Launch Report #45 Part 3: Two-stage rockets

Since this was my first time flying rockets in seven months, I didn't try anything too fancy. No clusters, no gliders, and nothing requiring a tightly-packed parachute or other finicky recovery devices.

But what's life without a little adventure? So I did fly two two-staged rockets at CATO, both old favorites with a few flights under their belts. The first was the Jinx, a rocket I was given in 5th grade by a teacher. It's solid plastic and basically unbreakable and waterproof - the perfect rocket for a cold day with lots of water on the field.

This was its eighth flight since I started keeping records and there'd been a few before then; this was its third boosted flight. I used a B6-0 in a generic booster stage I built a while back and an A10-3 mini motor in the Jinx. They're on the left rod:

It flew beautifully. Staging was low enough to be in sight yet the Jinx flew fairly high. It came down near the pads but on a wet area of the field, and a CATO member with hip waders fetched it. The booster came down just 100 feet from the pads.


My final flight of the day was my twin saucers staged on a D12-0 / C6-0 combo. As always, they were stable even in wind and a good low and loud crowd-pleaser:

As with the previous video, this one is worth watching frame-by-frame. Consistent with simulations, the saucers oscillate (both back-and-forth and speed up/slow down) due to the large area and flexible nature,