Launch Report - April 24-25, 2004

        This weekend marked the best-attended launch at Whitakers since I began flying there in early 1998. There were more people and cars on-site than I have ever seen before. At one point on Saturday the cars stretched from the gate all the way to the ditch. I want to give sincere thanks to everybody who helped with the RSO/LCO duty, because none of them got any rest during their 2 hour stretch, and to everybody who helped with set-up and tear-down, which went very quickly both days.

        The weather was also excellent: the only points to complain about were the wind direction, which was mostly towards the tree-line on both days, and the low clouds on Sunday morning. None of those factors inhibited the flying, however, Saturday saw the filing of 129 flight cards - another record!

        Let’s look at the motor totals:

        As usual, clusters and staged rockets are included in the table under total installed impulse. Here is a great example: Eric Fadely brought his modified Event Horizon which was fitted with 6 G80s and one central H210R. The total installed impulse adds up to 907 N.s, which puts it right in the middle of the J range. It takes a lot of current to light that many motors, so Eric brought his own launch battery and relay. They worked perfectly as did the rocket and all 7 motors, for one of Saturday’s most exciting flights.

        Thanks to a lot of networking on The Rocketry Forum, there were a lot of people present who had driven a long way to fly at Whitakers. We had visitors from Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Florida. The biggest pleasure of the weekend was meeting all those first-time visitors to Whitakers and showing them a big cow-pasture good time! The other great pleasure was watching all the exciting certification flights. Six flyers were either introduced to high power or moved up to Level 2 this weekend. I hope I have the details right on these flights and haven’t failed to mention someone who certified or given credit to someone who failed to certify, but there was a shortage of information on the flight cards. A note to RSO’s - please note on the flight card when a cert flight is being made. A note to LCO’s, please make detailed notes on the flight cards of cert flights, and make an effort to find out from the prefects or observers whether the certifications were successful.

        On Saturday, Jason Vennard had two NAR Level 2 cert flights on his BSD Thor, using the Aerotech J350W. If my memory is correct the second of these flights was successful. Matt Vennard was also trying for a NAR Level 2 cert with his Thor, using the Aerotech J420R, and I think that flight was also successful. One of those Vennards landed in the tree line and gave us all an entertaining several hours as they worked with John Hamill to get it down. Mission accomplished!

        Jack Caynon had a successful NAR Level 2 flight using his Hawk Mountain Jumanji loaded with a Cesaroni J400SS.

        On Sunday the Vennards were back again! This time it was Dionne Vennard trying for her Tripoli level 1 certification using a BSD Horizon and an Aerotech H165R for a very fine flight.

        Chuck Jann had a very busy weekend. One of the 18 flights he made was a NAR level 1 cert using an Aerotech H242T in the PML Little Lunar Express, subtitled The Adam Selene (an interesting story there?).

        Finally, Jeff Goldstein made two attempts at a NAR level 2 certification using his Binder Sentinal. The second flight, using a Cesaroni J330SS, was just about perfect. Congratulations to all of you on jobs well done, your planning and perseverence has paid off, and now you can spend even more money on bigger motors!

        I am going to mention just a few of the flights and individuals I found most interesting, but these are not the only highlights of the weekend. There is no rule that says that ColonialVirginiaHPR can only post one launch report for every launch, If you want to add your thoughts and observations, send them to Ed Rowe, he will be happy to put them on the site.

        Jim Flis was back with even more clever and jazzy-looking low-power kits. This year he also flew a lot of them, keeping the RSO entertained and the LCO very busy. Carl Tulanko flew two very well-built upscales of two Flis kits that made very big impressions. On Saturday Carl flew his upscaled Deuces Wild on 2 I212 Smokey Sam motors for a perfect flight. The canted motor design seems to be immune to the weather-cocking effects of the wind. On Sunday Carl brought out the most complicated rocket of the weekend to be the centerpiece of the most exciting rack of rockets in the whole show (out of 6 rockets racked at one time, 5 were clusters or staged, or both). The upscale Tres featured 3 Cesaroni I212SS’s in the booster, and an Aerotech I161W in the sustainer, triggered from a Perfectflite timer. Everything worked flawlessly and all parts were recovered intact. Good work Carl!

        Doug Gardei, one of the first-time visitors to Whitakers, set some sort of record for the widest range of motor sizes flown on one weekend. The flight cards show a ½ A flight in his Sky Hook on Saturday and a LOC Magnum flight on Sunday that clustered a J500 with 2 air-started H128Ws for a total installed impulse in the K region.

        Not only did we have a shakedown flight for a bowling ball rocket destined for the LDRS competition, but we saw the debut (and disappearance) of Paul Hoetjes’ Bowling Pin, a nifty design with 38mm motor tube, parachute compartment, and 8 Lexan fins. The Bowling Pin must have experienced some sort of religious conversion, because it was last seen heading horizontally toward the church on route 33 at top speed. Keep your eyes open for that one, Paul would like to have it back.

        The heavyweight flights for the weekend were launched by Doug Gamber, who flew his long, skinny Shining on the fairly new AMW L700BB, and Scott Brown, who put up an Ultimate Endeavor on an AMW K570WW and airstarted 3 Cesaroni J330SSs. The Shining deployed the main parachute at apogee, which occurred at 6962 feet, and fell a short distance away during one of the very few windless moments during the whole weekend. Scott Brown’s flight was essentially perfect: The really careful and experienced flyers have the ability to make even the most difficult flights look easy.

        As long as I am writing these reports, I get to choose the best rocket name for the whole weekend. No contest this time: it has to be Mike McBurnett’s Barbequed Weasel.

        Thanks again to everybody who attended and helped to make this the most exciting launch at Whitakers in a long time.

        Submitted by Alan Whitmore
        Prefect, Tripoli East NC