Launch Report, October 29, 2006

After a few month hiatus it was great to be back launching rockets with friends once again. We decided to hold launches on Sundays only during hunting season, which was in our best interest so as not to disturb the hunters. My apologies to those of you who drove out Saturday to find an empty field.

Sunday was a cool late fall day with a beautiful blue sky without a trace of clouds. The wind was fairly steady at 8-15 MPH from the SW all day. Strong enough to put a D powered flight out near the tree line in the far right corner of the field. That's still a far cry better than blowing them into the thick, deep swamp as in past months.

Here's the “Motor Use Summary” for this month:

Motor

Sun

Micro

 5

A

 6

B

 5

C

 11

D

 5

E

 4

F

 3

G

 4

H

 2

Total Flights

42

I decided to forego with the usual separate RSO and LCO tables and just combined the two jobs at the LCO table this month, where I spent the remainder of my day. The winds limited high-power flights but there were a lot of low-power flights this month with very few mishaps.

The Harrell family was back with us again this month and had some interesting flights. The three most memorable were Virginia's "Laser XL" on a cluster of two C's and later followed with a cluster of two E9's.
Natalie Staged her "Bad to the Bone II" with a D12 to a C6 for a fine flight. They also flew a variety of Micromax rockets for some real close recovery.

Wayne Hill had a number of flights and seemed to be loading another rocket on the pad every time I looked up. I think he had one of the most interesting rockets of the day called "TEEPEE TWISTER" - a cone shaped rocket with helicopter recovery.

The two biggest flights of the day were by John Hobson. First his "Cherry Bomb" on an H165 and then his "Maxi Thug" on an H180. Despite the wind one was recovered almost on the pad from which it was launched.

Thanks to everyone who helped set up and pack up the trailer as it's always very much appreciated. I hope November bears better weather conditions and more fliers but only time will tell.

Alan, Dennis and numerous others are still looking into a number of other possible launch sites. If you know of any land owners or operators with large parcels of land that would allow us to launch from, please let one of us know.

 

Paul Hoetjes
Prefect Tripoli NC