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Launch

Launch Report for Sunday, September 10th, 2000
(Page 3 of 6)

Isabel Deslauriers' scratch built Eagle on an Estes D12-5

	This was one rocket that I wanted to see fly since Isabel told me about this one that she was building awhile back.  The nose cone is carved to look like the head of an Eagle and this thing took off like a shot!  The performance was quite stable and impressive despite the fact that the nose cone is designed to be asymmetrical.  Great flight!

C. Garrett's Estes AIM-9 Sidewinder on an Estes C6-3

	This scale AIM-9 Sidewinder went for a perfect flight and landing... Great flight!

Isabel Deslauriers' Estes Venus Probe on an Estes C6-3

	Venus Probe is one of those Estes rockets that should have been designed with a 24mm motor mount instead of an 18mm.  On a C, even a three second delay made for a nervous moment when it looked like it might lawn dart, but in the end deployment was fine.  Flight time was a mere 9 seconds though!  Isabel wants to design a D powered booster stage for this rocket.

Flight 452, 103rd flight this year
Keith Bedard's Estes Longshot on an Estes D12-0 staging to an Estes C6-7 for its 9th flight

This flight was a disaster!!!  For the first time since 1981, one of my rockets went unstable when after upper stage ignition, the nose cone immediately separated and the stage became unstable.  With the delay grain still burning, my Longshot came down tail first under a shredded chute and landed near Pad 2.  It looks like my C6-7 had a blow-by to the ejection charge which sometimes happens with reloadable motors, but I've never seen in an Estes motor before.  My first unstable rocket in 19 years and it had to be in front of a crowd of fellow rocketeers... How embarrassing!! :-)

Aerotech Mustang drag race, both on Aerotech E30-7T's

Time for another drag race!  Two Aerotech Mustangs each on Aerotech E30-7T's took off simultaneously form Pads 4 & 6 for a spectacular show of Blue Thunder power.  The Mustang on Pad 4 is Pierre Laurendeau's and the one on Pad 6 is Jacques Beauséjours'.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any flight duration information for these flights.

Isabel Deslauriers' Estes Space Shuttle on an Estes C6-3

	Isabel sent her Space Shuttle up next and while it's often hard for Space Shuttle owners to get a decent glide out of the orbiter, she had it trimmed quite nicely and it turned in an impressive glide!

Jacques Beauséjours' Estes Skywinder on an Estes C5-3

	Skywinder has got to be Estes' most popular helicopter recovery kit ever since it consistently performs well and it's always impressive in the air as was the case during this flight.  Tim Van Milligan was the designer of the Skywinder when he was working at Estes.  He's now the president of Apogee Components and makes some very cool motors.

Jacques Beauséjours' Estes Astrocam 110 on an Estes C6-7

Astrocam 110 turned in a beautiful flight.  The photo it took will likely be of the forest in the distance beside our launch site since that's where the nose was pointing during ejection, but it should a nice photo nonetheless.

J. Garrett's Estes Fireflash on an Estes B4-4

	Mr. Garrett tried his Fireflash on another B4-4 and after a delayed reaction (probably from weak batteries in the controller), the rocket lifted off for a perfect flight with no shock cord or chute line entanglements.  Excellent flight!

Sylvain Gagnon's Launch Pad Army Hawk on an Aerotech E30-4T

Our club vice-president's first flight today was one of the unexpected highlights of the day since this rocket has a tendency to weathercock severely once about half of the propellant has finished burning.  After a nearly perfect vertical liftoff, it snapped horizontally at a few hundred feet altitude and continued on in the direction of the forest like a rocket powered plane not unlike the X-15, or like an air to air missile.  It drifted back onto the field for a perfect landing.  What a flight!!! :-)

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