds were either calm or dead-calm. We enjoyed almost perfect rocket weather, but if you stop to consider that this was a March launch, it was just plain weird! Turnout was light, but Ken brought the motors, so those who did attend had a fine time.

Motor use summary?

The winds were so calm that any number of J motor flights could have been made safely, but the ATF situation is currently cutting into that action. The news is that Ken will be moving to North Carolina soon, and as soon as his permit situation is normalized, we will be back in business as usual.

We were very happy to see two old friends return after long layoffs. Brent Bierstedt returned to fly quite a lot of rockets in the C through G range. "Doctor Bubba", Stan Wilkins, was back after a long layoff, making a number of flights, including a fine flight of his Udder Madness using an I211W from Aerotech. Welcome back, both of you.

The big excitement for the weekend was the qualification flights for our two TARC teams. Just a reminder, this years’ goals were to fly a raw egg to exactly 850 feet altitude and hang the rocket up for precisely 45 seconds of flight duration, and not break the egg upon landing.

The team of David Hash, Greg Izatt, and Ben Izatt – from Raleigh, NC - made four flights, the last two serving as qualification flights. Their rocket used the E28 reloadable motor and weighed between 308 and 315 grams for the four flights. The actual figures for the qualifying flights were 844’ altitude and 58 seconds flight duration, and 828’ altitude and 41 seconds duration.

Our other TARC team is from Wilson, North Carolina, and consists of Natalie Harrell, Virginia Harrell, Heather Perry, William Price, Brandon Manning, Daniel Price, Josiah Rex, Raphael du Sablon, and Lydia du Sablon. These flyers are part of Venture Crew 153. I also learned that the "Venture Crew" concept arranges for Boy Scout troops to do fun, outdoor, travelling activities with girls from their schools and churches. I wish somebody had thought of this when I was a boy scout! Anyway, TARC team 5023 made 5 successful flights, culminating in a very fine qualification flight to 836 feet and 42 seconds duration. Their rocket, called the Angel Egg Carton, used the Aerotech F52T for motive power

Both of these teams are very hard-working and methodical, and I think they both have an excellent chance at qualifying for the national event. Good luck to all of you guys!

Rich Miller made a flight with his White Rocket on a G79 that was the check-out flight for a completely homemade altimeter. It apparently worked perfectly. I didn’t actually see that flight because I was deep in the swamp pulling Bird-Dog out of the mud. I’m still not sure how Bird-dog got himself axle-deep in the banks of the funky Swift Creek bayou, but you could ask him yourself. By the way, has there ever been any body of water more completely misnamed than Swift Creek?

Our newest enthusiasts were back again, Lance Stewart made 9 flights and Charles Perkins III and IV combined for 5 flights, most of which worked very well. Which brings up an interesting statistical anomaly: I saw at least 6 flights come in hard because the parachute didn’t come out completely or came out and didn’t open. This is actually a rather rare "failure mode", but we saw this problem a lot on Saturday. Since we have a lot of new flyers attending our launches lately, let me give you all a hint about parachutes coming out or not opening. Baby powder.

My favorite rocket name this month is David Hash’s S.P.E.V., which stands for either "Space Exploration Vehicle" or "Spare Parts Elimination Vehicle". I just love the names with double meanings!

All of the fields around our preferred launch area are planted in corn, so we may have to pull the plug on rocket launches at the Marriot Road site fairly soon, but I hope you can all come out for the April 2-day launch on the 28th and 29th. Many, many thanks to David Hash sr, Bill Boykin, Dave Morey, and Stan Wilkins for help with set-up and tear-down.

Alan Whitmore

Prefect, Tripoli East NC