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Launch

Launch Report for Saturday, September 8th, 2001
(Salvo 8)

Estes Droid Fighter on an Estes C6-3

The Estes Droid Fighter is one of the Star Wars: Episode I rockets that Estes made in 1999 before immediately discontinuing them in 2000 due to poor sales.  Estes lost $14 million on the Star Wars deal with Lucasfilm and it may be the reason for Estes' sudden return to making rocket kits again instead of the ready to fly rockets. The flight was fairly low in altitude even on a C6-3 since this rocket is a bit heavy for its size and the chute failed to open so the rocket plopped to the ground just northeast of the launch area.

Estes Firebird on an Estes C6-5

An Estes Firebird (Sylvain Gagnon's if I'm not mistaken) was up next on a C6-5.  Excellent flight and recovery on a streamer which allowed to land in the mowed grass just north of the launch area.

Isabel Deslauriers' Estes Death Star on an Estes C6-3

Isabel's Death Star was up next on a C6-3 for a spectacular flight as usual although those Death Star pieces sure drifted far landing near the road, but still inside the recovery area well east of the launch area.

Richard Sylvain's scratch built Tin Tin Rocket on an Aerotech E30-4T

I always love to watch this one fly!  I don't know how popular the Tin Tin comics are in the rest of the world, but they're quite popular here in Quebec.  It takes a substantial amount of modeling skill to build this type of rocket from scratch and I'm always impressed when I see this one.  Richard builds some very unusual rockets from scratch and they are truly one of a kind models. This scratch built Tin Tin rocket went up on an E30-4T for its usual spectacular flight!  Landing was just west of the launch area.

Estes Saturn V on an Estes D12-3

The same Estes Saturn V that went up earlier in the day flew again on a D12-3 and this time, the chutes opened providing the two pieces of this rocket with soft landings.

Flight 598, 117th flight this year
Keith Bedard's Aerotech HV Arcas on an Aerotech F25-4W for its 1st flight

My Aerotech HV Arcas went up on an F25-4W for its first flight in what was supposed to be a drag race with Marc's HV Arcas on the same motor.  Marc's misfired and mine took off for a beautiful flight, but I made the mistake of leaving the stock chute on this rocket and the wind carried it well inside the forest.  If the Transroc II wasn't on board, I almost certainly would not have found it and I had to use the directional mic to home in on it.  I found it on the lower branches of a tree within easy reach from the ground.  I was very lucky to find let alone to get this rocket back considering how dense this forest was.

Yves Lacombe's LOC/Precision Onyx (stretched) on an Aerotech F50

A stretched LOC/Precision Onyx was next on an F50 for a gorgeous flight and a landing in some tree branches just on the edge of the forest.  Eventually it came back down.

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E-mail: kbedard@rocketryonline.com

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