Launch Report #45 Part 4: Others' flights

There weren't that many people at the launch - perhaps twenty at the most, with most of them the regular CATO crowd. That meant the range wasn't crazy, so I was able to take lots of pictures.

Here's Al Gloer's Fliskits Richter Recker on a cluster of three motors, mostly likely D12s:

And his Free Rocket #1 on an unidentified red motor:

Someone's Black Brant on a green motor, at full power but not even moving yet:

I wore my Jayne hat to the launch. Little did I know that I would not be the only one. It seems Al owns one too:

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,

Launch Report #45 Part 2: Happiness is a perfectly deployed parachute

Third flight of the day was the Mozzie on an F23-4 Black Jack that I've had since July 2009. It's a great motor - a baby F that still has enough kick to loft the Mozzie to a simulated altitude of 1065 feet. Due to the wind, the Mozzie arced over significantly weathercocked into the wind and reached a height of no more than 900 feet. But deployment was perfect and thanks to the weathercocking, it landed only 400 feet downwind of the pad.

A couple of the kids hanging around got to it before I did, which I don't normally like because I prefer to see the landing zone if a rocket was damaged on landing so I can prevent the mistake. But this landing was perfect - into the stream. Fortunately the paint suffered no damage, and the Mozzie will fly again.

Launch Report #45: CATO 180: Part 1

First launch in seven months! Busy summer vacation plus going to college prevented me from getting to CATO, and I didn't bother launching on my own. But I'm home for a month now, and so I headed off to Durham for some fun.

My first flight was actually not my rocket. Al Gloer showed me a tiny little thing: a rocket about the size of an Estes Mosquito that was made out of one piece of solid plastic, right down to the launch lug. I flew it on a 1/4A3-3 micro motor, which despite its tiny size and quarter-second burn time can throw a one-ounce rocket about two hundred feet in the air. As expected, we couldn't find it.

But, for the first time, I bring you a VIDEO:

It's pretty interesting to look at frame-by-frame. The cloud of smoke expands for four frames before the rocket actually starts moving.

Second flight was my Cosmic Cobra - my long-ago first rocket - on a C6-3. A gust of wind hit at liftoff and it arced heavily over downrange, but it was high enough for safe ejection. The body tube core-sampled into an open area of field; finding it was a lot easier than removing the 3-inch plug of dirt inside it. I had trouble finding the nose cone in the high grass, but after backtracing the flight in my mind I was able to identify a probably location for it - and I found it.

Here's it just moments after ignition:

Launch Report #44: CATO 173

(Yikes, almost six months since I last flew a rocket..)

I finally got out to a CATO launch on Saturday. I had math team practice beforehand (the depths of my nerdery are astounding, neh?) so I only had time to fly three rockets. Still, lots of fun.

First was the first flight of the MLAS. It's still not quite finished - needs some fillets and some paint - but enough so to fly. I put it up on a C6-3, and thanks to the extra nose weight I added it flew perfectly straight. One parachute got a bit melted, but there was no damage.

Second was the Multi-Goon on three B6-4s. Somehow, it didn't work right. I think that one igniter got pulled out slightly while I was wiring up the cluster, and it ignited late, causing the rocket to spin in midair immediately after leaving the launch rod.

Third was by Fliskits L-13 on a D13-4W White Lightning reload. The 18mm reloads have a lot of punch, and this one was no exception. Unfortunately, the L-13 wasn't quite stable. Just off the launch rod, it took a 90-degree left turn and heading for the northern horizon at about 30 feet altitude. Fortunately, it's a light and draggy rocket, so after the motor burned out it floated pretty gently back to earth. No causalities, and the only damage was a small scale detail (replaceable) which got knocked off by the launch rod.

Interestingly, these three flights now put me at a recorded total of just over 3,000 Newton-seconds of impulse burned.

CATO 167: Punkin Chunkin: Part 5

Here are a few pictures of Al Gloer's Darkstar Itty Bitty on an F30SS:

And some unknown rockets:

CATO 167: Punkin Chunkin: Part 4

The next flight was the SpaceShipTwo on an A10-3 mini motor. Despite the RSO's concerns, it launched straight up, with little spin.

My final flight of the day was the Scissor-Wing Transport on a C6-3. The boost was fast and straight; the glide was not great, but because of the wind it leveled out a bit and landed safely.

CATO 167: Punkin Chunkin: Part 3

After that, I decided to launch my Fliskits Nell, which I had labored over for months. I had primed it, but not given it a full paint job. Like the Great Punkin, its launch (on a C6-3) started out well:

And then it took a turn for the worse. The parachute, which I had packed too tight, failed to deploy. Instead, my beautiful rocket tailslid to a sickening "crunch".

It's broken in several pieces. I am not sure if it can be repaired.

CATO 167: Punkin Chunkin: Part 2

Shortly after the flight of Svetlana, my folks showed up, bearing cameras. My second flight of the day was my pumpkin-lofting flight, the Great Punkin on a G53-7 FJ (Black Max) motor. Simulated altitude 890 feet. The booster had a 16 chute; the punkin had a 36" by 66 chute that I made out of a garbage bag.

It started out well:

But, the giant chute did not open, and instead of soaring, my punkin plummeted to the ground. It, amazingly, survived. My revenge was swift and tasty:

CATO 167: Punkin Chunkin: Part 1

CATO was on Sunday this month; Saturday was rather windy. And, I haven't had time to write about it till now. Pictures will come later tonight, or tomorrow.

My first flight was the Svetlana on an F35-8W - my first launch with my new 24/60 case. It simulates to 1192 feet on Openrocket, and that might be conservative. It zoomed off the pad - the 57 Newton-second (Ns) load packs a lot more punch than a 40 Ns E18 load. I drilled the nominally-8-second delay down to about 6 seconds, and it ejected just past apogee.

Since my old baffle was destroyed at NERRF, I opted to make a temporary one out of duct tape. Just a 10" long tube, made using a 29/240 case as a mandrel. I tapered one end to fit in the motor mount tube, and stuffed the other end in the nosecone. I packed the 12" chute as usual and sure enough, it deployed without being burnt. The duct tape was barely burnt. Fun fact: duct tape can take the heat of a blackpowder ejection charge.

Even with the small 12" chute, it drifted a lot. Everyone thought it was going to land in the woods... but nope, it touched down on the adjacent field. Easy to get to, and I even found someone else's nose cone on the way to get it.

Next: I have pictures!

Launch Report #42: CATO 165

Today was an absolutely perfect day for flying. No wind, high clouds, no rain, no bothersome farmers, and a small turnout that meant no waiting for a pad to launch.

First flight was the Orbital Transport on a C6-3. Despite the lack of wind, it did a spontaneous left turn at about 30 feet of altitude and crashed about 200 feet away. As I turned to collect the wreckage, the ejection charge fired, leaving an eerie mini-mushroom cloud of smoke marking its position in the crash. Although the impact was at speed, the only damage is a crimp in the forward body tube and a single missing fin. The glider is undamaged, and repairs should not be terribly difficult.

Second flight was the SR-71 on an E18-4W reload. The Copperhead igniter burned but failed to start the motor, so I replaced it with a more reliable FirstFire Jr, and it lit perfectly the second time. Reasonably straight boost, and it twisted and glided after burnout as the giant aerodynamic surfaces took effect. The ejection charge failed to deploy the chute, but the big flapping plastic body prevented any damage. The 24mm body tube, however, came unglued during the flight and I will have to reattach it. Still, a far superior life for that old plastic model than not being rocket powered..

Third flight was the Transwing on a C6-3. Perfect boost to around 400 feet, separation at apogee, and a beautiful, slow, turning glide. 38 seconds. Probably the best flight anyone has ever gotten out of a Transwing. Its wingtips need realignment, though. Goes on the to-do list.

Fourth was the Heli-roc on an A10-3 mini motor. Nice boost to around 300 feet, and it spun down perfectly... upside down. No damage, and I had to run out (with permission) to retrieve it because it had fallen directly under the future flame path of a G106 Skidmark on the away pads. That would not have been pretty.

Fifth was the Buckeye IV, as part of Viperfest. Only three on this rack. I was the first off the pad.... and Al Gloer's remained firmly stationary. The ejection charges burned a hole in my kevlar chute protector, and the chute failed to deploy, but it was undamaged.

Sixth and final flight was the Multi-Goon on a cluster of 5 A10-3 motors. It was my first 5-motor cluster. Al Gloer was (jokingly) talking trash beforehand. Instead, it lifted off hot straight, and normal, and I knew instantly that I had 100% ignition. Chute deployed at apogee, for an absolutely perfect flight.

Launch Report #41: CATO 164

Pretty good day at CATO, though it didn't get off to an auspicious start. Conflict with some grumpy old farmer, who supposedly has the rights to mow the town field we use.

First flight for me was Rama on a D13-4W reload. Nice fast flight with good chute deployment. However, due to the odd shape of the motor casing, it was sticking out the back of the rocket quite a bit, and it was not entirely stable during boost.

Second flight was the A.R.V. Condor on a B6-4. The gliders didn't glide very well - too nose-heavy - and all three parts fell into deep, thick grass. With the help of another CATO member and some of the Civil Air Patrol kids who came to the launch, I found the booster and both gliders. The life to fly another day.

Third flight was the 29mm Pyramid (of FLAMING DOOOOM!) on a G64. I taped a 36" parachute to the back and let it loose. Unfortunately, the quick-link came loose and swung into the thrust, diverting it to the side, and causing the parachute to get ripped off by the fast-moving air. Fortunately, it went in a high arc over and beyond the crowd, and landed in the field. Undamaged. That 3/16" bamboo lite-ply is gorram unbreakable.

Al Gloer disagrees. 2.125" packing tube = potential 54mm motor mount. We agreed that sometime, it'll take on the Aerotech I599N Warp Nine reload. That will likely rip it apart, but if it doesn't, it'll be spectacular. I won't even need a Level 2 certification (which I'm planning to get next year anyway).

Final flight was my Fliskits L-13 on a C6-3. Perfect flight - slow boost and perfect chute deployment. Jim Flis was there, and he took a picture of me with it. How awesome is that?

NERRF Pictures

Finally got them uploaded.

The Mozzie on the pad, ready to go. I manipulated the contrast on this one, which looks really cool and shows the haze. The pads are really over 1200 feet from the treeline to the right; the telephoto


Here's a great shot my dad took, with the G64 at full thrust and a 3-foot flame:

This one is a very plain shot of the smoke trail, run through Picasa's processing algorithm. It reminds me of the grainy shots of 1950s nuclear tests.


A sucessful return:

Other Flights at NERRF

There were a lot of great flights at NERRF, too many to talk about all of them. Some highlights:

• Somebody launched an M flight while a number of us were out at the high-power pads. We were still a safe distance away, but it was sudden and unexpected and awesomely loud.
• Rick Comshaw of CATO launched his 5.5" LDRS-28 rocket on a K skidmark. It was a beautiful flight, but that was before it was realized that the dirt on the left side of the range was too dry. This is no ordinary dirt, however; this is the famed METRA Moondust. Flammable dirt. The sparks started a 50-foot string of grass fires. They were quickly put out because this was a contingency that had been thoroughly prepared for, but I got an incurable urge to whistle 'Light my Fire' by the Doors.
• There were a number of impressive altitude flights, some to 11,000 feet or more.
• Right as we pulled in the parking lot, there was a very impressive M flight that went off the away cell. It was a great flight, but the main tangled and there was a collective groan from the crowd. Turn out that was Al Gloer going for Level 3 certification. Fortunately, the "Que$tionable Inve$tment" wasn't damaged. He loaded it up again, got it up on the pad, and... one of the altimeters blinked out an error message.
               Then, later, as I was out searching for the Sudden Mach, I saw a beautiful M flight lift off. When the main deployed, I could hear the clapping from the flight line - 3000 feet away! He'd gotten a new altimeter and it was a perfect flight, landing right near the pads. My folks got a picture:
  
  
  
  He later recalled on TRF how he'd accidentally connected the middle of the parachute, instead of the lines, to the shock cord. When prepping the second flight, he noticed a piece of tape where he'd connected it the previous time. Written on the tape in his wife's (Karen Gloer of CATO Chutes) handwriting was "Not here, stupid"

NERRF 6

I had such an awesome time yesterday at NERRF. It was one of the best days I've yet had of flying. The winds were low, the skies clear, and all 4 of my flights were sucessful.

First thing after registering, I bought some reloads from Bob of Hangar 11. I bought a G75J reload for my 29/180 case, and two packs of 18mm reloads - D13-4W and D24-7T - that he gave me a really good price on.

I first loaded up the Svetlana with the G75J. The stock delay was 10 seconds, but they tend to run long, so I drilled a small hole about 1/8" in to reduce that by a few seconds. She looked very small out on the high-power pads - a 17" tall rocket among 5-foot rockets - but she flew beautifully.

Boost was fast and arrow-straight to a simulated altitude of 2430 feet. Deployment was past apogee, due to the long delay, and the chute tangled. It landed three fields over, about 1200 feet from the pad. The baffle tube was destroyed by the ejection charge (even though I'd only used half the stock charge), but it had done its duty and the chute was protected enough to carry it down safely despite the tangle.. There's a few dings in the paint and it needs a few baffle, but Svetlana has shown her worth, and earned the right to get a drawing from mandachan on it.

Second flight was the Deltie Thunder on an F12-3. Simulated altitude was 650 feet. It took off pretty straight but started to angle away from the flight line, so it probably didn't get above 550 feet. Ejection was second or two late, but the glider leveled off immediately and started some fast circling turns some 500 feet in diameter. Because it's a big dumb glider - 3 feet across, and no RC electronics like most gliders of this size - it glides fast, probably better than 30 feet per second.

It circled twice in two minutes covering perhaps two-thirds of a mile. It landed softly with no damage. The pod, though, had fallen hard. The nose cone has a dent, the glider hook is damaged, and the pod is bent. It'll take some work, but it'll fly again. Hopefully, on a Cesaroni F30 longburn.

Third flight of the day was the highlight: a drag race with Crazy Jim Henderson from Wildman. His carbon-fiber Blackhawk against my conventional-materials Sudden Mach on single-use G78-10 Mojave Green motors. Simulated to 3400 feet, 816 fps (0.73 Mach). Jim had some crazy-tiny electronics from Robert DeHate of Animal Motor Works. An altimeter about a centimeter square, and a radio-directionality tracker that was barely larger. All he had to do was to tape both to the shock cord.

They launched almost simultaneously; his was perhaps 10 or 20 feet ahead of mine. They were the exact same weight and they stayed within a feet feet all the way up to the 2000-foot cloud bank. We never saw ejection, but he got a decent bead with his radio tracker and we headed off to find our rockets.

The tracker led us over half a mile away, through the treeline, across a stream, and into a second field. He got a decent bead on the tracker, but it was in a third field that he'd have to go in from a different place, and he doubted he'd be able to get to it. As we came out, another group of searchers had found the body of his Blackhawk. The tracker, then, was attached to just the nose cone which might have drifted far away.

At this time, I went back to the flight line and prepped my next flight, the Mozzie on a G64-7 White Lightning. Simmed altitude 1850 feet. That was the fastest I have ever assembled a motor; it probably took me under two minutes. It took off fast and that G64 burns for what seems like forever - two seconds, a very long time indeed for a motor of that size. It was literally a dot at deployment. It took some two minutes to drift down; I though it was going to fall right into the treeline, but it came down about 300 feet short - a very short distance considering it was about 2200 feet from the pad.

On the way back, I rescued someone's Estes rocket from an irrigation canal. I brought it back to the lost-an-found pile and sitting there was the Sudden Mach! Crazy Jim had found it undamaged, sitting just a few feet from his nose cone and tracker. Oddly, the timer had never detected launch, so the main didn't deploy. Oh well; I'll figure that out another time, and I'll get an altimeter with deployment to use in the future. Hopefully he'll contact me soon with his altimeter data. The only bad part about the flight: it took twenty minutes to untangle the shock cords. Falling for two minutes gave lots of time for the different parts to tangle; the shock cord was literally braided to itself.

All in all, it was an absolutely great day. Almost perfect flying weather, and four successful flights, all of which I wouldn't have been able to fly here at CATO because of our limited field. I'll have pictures and information about other flights later.

NERRF today

NERRF was absolutely great today. Four sucessful flights, and lots of fun. Lots more info, and some pictures tomorrow.

For now, a big hearty CONGRATULATIONS to Al Gloer, CATO president, for his sucessful Level 3 certification flight today.

Launch Report #39

I went out today and launched a few rockets on my own at the local field just to test things out.

First was the Heli-roc on an A10-3T. Nice boost to around 300 feet, but one of the rubber bands snapped, so only 2 blades deployed. It flipped end-over-end and was not damaged, but I need a new rubber band.

Second was the Alexi Leonov (Estes Loadstar) on a B6-4. I put the Minitimer3 - which I'll use on Saturday at NERRF - in the payload bay, with a lightbulb to indicate when the timer would fire a charge. It was severely underpowered - Openrocket indicates just 95 feet. It arced over and hit the ground; the ejection charge fired a moment later and threw the engine mount about 60 feet.

And the timer didn't even go; apparently it wasn't enough to trip the acceleration-based G-switch. Fortunately, neither the electronics nor the payload bay were damaged.

I placed the payload bay in place of the nose cone on the Bullpup - creating a ridiculous-looking rocket - and sent it up on a C6-3. Perfect flight to 300 feet, and the timer worked perfectly.

I also found two nose cones in the woods by the field. There are always the unfortunate results of other peoples' flights in there.

More CATO 161 Pictures

Two racks of LPR rockets, none of them mine:

And me setting up the Sudden Mach:

Launch Report #38: CATO 161

Yes, another late post. Oh well. I have no no time whatsoever lately.

The weather was great on Saturday - hazy but no wind. The only frustrating bits were that there were a lot of kids around - three school groups totalling almost 60 kids - and that a lot of rockets flew right into the sun and were hard to spot.

My first flight was the L-13 on a C6-3; simulated altitude 500 feet. It was a bit squirrelly and wobbled during boost; I'll add some nose weight before its next flight. It recovered nicely on a 15" chute (repaired from last month's launch).
Second flight was the Mach Goon on a G115WT reload. Simulated altitude 3500 feet; simulated velocity 1250 fps (Mach 1.1+). Way to high for this field, but I was asked to specially and I got permission. The motor ignited almost instantly, and it ripped off the pad:

It took a sharp turn east at a few hundred feet off the ground; perhaps a fin split off or it spit a chunk of propellant. Stability was marginal in any case. It roared off at ridiculous speed, and I heard a crack which may have been it breaking Mach for a moment. I never saw ejection despite the loads of tracking powder, and currently it's lost. I got in contact with the owners of a nearby farm field where it may have landed; they said they'd keep an eye out for it. Nice folks.

Final flight of the day was the Sudden Mach on an E18-4W, simulated altitude 1350 feet.

The drogue was a 6" nylon chute; the main was 15". Al Gloer helped me (a lot) with the charge, and I set the Minitimer 3 to 25 seconds - approximately 400 ft AGL at deployment.

It ripped off the pad rather nicely. I love the E18 reload.

It deployed the drogue right at ejection, but then the whole thing came apart, connected only by the Kevlar shock cord, and the charge never fired.

Turns out, it's hard to glue stuff to Blue Tube. The spacer rings had both stripped right off their couplers at ejection - easily repairable.

I'm not sure why the timer didn't fire the charge; perhaps it was mounted too loosely in the avbay. In any case, that's an investigation for another day, and I'll explain it further tomorrow.

Total was three flights, three rockets, three motors. Total of 188.4 Ns - one of my highest one-day totals.

Launch Report #37: CATO 160

Saturday was an absolutely great day for a launch. The winds were a little high in the morning, but it was warm and dry and sunny and the flights were good. I flew 5 rockets; only one flight was perfect but the other 4 were all good and none of them got lost in trees.

First off the pad for me was the Multi-Goon loaded with 3x A8-3 motors in the 18mm cluster mount. Because of the 12 large fins, it arced over into the wind; fortunately, it deployed for a perfect landing and no damage except for some burns on the cluster mount. Next flight will be either on 5 13mm As, 3 18mm Bs, or 1 24mm D.

Second flight was the Goddard L-13 on a B6-2. Woefully underpowered and it arced over quite a bit. Parachute didn't deploy and it core-sampled; the rocket was mostly undamaged but the chute protector had unfolded too much and the parachute has 2 small burn holes which will be repaired. Next flight will be after repairs and painting on a C6-3.

Third flight was the Nike Goon on a B6-4. Not underpowered but unimpressive (simulated altitude 280 feet); this really needs a C or D. Streamer didn't fully deploy and one fin broke clean off; it's currently being repaired.

At this point, I'd flown three small rockets. I had the Svetlana loaded with an E18-4W, but it stubbornly refused to light. One Copperhead igniter failed (not surprising; Copperheads are cheap and kinda crappy) and one Quest Q2G2 failed (a surprise; they're very good igniters). So I was running our of good igniters. Then Rick Comshaw, who's the Wildman dealer for Connecticut offered me a deal: If I could find his rocket, he'd give me a free pack of igniters. Now that's an offer I couldn't refuse.

Now, mind you, he and another flier had spent over an hour looking along a large section of the tree line and not found it. We all had a pretty good angle on where it hit the treeline, but it wasn't in the thick trees there, nor on the field. So, instead, I decided to look deeper in the forest, since the rocket was fiberglass and pretty heavy. I found it almost 250 feet into the forest, across the stream, about 15 feet up in a tree. I climbed a small tree, grabbed it, and yanked it down, so I got my igniters.

Once I sanded the grain and added a piece of tape to improve ignition and put in the new igniter (a high-quality FirstFire Jr), it ignited immediately, sending the Svetlana to a simulated altitude of 850 feet. The parachute tangled and got a small burn hole, but the draggy body flapped around and it was undamaged.

Finally came VIPERFEST. Four of us had Viper IVs ready for launch, and one fellow had a similar Viper III. (My mom got there just in time to snap a few photos). All D12 motors; that's 19 (4x4 + 1x3) motors sitting on the pad:


Second from left is Al Gloer's Viper; 4th is the Viper III, and my Buckeye IV is on the right. Our new launch system built by a club member, took the full voltage of a car battery and applied it to 19 igniters. The result: 19 motors (100%) fired:


Al's got off the pad first because he used the Q2G2 igniters which fire milliseconds sooner than plain Estes igniters. All 5 lifted off perfectly just as the wind died; the 4 Viper IVs all went to around 860 feet, and the Viper III to slightly less. Mine is the smoke trail that extends off the top of the photo. One Viper used D12-7s instead of D12-5s; the extra 2 second sof delay means it's the one off the the right still producing tracking smoke:


All five chutes deployed perfectly; since the wind had died down, they came down rather near the launch pads. My simulated flight duration was 38 seconds, and reality matched exactly. This final photo, taken just one second before landing, is timestamped 37 seconds after liftoff.


I flew 5 rockets on 10 motors, including my first 3-motor and 4-motor clusters. I had a great time; the Viper flight was one of very few absolutely perfect flights I've had. It ranks right up there with my certification flight and the first flight of the Mozzie.

I also bought 18/20 motor hardware from Mr. Comshaw; I plan to fly the 18mm D reloads in rockets like the L-13.

One final note: the 1st, 3rd, and 4th pictures were modified slightly using the 'I'm feeling lucky' autoadjust in Picasa. Here's what happens when you use it too many times, just for fun: