Launch report - December 20, 2008 - Frisco, Texas
The weekend begins a 2-week holiday vacation for me, and there's no better way to kick it off than getting a new lens for my camera and flying rockets.

I gave the lens a quick checkout with my camera.  I wanted it because it has a macro mode.  Here's a closeup of my Mosquito with MicroMaxx adaptor installed.  I think I'm gonna really like the lens :)



First shot of the day is this liftoff.  I'm pretty sure this is Ken Overton's Bullwhip.




Here's a decent shot of my Holverson Cotangent coming up to speed on a C6-5.  The wind imparted a pretty good horizontal velocity component while under chute, but it survived with no broken fins.




I built  this rocket specifically for the Apogee Medalist competition motors.  Many simulations were run in Rocksim to make sure it would work just right with the D3-7, D10-7, C4-7 and C10-7 motors.  Yet in all the years I've had it, only one of those motors was ever used, and it resulted in the rocket being lost for 2+ months

So Saturday,  I decided to let it rip on the C10-7 I've had stashed away for several years. 

I knew the rocket was marginal on this motor.  That is, I knew the delay might be a bit long for it.  And, given the motor's age, I figured it might even be extra long.  Plus, with the wind, an ever shorter delay is better.  But I let it rip anyway.  And rip it did.  The C10 jumped off the pad and all I got was a picture of smoke

I lost track of it right away, but fortunately one other flier tracked it to the ground.  He stated that it lawndarted, but as it turned out, it did finally eject,  shredding one suspension line.
Even with the chute out, it still hit with a ballistic attitude.  Coming up on it, I had my fingers crossed it wouldn't be hurt too bad.

And, as it turned out, that was the case.  While it took a core sample and harvested a 2" long cylinder of dirt, the forward end was barely scratched.
As you can see here, the forward end, where the damage should be expected, received little more than a scratch after the dirt was wiped off.
  


The interesting thing is that the back end of the rocket was damaged.  The motor had a tape thrust ring, and it appears it wedged itself into the rocket  when it hit the ground. Some of the tape was peeled away, and the motor tube was split in one spot (near the top in the pic) and mushroomed a bit.  I have an idea for fixing it.  I'm quite sure it will fly again without major effort.




This Estes Porta-Pot Shot had a good liftoff.







Here's a Semroc Shrike coming up to speed.



I believe this is Dave Schaefer's rocket climbing into the sky.




My last flight of the day turned out to be my BT-55 upscale Midget on a B6-0/B6-6 combo.  I was surprised at how high it went given the wind.  It climbed quite straight without weathercocking.  And I had a good long walk recovering it.  But it was a fine flight.

I had wanted to fly one more, a clustered stager, but it was just too windy for that rocket, so I'll have to save that one for another day.

Doug



December 21, 2008