| The Dallas
Area Rocket Society
conducted a launch in Rockwall, Texas yesterday, Saturday, February 12,
2005. (Launch report here.) My
6yo daughter
Haley wanted to go, but couldn't because she had basketball and soccer
games.
We had just gotten a new decal applied to her rocket,
and she really
wanted to fly it. So we decided to get out today and fly hers
along
with my recently completed triumvirate of Estes classics.
|
L-R: Streak, Scout, Sprite
|
 |
We met Don Magness at [undisclosed
location in North Texas]
and set up our pad and controller. The wind was out of the west
blowing
towards the rocket eating trees on the east side of the field.
Besides flying Haley's rocket, my goal included
successfully flying
the Scout, Streak and Sprite and then retiring them, being able to say
they had been flown while preserving them as tribute to a special time
in my life when I first got into rocketry back around 1969.
|
| First up today was the Streak on a
1/2A3-4T (adapted up
to 18mm). Here's Haley posing with it.
The flight was great. When the motor ejected, the
bright sun shining
on it made it difficult to tell which falling object was the motor and
which was the rocket. Fortunately we were able to track them both
down and found the Streak lawndarted into the soft, damp soil in
pristine
condition.
|
 |
|
The second flight of the day was Don's
Freebird. He
was gonna fly it on an A8-5, but I told him that might be too much for
the field and gave him a 1/2A3-4T (adapted up to 18mm). Great
flight
and safe recovery. |
| Next up was the Sprite on a
1/2A3-4T. I was worried
whether the motor would stay in or slip the hook and come out. I
had carefully selected an old motor, trying to avoid the new ones with
deadly hot ejection charges. Still I worried that my pristine
Sprite
might be blown apart at ejection. I've seen too many do that with
the newer motors.
A few wraps of tape had been carefully applied so that
the motor wouldn't
gain too much speed as the ejection charge blew it aft, hoping this
would
keep it from slipping the hook. And it worked beautifully.
The rocket tumbled down just like it was designed to do. Kewl!
|
 |
 |
Here's Haley with eyes closed holding the
Scout before its
flight. We put it up on a 1/2A3-2T (adapted up to 18mm).
Like the Sprite, I had put some tape on the motor to
slow its aft slide
at ejection, but I should have checked it before flight. Climatic
effects between prep and flight can cause things just right to end up
too
loose or too tight.
At ejection, the motor never moved so the rocket
lawndarted in instead
of tumbling, but was recovered in pristine shape stuck in the soft
dirt.
Again I had picked an old motor and was greatly relieved when it didn't
blow a hole in the rocket at ejection.
Mission accomplished. All three classics had been flown
and recovered in excellent shape.
They'll now be put in a display case where they can be enjoyed
forever as objets d'art.
|
| After seeing it fly on a
1/2A3-4T, I thought
it would be safe for Don to fly the Freebird on the A8-5 he had
brought.
At right, I was just a tad early with the digital camera. I got
smoke
but no motion.
Anyway, I wish I had kept my mouth shut. The
rocket came down
in the trees, and after 20 or 30 minutes of searching we finally found
it about 40 feet up in a tree. Repeated throws of broken branches
only managed to give us sore arms. We came out of the woods
hoping
it might later come down if we got a fortunate wind gust.
|
 |
 |
The sixth flight of the day was this Baby
Midget on a 1/2A3-0T
to 1/4A3-3T. It had a small streamer in it, and I thought surely
it would never fly high enough to make it to the trees on the way
down.
Danged if it didn't get hung up about 30 feet up.
After gathering some branches, I made repeated tosses to
no avail.
The rocket was still up in the tree. We went to the car and got
the
rope I bring for just such occasions along with my hammer.
I made a few tosses, getting the hammer in the tree, but
no matter how
hard we pulled, the rocket wouldn't come down...nor would my
hammer.
My dad gave it to me for my 8th birthday, and I wasn't about to leave
it
in that tree.
Needless to say, after putting two in the trees, we
decided not to fly Haley's
rocket. I didn't bring an adapter, so even though we had 18mm B
motors,
we could only fly the Comet on 24mm C motors, and one of those would
surely make
for a risky flight, too risky.
|
I told Don I was going home to get a saw.
He didn't hesitate to reply that he'd stay there and wait for me.
About an hour later, I showed up with two tree saws, a carpenter's saw,
a hatchet, three flashlights, two jackets and two bottles of water.
After about thirty minutes of work, we had sawn thru and
felled an 8"
diameter tree only to have it fall against another tree, still holding
my hammer and rocket well out of reach. We started on the second
tree, this one a 10 incher. After winding ourselves, it finally
let
go before we were even half way thru. I think the added weight of
the other tree helped fell this one more easily.
Anyway, I freed my hammer while Don recovered the Baby
Midget.
Then we gathered up our tools and skeedaddled, not wanting to hang
around and
see the neighbors come into the woods looking for the tree that made
that
loud cracking sound.
The Baby Midget got a couple dings, but by dangoes I got
it and my hammer
back, and I'm tickled about that. Thanks a bunch to Don for your
help. How did you make out after you went home to get your
chainsaw?
|
Feb-13-2005
|
