Spokane Area Rocket Club

David Powers launch report

November 2, 2014

I got to the Launch site in the rain at about 9:00am to find everyone under Joe’s cover. Started with my dog toy squeakers rocket, No Noise (because it does not whistle) on a C11-7 to test the ceiling. I followed that with my EST-11 also on a C11-7. Decided to setup a high power rail despite the rain. After waiting a while for the rain to settle down my LOC IV was launched on an H170 sparky for a good flight and a fair amount of hunting for it since it drifted into the trees to the Southeast. Thanks Alan, Greg and Bob for finding it 100’ up in a tree, though if they had been better friends they would have found it in the pasture behind the trees. The LOC is still decorating the tree. Since both of the Sparky launches of the day ended up in trees, maybe someone is trying to tell us something. With my LOC IV and my 360 case planted in a tree I did not get to use my other Sparky motor or launch my Pike (would have been an I357T). Also, I decided not to plant any more of my motor casing in trees. So I finished up with a Gold Strike on a C6-7 for a wobbly flight, due to the rain soaking the top part of the gold foil loose from the body tube, I used up my final C11-7 in the main body of my CC Express. Greg and Jan Tenhold came to photograph launches. Thanks to Joe for providing them with a dry place to do that. They each got an outstanding photograph of my sparky launch. They also got Joe’s four motor rocket as it was leaving the launch rod. Joe was right only two of the motors lit. A big thank you to everyone, I has a great time (well, maybe a little less, with my LOC hanging in a tree) despite the rain. I like Joe's idea of a BYOR launch in January or February, and am looking forward to seeing what Dave comes up with next year…the coke bottle was ausgezeichnet! I am off to start building my Sea Wolf. See you all next year. David Powers

Posted by bobble at 6:33 PM | Comments (0)

Joe Cooney launch report

Halloween has come and gone and with it the 2014 flying season for SPARC. Yesterdays weather was dismal and wet at best. Today looks wonderful, but yesterday was the only day that would work for me. The previous weekend I spent several hours mowing out a launch area out of the stubble. I was committed to launch today due to work and available options. I arrived at the launch area at around 0900 hours. In my mirror I could see Bob pulling in with the trailer. Coming up the road was Dave G. who claimed he thought he missed the memo for cancelling the launch and was gonna head home. Set up was light, one model pad, one mid power pad and later a High Power Pad was added. Launching was sparse but constant, at one point I counted 8 cars but more showed up. Most people were gathered under my 12x10 pop up tent to stay out of the rain. Friday I went out and purchased a few packs of E-9's. Saturday morning I was reminded why so many people hate those motors. First launch of the day for me, was my 2.6" upscaled Big Bertha with 3 canted 24mm motor mounts. Two of the installed motors went Boom shortly after lift off. MESS report has been filed with NAR and currently working on documenting the damage to file off an email to Estes. I managed to get my first Sparky Motor flight in, unfortunately the rocket has yet to be recovered, it is hanging in a tree south of the field to the south. Thanks to Bob and Alan for getting a good line on it. I was off by 100 feet or more. My other flights went well including my 4" upscaled Baby Bertha on an I-161. Looking forward to next year and better flying weather. My feet were cold and wet and most of my equipment spent the night drying out so it could be put away for the winter. I am thinking of a Class 1, BYOE Launch in January or February this winter. Hopefully there is a little snow on the ground to make finding those white parachutes easier. Guess it time to send in dues for next year and also renew my NAR membership. Joe

Posted by bobble at 6:29 PM | Comments (0)

Mark Howe Launch Report

Unfortunately I arrived on site after the nice weather had went away and was greeted with rain showers. The showers dampened everything around us except for our desire to launch rockets! I came with only four rockets, all of which I had prepped for the June SPARC launch but had never gotten around to launching. Managed to put up 3 out of the 4. First up was an Estes Big Bertha on a C6-3. I had planned on attaching a crepe paper streamer to the fin to create a “St. Louis Arch”, but the wet weather conditions took that option away. Instead I launched it with a small Chinese helicopter toy which was expelled from the body tube during motor eject. The small copter has a flashing red&blue LED, and my thought are to use it for a night launch next year. It didn’t work as well as I planned, but I’m sure with a little tweaking I can get it to work correctly. Second on the list was an old Estes Scissor Wing Transport, which is a boost glider. This was it’s 3rd flight and it went up on on a C6-3 performing much better than I had expected. The initial glide angle was very steep, but it leveled out nicely for the last 2/3’s of it’s flight. The booster and glider were recovered within 25’ of each other...that doesn’t happen to me very often. Last up was a LOC Mini-Magg (MM) on an H242-M. The MM was my L1 cert rocket from many years ago, and this was it’s 5th flight. Motor eject charge fired shortly after apogee and I had an easy recovery...unlike a few of the others who still have their birds stuck up in trees at the south end of the field. All things considered I had a better day than anticipated. Thanks to all of the hardy souls who braved the elements for a good time. Thanks to Joe for being LD, and thanks in advance to Bob for “drying out” the wet equipment we put back into the trailer. I’m already looking forward to the 2015 SPARC season. Regards, Mark

Posted by bobble at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)

Dave Glass launch report

Well yes, it did start out drizzly. I was the first one at the site and wondered if I'd missed the cancellation memo! However, it did let up quite a bit and several flights were put up. Mine included a mini "ladder", starting out with a first flight (for me and the day) of a 1/4 scale AIM-4 Falcon named "Junior Jr." The D12-5 seemed like a perfect motor; I was pleased. Next up was "Mad Maxine" on an E20-4; first time for that motor and what a difference from the previous E15 flights! Following that was "Junior", a 1/3 scale Falcon, on an F25-4. Arced over a bit resulting in only a 900' flight but performed OK anyway. The rain picked up after that and I resigned myself to saving the HP flights for next season, but it slacked off again and I was able to put up my latest oddroc, a flying Coke bottle named "Things go better with AP". Despite a wisely-called heads-up it was a textbook flight on an H128; two separate chutes brought the bottle and booster back about 50' apart. The rain then began once more and I called it good; however it was getting nice again as we were packing up about 2:30. A much better day than I thought we'd have as I was loading the truck in the morning downpour. Thanks Joe for setting things up (need a little more work on your weather mojo, but we'll let it slide this time).

Posted by bobble at 7:25 AM | Comments (0)

November launch concluded

November 1, 2014

The forecast called for light showers to end late morning. The forecast was wrong, light showers persisted all day. That didn't stop us from launching as we had light but steady activity from about 0930 until we shut down the range around 1430. This concludes our 2014 launch season. president bob

Posted by bobble at 2:52 PM | Comments (0)

Launch today is GO

We are GO for our last scheduled launch of the season today, Saturday November 1'st. While it is currently dry, we are expecting a light band of showers to pass through before 1100. We will be setting up the range around 0900 and then be ready with hopes of several hours of good flying conditions. Battery charging sequence is complete. NOTAM has been filed. Joe Cooney has already been at work going above and beyond normal Launch Director duties. Joe went out to the field last week and spent a couple hours mowing the stubble so we'll have a nice place to set up pads. president bob

Posted by bobble at 5:48 AM | Comments (0)