Spokane Area Rocket Club

Alan Roberts May Launch Report

May 13, 2013

Many thanks to everyone who helped make the "Mothers Day" Launch so much fun. I would list each person's contribution but don't for fear of forgetting someone so I will just say how fortunate we are to have so many people who chip in and do the things to make for a successful launch and club. First some stats: • We had 18 different people fly rockets • We burned 79 motors • We had 73 flights • Estimated newton-seconds was 4,634 • Largest motor flown was a J (thank you Marty) Your Launch Director managed 3 flights. The first was my new Mega Der Red Maxx on an H97-J. I knew the delay grain was bit long but as we all witnessed that was a huge understatement as I seriously put to the test my comment that it was better to be long on the ejection charge than short. A combination of weather cocking (arched flight path) and what was probably more drag than I put into the simulation made for less altitude than planned and an ejection charge that deployed the main only about 100 feet off the deck. Surprisingly there was no damage. Adjustments will be made. My second flight was my trustworthy Hi Tech going up for its 12th flight this time on a G75 Metalstorm. The flight was perfectly straight with a nice spin and deployment right on top where it should be. Thanks to those who manned the shovel and fire extinguisher to put out the small (6" diameter) fire at the base of the launch rail. My third flight was my Excel on a H180 White Lightening. This rocket carries the name "Just A Level One" in honor of Mark Howe who commented when I was certifying on it, "what are you worried about, it's just a level one". The flight was straight and true with the main out right on top. The rocket has a really nice whistle once the sound of that White Lightening dies down. Thanks again to everyone for such a great launch and thanks to Dave for agreeing to not retire the Boosted Dart just yet. Man I love that rocket! Alan

Posted by bobble at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)

Marty Weiser May Launch Report

It was great to get out and see everyone even if I only flew once. I spent all morning prepping for a ground test of dual deployment of one end of the tube in my 4” KISS’DD which is a bit trickier. . My 50 grn drogue charge was plenty good – I may try 40 with a 50 backup in the future. However, the 50 grn to push out the main in its burrito wrap was not enough. Spent another hour watching others fly and prepping a 100 grn charge which sent the burrito to the end of its 30’ recovery harness. Another hour or so prepping for the flight on the J570. Great boost and we saw the drogue event and backup a little over 1s later up on top. Main at 700 ft. and I still had to go about ½ mile SE of the launch site. It was in Norman’s planted field and the closest route was from the far side of the field so it was a longer than desired recovery. I had about a 3.5” zipper, but otherwise everything was great. It was a new PrefectFlite SL100 altimeter so I wondered if I had a delay set after apogee by mistake. Downloaded the data and everything was as expected – drogue at 15.75s and the backup at 17.1s as I had set the timer. It even looks like the rocket caught a slight thermal from 30 – 38s. Therefore, the rocket must have arced over a bit so it was still moving fairly fast when the drogue deployed. The zippered section has been replaced and will get two layers of fiberglass to make it less likely to zipper in the future. I also repaired the club rake and will bring it to the next launch – amazing how a little rocket building epoxy can be used for other purposes. Marty

Posted by bobble at 05:57 AM | Comments (0)

Mark Howe May Launch Report

I spent most of my day labeling the trailer and butt-sniffing...only managed to put up 6 flights, 3 of which were gliders. My “Deltie” was a little nose heavy due to a previous repair and needs to be re-trimmed. The “Gemini” twins and “Ci-Ci” both glided great! The Deltie & Geminee went up on 1/2A mini motors and the Ci-Ci on a B6-2. My other rockets were rather non-descript...the “Interplanetary Shuttle” on a C6-3, a Rampage on a B6-4 (carrying a Jolly Logic Alt-2), and an out of production Estes “Super Nova Payloader” on a D12-5. The S.Nova fouled the chute on ejection and came in a bit hard, breaking 2 fins...easily repairable. The Rampage reported 273’ altitude and 78 MPH max speed. This was my 7th flight using this small USB thumb drive sized altimeter, and it really gathers a bunch of data...10 unique items. It was interesting to note that the burn time of .8 sec for the Rampage was exactly the same as the B6-4 I flew in my Bull-Pup last year. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive device to capture flight data this is the way to go. You don’t even have to upload the data to a PC, it’s all displayed on the devices’ LCD. Dave Glass...due to popular demand please don’t retire the Booted Dart...it’s a superb rocket. Jim Jopson’s neighbors put a slew of rockets in the air...I think their rocket with the dual gliders had the most flights of the day. I gave them an Edmonds Ci-Ci kit to build and we’ll hopefully see them next month. Thanks to Gene for delivering my kits and to Alan for performing the LD duties. I’ll have the remaining labels made up in time for the next launch...including a “shovel” label for Bobident.

Posted by bobble at 05:45 AM | Comments (0)

Joe Cooney May Launch report

May 12, 2013

What a great day for a launch. I got out there just after 0800 hrs and found the Dog Pound already in place. Jim and I proceeded to put a couple of rockets in the air right off the bat. I managed three flights before Bob showed up with the trailer. There was some confusuion on where everything would be located, so the early parking was hap hazard in the morning. Finally Bob and Alan showed up with the master plan on how the field would be laid out. A few minutes later the flightline was established by moving every vehicle to a better location and then set up began. I made some quick improvements to the Model Pads and a short time later we were ready to fly. I started out with the Orange tango Jam on a G38-4, love the slow flights on the fat rockets. All in all I managed to get in 20 flights for the day, I even managed to get my second Dual Deployment flight under my belt (thanks to Jim for the e-matches and Bob for constructing a tool, I left at home). Blues for Allah, my 29mm LOC Starburst flew nicely on the new G138-14 Blue Thunder hobby line motor. Drogue on top and the main at 700 feet made for an easy recovery. Next month I will put it up on an H and then fly my LOC Hi-Tech the following day on an "I". Highlight of my day was little Joshua, the son of Jim's neighbor. He carried my Aerotech Sumo, "Orange Tango Jam" out to the high power pads. The rocket was just a few inches shorter than he was. Later I gave him an Estes Quark, which he flew twice. First flight was on a 1/4A3-3T motor, they are easy to lose sight of with a 1/4A motor and for his second flight Jim gave him a A3-4. Which is a snap your head back, did anybody see that kind of flight on a rocket small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. No bueno, poor old "Lil Blue" was gone. After searching for a while it was given up to the rocket gods for safe keeping. Before he left little Joshua came over and asked me if I had another small rocket to give him. I told him I didn't and then he asked me if I had a big rocket for him. That I did as I always try to carry some loner rockets to give away. I gave him the choice of colors and after some deep thought he chose the one he liked. Shortly after his departure and during clean up I spotted old "Lil Blue" nose down in the ground out by the high power pads. I am sure Joshua has been reunited with his rocket and I hope to see him come out and fly it again and again. Spent Sunday morning back out at the field walking my dawg looking for Dave Powers lost "Dawg." Unfortunately I was unable to locate it. Looking forward to the Midway launch coming up and the Saturday launch to follow. Looks like we will have a few Cub Scouts out for the Saturday portion as they built rockets last October and were unable to fly them due to the weather being TOO good for TOO long.

Posted by bobble at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

David Powers May Launch Report

What a perfect day for a launch. I had a good day, thank you all. After starting with a copperhead no light, the next two attempts were A OK and put my Night Job and Gib up nicely on their E18 - 7 W motors. Burned up a few E9-8s and a couple of E12-8s all for good flights. Ended the day with a no show of my Dawg, a Purple and Gold rocket with a BT55 to BT 20 transition toward the top.

Posted by bobble at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)

Dave Glass May Launch Report

May 11, 2013

Despite the heat, it was a great day......I was unable to launch three rockets for various reasons, but the ones I did get off went rather well. Started off with what was to be the last flight of the boosted dart, but it was such a beautiful flight and I got so much positive feedback (and a few threats) that I suppose I'll have to postpone its retirement.....Got to use my latest toy, an Altimeter Two---man, what an amazing little device! Altitude, speed, acceleration, time to this, duration of that....and you just clip it to whatever (shock cord mount in my case). Highly recommended. The usual mix of "excitement", textbook flights, and examples of rocket science (e.g. well-executed dual deployments), and there you have it---a wonderful launch. Thanks to Joe for the Econojets (I just happen to have a couple new birds they will be perfect for) and the great pix; thanks Marty for the dog barf (won't have to worry about THAT for a while); and thanks to Alan for setting this whole thing up!

Posted by bobble at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)

May Launch concluded

Our May launch is in the books. Good weather, good flights, good fun. Next up is Midway Elementary 5'th graders on Friday June 7'th followed by a regular SPARC launch on Saturday the 8'th. President bob

Posted by bobble at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)