Spokane Area Rocket Club

Lou Bragg launch report

July 2, 2014

I know this is quite late in posting but I figured I needed to get one out. SPARC's June launch blasted into the morning skies of the 7th. Conditions started out good and gradually got better. As usual flight numbers were dominated by Joe Cooney who managed to get in 22 flights even with doing a few stints at LCO. With a total of 65 flights that is a hair more than a third. Mark Howe came out for a bit and managed several flights including his glider rockets. Always fun to watch. One flight of Mark's that didn't quite work out was his Estes Skywinder that burned a motor and hung on the rod. The neat thing with this rocket is it uses helicopter recovery where spring loaded blades pop out at apogee and the whole thing rotates back in. Unfortunately when it hung on the rod we all got a close look at the helicopter action up close. Real bummer though as that was one of my favorite rockets when I was younger! Marty Weiser also showed and brought a few of his students who kept the high power pads busy. Jesse Hutson successfully flew his Level 1 on an H73J in his Hellfire rocket. Congrats Jesse! Alan Roberts attempted his first? dual deployment flight with his Just a Level Two on a J350W nabbing biggest motor in the process. Unfortunately the main never fired and the rocket returned in a heap. Early conclusions look like a violent banging of the ebay against the fin can during descent causing a power failure. Better luck next time Alan! It was quite a good looking rocket though with a beautiful column of fire and smoke pouring out the aft throughout the burn. Dave Glass was also in attendance and put up quite a few fun flights including his booosted dart which is awesome to watch. Don't retire that rocket Dave! Our prez Bob put up his first (and possibly last?) sparky flight with a ripping boost on a G75M. Rocket appears to be lost though but I have faith ol' rocketdawg will find it! Even doing LD duties I was able to squeeze in a couple of flights. 3 low power which were mostly successful and a single high powered flight of my Stealth 2 on a I364FJ. Great small field motor for that rocket with an easy flight to 2052' and good dual deployment with the DROGUE at apogee since Bob expressed some concern with the previous drogueless configuration falling like a rock with a small motor in the fin can! All in all a good launch and hoping for an equal if not better turnout for the Halloween launch. Motor Breakdown: 1/2A--3 A--10 B--5 C--16 D--10 E--9 F--2 G--5 H--3 I--4 J--1 Clustered flights: 2 Staged : 4 Smallest motor: 1/2A3 Largest motor: J350W Thanks again all, Lou Bragg June Launch Director

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