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Lou Bragg Launch report
June 15, 2007
Greetings all, WheatChex 07 blasted into the cloudy skies of Deer Park on June 9th and 10th. The trailer arrived about 9:30 AM and we were ready to go by 10:00.
Dave
Glass had the first flight honors with Mad Maxine on an E15-4. Great flight
with good recovery. Things got a bit hairy when Paul Nelson's Eliminator had the
E9 motor CATO about 50-100 feet up. It continued burning almost until it hit
the ground. Luckily the eject charge burnt up during the CATO so it did not
start a fire. Bob Shaw had some impressive flights including his first staged
and clustered flghts. Deciding to go big or go home he had a minimum diameter
three stage on a C6-0 to C6-0 to C6-7. It lit fine but that C6 just isn't
enough to push the stack and it came off the pad crooked and just got worse from
there. By the time the third stage fired it was nearly horizontal. It
streaked off to the South never to be seen again. Sticking with the small bird big
motor philosophy, Bob flew his first cluster. Central C6-7 with three
outboard C6-3s. Good flight. Mark Howe had the most flights for the day with 16.
He flew everything under the sun, gliders, clusters, staged, regular old
boring single motor. Gentry and Justin Schumacher showed up again and flew until
they were just about out of motors. Gentry had 11 flights while Justin had 7.
SPARC president Bob Yanecek had some great flights including a minimum
diameter bird on a G35. Great boost but it was lost in the sky. Bob was bummed
most of the day until I came strolling back with his rocket in my hand. He was
more than happy. The Phillips family showed up with camper in tow and even had
some nice flights. Joel flew some neat AP cluster flights and Matt Myren
chose C6-5s to power almost all of his birds. Rob Jopson flew several minimum
diameter ETV flights with some recoveries where he walked out in the direction
he figured it came down and guess what there it was! Bryon Schopp showed up
for a few hours and flew some midpower birds with his grandon Kalib. Even
though I was the LD I still managed to get in 7 flights. Most were models but I
did take largest motor honors with an Aerotech I-225FJ in Katie's Purple People
Eater. Long recovery hike though. Across Wild Rose but I got a ride back
from Bob so it wasn't too bad. All in all there were 95 flights on Saturday by
18 fliers burning 109 motors. Largest motor was an I-225FJ. Motor Breakdown:
A: 8
B: 17
C: 34
D: 20
E: 15
F: 7
G: 5
H: 1
I: 1
I woke up Sunday with gray skies with the sun desperately trying to break
through and give us some awesome weather. There were a few less fliers with a
much slower pace on Sunday. We still managed to get 18 flights in and burned 22
motors. Rob Jopson was at it again with Comanche 1.5s and ETV flights
aplenty. Dave Glass put up Something Fishy on an I-218R for a great flight and
recovery. Marty Weiser showed up ready to fly and put up Beat Stanford on an H97
for a great dual deployment flight. Marty used a streamer for a drouge which
had the bird coming in at a touch under Mach 1! However the main deployed with
no damage and landed very close for an easy recovery walk. Marty also flew a
glider with great trimmings and a motor eater saucer for a loud and low
flight. Bob Yanecek put up Mr. Wiggles on an E9-8 for an amazingly straight boost
and good recovery. Joel Phillips put up some more AP cluster flights and a
two stage Commanche that landed within feet of me while I was out recovering my
own bird. I once again took largest motor honors with a J350 in my 4" bird
Skeletor. Achieved an altitude of a bit less than 2500 feet with recovery in
the fallow field to the north. I had a less than optimal flight with my Estes
Partriot on an E9. It rod whipped hard and went West really fast. It deployed
and we watched it drop behind the trees to the west way out in the field.
Bob and I set out after it and I am just glad Bob took a GPS bearing since we
got way off once we got into the trees. I found it a couple hundred feet out in
the field. Look for it to go up on an F21 at the next launch. Motor Breakdown
A: 0
B: 2
C: 3
D: 5
E: 6
F: 2
G: 0
H: 2
I:1
J: 1
Packed up in the early afternoon and headed home. I am still recovering.
Until the next one!
Lou Bragg
Launch Director
Posted by bobble at June 15, 2007 8:00 AM
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