Launch Report, April 28-29, 2007

This is going to be the last launch report from Eastern North Carolina for a few months, until the crops are harvested at Battleboro in the Fall, or until we line up a new field somewhere else. The corn is coming up quickly and the cucumbers will be planted soon, so it’s time to let the farm land be a farm for a while.

The April launch was surprisingly poorly attended, there were never more than 12 cars on site at any one time. Maybe the wind forecast scared people off, maybe the lack of real high-power has dropped everyone’s interest level. Speaking of the wind, it was a factor in some ways and not a factor in the most important way. Anything that was not held down with a heavy weight was blown across the field, the dust filled my nose, my eyes, and even my teeth were crunchy by the end of the day, it was really tiresome. However, the direction of the wind was straight down the long axis of the field, even fairly high flights had no chance of blowing into the woods or over the road – all rockets were recovered.

Here is a motor use summary:

Motor

Sat

Sun

Total

½ A

  

1

1

A

2

5

7

B

    

0

C

19

10

29

D

7

4

11

E

5

3

8

F

5

6

11

G

5

4

9

H

3

4

7

I

1

1

2
 

47

38

85

Eddie Haith flew the two biggest motors of the weekend, an I600 Redline in his Super Chicken on Saturday, and an I357T in Captain America on Sunday. Both were excellent, successful flights using the Missileworks altimeter.

Both TARC teams were back practicing for the National competition coming up in three weeks. The team headed by Natalie and Virginia Harrell have qualified outright and the team of David Hash and the Izatt brothers have scored a very high alternate position, and they will probably get a bid to make the trip. Congratulations to all you, the whole North Carolina rocketry community is proud of you!

The Zeller family (Scott, Aaron and Lily) came to spectate 2 months ago, and this weekend they were back with several rockets of their own, loading and flying them most of Saturday. It’s great to see new families come out to share some fun together.

So that’s it for a while, watch this website and check in with the nc-rockets user’s group for news. I hope to have good news for you soon.

Alan Whitmore, Prefect, Tripoli East NC