Launch Report, January 2006

This is going to be one of those 2-part launch reports. I am going to tell you about Saturday because Paul was in Raleigh hosting the North Carolina Tripoli exhibit at the Astronomy Days Celebration at the Museum of Natural History. Tomorrow, I will take over at the museum, Paul will run the launch, and he will tell you how that goes.

The weather Saturday was great for outdoor activities: temperature rising up into the 50’s as the day went on, and a mild westerly wind blowing down the long axis of the field, with some of the high flyers getting carried across the road. The field was fairly dry, with only a few small ponds here and there. By 11:30, only a few people had showed up, and I was beginning to think we would be packing up early. Then the cars started to pour in, and we were extremely busy right up until sunset, when Jim Robertson launched his 4” diameter Groove Tube on a Loki J538. The flame was magnificent in the half-light, and we could see the bright flash of the motor ejection backup charge at apogee. Very pretty.

Here is the motor use list:

As you can see, there was a heavy emphasis on low-power (reflecting the huge number of kids in attendance today), but there were several very interesting high-power flights that I will describe later.

Speaking of families, the entire Wallace family was here today and they all flew something. We had Gregg, Monica, Kaitlyn, and Dustin Wallace all flying several rockets with great success.

The Cox boys were back in force, this time with a wide range of flying saucers. Ben had a hard time getting the C6 in his U.F.O. lit up, but it eventually flew perfectly. Andrew flew the Little Pinkie on an E11J, and the Little Green on a G33J, David flew Goldie on a H112J (there is a theme to that progression: Flying saucers on BlackJack propellant). David Cox also brought down the house with a stupendous flight of the new Giant UFO on an Aerotech J135W. What made the flight even more magnificent was that it flew directly between the sun and most of the observers, so the huge smoke-ball that it trailed was back-lit against a clear, blue sky. Everybody who saw it from the LCO area just laughed and squealed and ran around for several minutes after the flight. Great entertainment!

The important stuff: Cert flights!! This month we had 2 successful NAR level 2 cert flights. Skip Cutting flew his PML Explorer XL on a J420R for a fine flight, even though it did start a small grass fire (which was quickly brought under control). Sean Gorman also got the job done with his Binder Design California Kid which also used the fine J420R. Congratulations to both of you and many thanks to Jeff Goldstein and Dave Morey for helping out with these NAR cert flights on a day when we were very short on senior people from both the TRA and NAR sanctioning bodies.

Saturday’s big event was the successful launch of Doug Gamber’s Triton 2-Stage. This beautifully finished 6” diameter rocket used an Animal Motor Works L1300 blue load in the booster, and an AMW K605 “Red Rhino” load for the sustainer. Everything lit up right on time, the boost stages were perfect, and both parts were recovered in the field. Great job, Doug! The finish on this rocket was just perfect, a combination of yellow, black, red, and that deep brown-bronze metal-flake that you see on the Bentleys driven by the wealthiest big-city drug dealers. Quite luxurious. The sustainer section coasted up to the 6000 foot level, so the close recovery was amazing, considering the high wind conditions.

Most of our regulars were at the museum today, so I want to thank everybody who helped out with the equipment set-up and tear-down. You guys made it happen.

Alan Whitmore
Prefect, Tripoli East NC

Sundays weather was a bit dreary right from the start. Cloudy and very windy with little chance of clearing. The wind was so bad at one point early in the day, a "C" flight was recovered in the trees to the north/northwest on the other side of Red Hill Church Road. As you can see from the motor use list we had no high power flights on Sunday. We still managed a total of 28 flights for the day. The majority of the flight were from a high school physics class that not only got a lesson from the teacher but Ken Allen as well. A number of people started packing up early and were rolling out before lunch. By 2pm we were packing up the trailer. Hope to see everyone next month.

Paul Hoetjes
Prefect, Tripoli North Carolina

Doug Gamber's Triton 2-Stage
photo by Mark Gibson

Additional photos and video by Mark Gibson