My daughter Haley and I made it out to
the DARS launch last Saturday. My goal was to make it her day,
and accordingly, the plan was to fly mostly her rockets. And, as it
turned out, we flew only hers. The one rocket I had brought for
myself couldn't be flown in the wind without lots of risk.
The ground level wind wasn't too bad, but it was appreciable above 50'. Rockets under chute were carried well downwind. |
| Right:
Not sure whose rocket this is, but I got this shot just as we
arrived. As you can see, I was hurrying to get my camera out and
didn't get it focussed well. But it's still a pretty cool shot of
somebody's mid-power bird. |
 |
| Left: Our first flight of the
day was Haley's BT-5 scale Baby Bertha on a 1/4A3-3T motor, which
malfunctioned. It went straight from thrust phase to ejection
with no coast delay. Fortunately the rocket suffered no ill
effects.
|
Right: Next up was Haley's AIM97 on an A8-3.
This rocket has an interesting story. A few years ago, we were
flying on a Thanksgiving morning, and landed one on a roof near the
field. We asked the owner if we could get on his roof. He
was very accomodating and not only let us use his ladder, but gave us
this rocket he had previously recovered from atop his house.
It's a pretty basic bird, but Haley is proud to call it her own, and
Dad is happy to help her keep it flying. We had to replace the
shock cord, and also replaced the goofy plastic shock cord mount with a
classic tri-fold mount instead.
It put in a good flight and was recovered on a 12" chute.
| 
|
| Left: Here's a good shot of someone's Blue Ninja just clearing the rod.
|
Right: Haley's Full Moon gets airborne on its maiden flight. I'm really proud of her -
she did all the construction on this. Dad only shot the paint for
her.
The rocket suffered a little ding at the body tube opening. The
skinny shock cords don't help. Otherwise it was a good flight
with recovery on a 12" chute.
| 
|
|
George Sprague came up with the clever idea of making an Astron
Spacewoman to go with his Astron Spaceman.
Click on pick for high res
version. |
Right: Here's a Big Daddy climbing skyward.
|
|
|
Left: Haley's Comet was our
last flight of the day. Here it gains altitude on a C11
motor. Recovery was nominal on an 18" chute.
|
| Right: This Aerotech Initiator looks great as it ascends in to the blue sky. |
|
 |
Left: If I recall correctly, this is Chas Russell's Semroc Vega just coming up to pressure.
|
Right: This is another George Sprague special. I think he
called it Egg on Three Sporks. It was a plastic egg with 3 plastic
sporks like one might get from a restaurant. That's Chas Russell
looking on in the background.
Below: The EO3S during descent.
|
|
Like every time I fly rockets, I had fun and want to do it again soon. Thanks to DARS for a great launch.
|
1-24-2009
|
