Spokane Area Rocket Club

Joe Cooney launch report

May 12, 2014

First off, thanks to Alan for stepping up for the duty to put this launch together. A specials Congrats to Mark Howe, it has been a long while since someone has put up more flights than me. . I think last time that happened, my daughter had a soccer game and I showed up after noon with one Rocket and TWO motors. Other than that sad fact, the launch was great and the weather was spectacular. Mixed clouds with Blue sky and Calm winds. Apparently I got 11 flights for the day, that has been my average for the last few years anyway. Pulled out two older Centuri Rockets for the launch. The first was the Centuri Magnum Jayhawk (1800-1983), flew it twice on a D12-3. Both flights were very nice boost and recovery. Time to hang it back up in the Rocket Room for another year or two. The other was an old (Feb 5, 1965) Centuri Javelin (nicknamed, "Old and in the Way") on a B6-6, Largest motor I have ever flown it on. Flew another old Estes Rocket a 1986 Estes Ranger (1955) on a C11-7. My Astron Sprint Clone on a C6-7 for a nice high flight, thanks to Alan for the tracking Chalk. I also flew my First Scratch built rocket, "Plum Crazy" a very simple 3FNC rocket painted Plum Crazy. Thanks to some help I was able to locate the rocket on the third trek out into the wheat. The first walk netted a nice cow skull and horns. Found an assembled F24-7 motor in my launch box and decided it was a good fit for "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." A rocket I designed after I found a BT-80 nose cone at Joe Albi several years ago. The rocket flew better than last month and was recovered with all fins in tact. Had a first flight in my Estes Solar Probe clone, she still needs some painting though. All in all a very good day of flying and fun. I am Looking forward to next month and Midway Elementary School launch. I will be purchasing a few packs of E9's for that launch and plan on launching some of my bigger Cluster Rockets! Joe

Posted by bobble at 6:43 AM | Comments (0)

Dave Glass launch report

I guess I'll put in my two cent's worth.....First, let me add to the thanks for Allan setting this thing up and Dave Luders for the emergency facilities. Also thanks to Dave for adding another form of recovery with his Lego rockets: PLATTER RECOVERY! As for myself, I wish I had brought another half-dozen birds given the much better than expected weather, but was pleased with the half-dozen I did get off. Included were: a textbook flight of Son of SAM on an old H180 which I expected to chuff and was not disappointed in that regard; an amazing boost of Crash Test Dummy on a 1987 F80, and a 'coning' boost of Even More Parts on an F42. Looks like I'll have to re-configure that bird once again (More and More Parts?). I was amazed at the number of recoveries near the pads. Thanks once again for Marty's glider---love to watch those things, especially when they perform so well! All in all, a great day of flying.

Posted by bobble at 6:38 AM | Comments (0)

Mark Howe Launch Report

May 11, 2014

“I finally beat Joe in # of flights”! It was close...and it has been quite awhile since I captured the coveted “most flights” title. I flew 12 rockets ranging from a Ninja on an A3-4T motor to a Estes Patriot on a cluster of 4 D12-7’s (which equates to a F48-7). My only staged flight was a B6-0 / C6-0 combo in “Frick & Frack”, a flying saucer/UFO based model. The “Port-A-Potty” went up on a C6-3 and landed standing up...a first for me. I only flew one set of gliders, my Estes F-22 Air Sup fighter kit which I modified to carry two F-22’s. I used an AT 18mm D13-4 reloadable motor which supplied the required kick this draggy rocket needs. It is rather anemic with the stock C6-3 motor with just a single glider. The gliders deployed a bit early, shortly after motor burnout as opposed to when the ejection charge fired. One glided nicely but the other needs a bit of trimming. All three pieces (2 gliders & the booster) landed within 25’ radius...another first for me! I flew my Gemini DC on B6-2 and finally got both chutes to deploy out of the backward facing side pods, but with the extra shock cord I added they did not have a chance to unfurl and I “stuck” the landing with the nose buried in the soft dirt. Next time I’ll try a “C”. I used my Jolly Logic altimeter to capture data from 5 different flights. This is a great little device that is the size of a USB thumb drive. It will fit into a 18mm diam (or larger) rocket and records 10 different flight statistics. Not surprising, my partriot with the 4xD cluster went the highest at 792’. Marty had the BEST glider flights of the day...his Edmonds Ci-Ci seemed to stay up in the air forever! After experimenting with a few different motor sizes we have determined that the optimal motor for this glider is a B4-2 or B4-4. Dave Luders brought his fleet of rockets built entirely of LEGO building pieces. Some were stable, some not so much...but reentry was always a thrill since it’s a tad hard to deploy chutes or streamers from these unique creations. Kudos also go to Dave for binging his Pop-Up tent trailer with bathroom facilities as a replacement for the Porta-Potty that couldn’t be delivered in time for the launch. Joe showed up late and brought the good weather with him, as usual! The afternoon flying was sensational. Lots of other flights...too many to list here. Attendance was less than last months April launch but a good time was had by all. We had the range torn down by ~4:30 and headed home. Next up on the schedule is FITS in Mansfield over Memorial Day weekend, then Midway Elementary sometime the 2nd week of June.

Posted by bobble at 2:08 PM | Comments (0)

May launch complete

May 10, 2014

Well, the weather today was a very pleasant surprise. Arrived to a low cloud deck that gradually cleared to mostly sunny skies and light breeze. Good crowd, steady activity all day. Our next public launch is currently scheduled for Saturday November 1'st with Joe Cooney as your Launch Director. president bob

Posted by bobble at 4:51 PM | Comments (0)