February 20, 2010
| I finally got to fly a few
rockets this weekend. I stay
really busy keeping up with four kids, so getting a day to fly rockets
is hard to come by. Below: Here's yours truly getting ready to fly a Midget clone. (Note to self: Time for a beard trim and a haircut.) |
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| The K40 Midget clone put
in a good flight and was recovered in excellent condition. |
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Sam Barone flew this
beautiful Maxi
Alpha clone on a cluster of three E9's. You can see here that
only
two are lit. The ignitor leads are visible above the rod
indicating that the rocket pulled them along with it until they broke
free. |
| With only two motors
burning, the speed off the rod was low. That, combined with the
cross wind and slightly off axis thrust, resulted in a profound arc. |
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Needless to say, at this
point, all hope was lost. Ultimately, the third, unlit motor did ignite, from the forward end when the others ejected, so there was little left to salvage  |
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My 1.3x upscale Midget also put in a good
flight. The wind was gradually picking up as the morning wore on,
and the C6-to-B4 combo proved to be a little much. After over an hour of hunting and getting my shoes completely swathed in mud, I finally found the sustainer in perfect condition with only a bit of dirt on it. The kevlar shock cord was twisted into a tight wad. I found that surprising given that recovery was on a streamer. I've seen parachutes spin and cause that, but not streamers. The booster broke a fin, but that's not uncommon and will be fixed without great difficulty. After the long hunt, and with the wind getting worse, I decided to call it a day. I still have three more rockets prepped to fly, so I'm ready to go again whenever the weather is  |
 2-21-2010 |