Launch Report, October 27-28, 2007

In spite of an iffy weather report for Saturday, and stiffish winds on Sunday, we had a fine launch this weekend, with a boy scout troop in attendance on Saturday, and a number of interesting visitors on Sunday. First, the motor use summary:

Size

Sat

Sun

Both

¼ A

  

1

1

½ A

  

1

1

A

21

1

22

B

14

6

20

C

48

3

51

D

8

1

9

E

2

1

3

F

1

4

5

G

4

8

12

H

  

2

2

I

1

  

1

J

  

2

2

K

  

2

2

Total

99

32

131

The dominant activity on Saturday was supplied by troop 244 from Cary, NC. The boys kept us busy all day. There were (obviously) a lot of rockets launched, most of them for multiple flights, but not a single rocket was lost. Good work guys! Stewart Whiteman flew 4 G’s and Eddie Haith flew his Lil Red on a Cesaroni I285, rounding out the activity on Saturday.

By Sunday the weather had cooled, and the wind picked up, but with this much wide open space, the wind simply does not matter.

 

The Harrell family was back, and this time Natalie Harrell made the initial flight of their Team America Rocketry Challenge entry for this year. The rocket is the Angel Egg Carton, the one that placed 32nd in the national competition last year. This year the formula has changed a little: The target altitude is 750 feet, the flight duration is 45 seconds, and the load is 2 eggs. Penalties for missing the altitude and missing the duration will be calculated differently this year (but a broken egg is still a broken egg!). The shakedown flight for the Angel Egg Carton with this new mission resulted in 750 feet, 41 seconds flight duration, and one broken egg. Very nice for a first shot.

Stew McNabb was back with some of his grand-kids and he flew a Big Bertha that was originally built in 1968. It made a great flight on a B6.

The big events at any rocket launch are the certification flights. This month Delaine Babb, from Suffolk, VA attempted his NAR level 2 certification, with his LOC IV EXL and an Aerotech J420R. The flight was a complete success! Congratulations Delaine. Delaine then teamed up with Steve Laird to make a very exciting flight using a K550W in somebody’s LOC Magnum I.

Dave Morey flew his new Starfire with a cluster of 2 I435Ts and airstarted a pair of I200W’s. The flight was superb, everything working essentially as planned, although it sounded like one of the I435Ts was a little tardy in getting started. OK Dave, the rocket works great, now it’s time to paint it!

There was a short article about high-power rocketry in this week’s local New Bern paper, and a number of visitors showed up to check us out. We all enjoyed talking with them and introducing them to high power. Another visitor who did not introduce himself (or herself) was a "Predator" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that flew in from the east, loitered around the field at two different altitudes and then flew off to the southeast, toward Cherry Point MCAS. It was a very quiet and unobtrusive presence, but Paul has very sharp eyes and we were all scanning the skies for clues about the wind and weather. I think somebody got an idea for a training exercise when we called in the waiver that morning.

I want to say a special ‘Thank You’ to Linda Whiteman for cooking hamburgers and hot dogs both days, to everybody who helped out at the RSO and LCO desks, especially Johnny Hoffman from Orangeburg, SC, all of the people who helped with tear-down and packing the trailer, and to the Harrells for cookies and other "goodies".

-Alan Whitmore