Launch Report - McGregor, Texas, March 25, 2006

After several months of bad rocket weather, the Dallas Area Rocket Society finally got to fly Saturday in McGregor, Texas just outside Waco. It was my first flying since Thanksgiving day.
First up was my Cloud Warrior. It had been prepped so long ago that I wasn't sure what motors were in it. Turned out to be a combo of B6-0 to B6-6. Good flight, streamer recovery, no damage. Here's a crappy liftoff shot. I gotta get to know this camera better.

Next up was my new Thridget on its maiden flight. It too was prepped three months ago, but I knew the motors were three B6-0's staging to three A8-5's. Back around Christmas, I had set it upfor a small field, and now I didn't want to re-prep it, but I felt a little embarassed not flying more impulse on the big McGregor field.

Anyway, the flight was awesome. The three booster motors all lit and got it into the air with authority. The sustainers lit sequentially - pop...pop-pop - and put the 18" chute out right at the top.

The Midget70, with its new booster, had also been prepped since Christmas.

Rocksim said the combination of three A10-PT's and one C11-0 would be enough to get it in the air. It turned out that was all it was. Staging occurred not long after it cleared the rod. It looked like it was only forty feet in the air.

The sustainer hesitated before it lit, causing me to have a lump in my throat for a second there. But the C11-5 sustainer put in a good flight and got the 18" chute out near the top.

As before, if the rocket wasn't already prepped for a smaller field, I would definitely have motored up. The ultimate combo of a D and three C's staging to an E will be a great flight.

The Super Better Bertha flew with nine motors on its maiden flight. And all nine lit. The center motor was an E9-P. It was surrounded by four C6-7's and four A10-PT's. Woo-hoo! It was a great flight. When the LCO hit the button, it took off quickly and kept burning for a good while.

The 30" chute brought it down safely. It was a pleasant surprise to find that all nine motors had indeed lit. My previous best was four out of five on the Douger.

At left is a close-up of the motors showing that all nine lit.

Having flown everything that was prepped in advance, I now had the task of loading motors and stuffing chutes, so I opted for something easy - a glider, specifically, my new Twinsee. By the time I got it trimmed, loaded with a B6-2, flown and recovered, an hour had elapsed. Hardly easy. But it put in a good flight.

With two sections to recover, I needed help tracking both. Thanks to Don Magness for finding the yellow half. I found the blue half...in the back seat of my car. I think Dave Schultz found that half :)

	Staying on the glider track, I got out my brand new CiCi Stage 2, and started hand tossing the booster, trying to get it trimmed. I kept adding tail weight, but it kept nosing in, finally breaking the canard off. I glued and taped it back on, added a little more tail weight, and quit trying to trim it. The sustainer half was perfect without any extra weight.
I stuffed a B6-0 in the booster, cleaned the nozzle on the B4-4 sustainer motor, and installed that. The boost was great. Straight up. I tracked the booster long enough to see it heading in quite steeply and crossed my fingers it would hold together. The sustainer had a good long flight heading straight north. I need to get it trimmed to turn. That will shorten those recovery walks :) The sustainer was recovered in fine shape while the booster did indeed break again, but it can be readily repaired.

I had three more rockets to fly, but all needed prepping which required more attention than I was willing to give. One was a 3-stager and the others 2-stagers, and I was getting tired, so I called it a day, and headed back to Plano.

It was an awesome day. 6 flights and 25 motors. Already thinking about the next launch.

Doug

March 25, 2006