Launch Report for Saturday, December 5th, 1998

When I got up this morning, the wind was very still and I decided on the fly (pun intended) to send up some of my newer Estes rockets today that haven't gone up yet. I brought my old Sky Raider from 1982 which I never got around to flying, Gnome, Reliant, Challenger I (my very first rocket that I bought when I was 14), Quark, Maxi Alpha 3, Rampage, Bandit, Mosquito, and Athena. By the time I got to the field, the winds were a bit stronger than I expected, but I was still able to launch. It was also very cold being around 3 degrees Celsius and I was quite concerned about my parachutes not opening since I forgot to bring my talcum powder with me, but every parachute opened perfectly today.

I brought my video camera to record each of the flights and my father came with me and pressed the launch button for each of the flights while I was filming. We started launching at around 9:00 AM and we finished around 10:00 AM and we flew at the Howard S. Billings Regional High School's huge school yard here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada. We launched near the fence bordering the school yard and St. Willibrord Elementary School's school yard to extend the area in which we could recover the rockets. This was my first time launching in Billings Field since 1986 and it was my first time launching from this particular area of the school yard since 1982.

Flight 109, 16th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 02 on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight

The first rocket to go up was my second Estes Alpha III and it was a perfect maiden flight. I sent it up on a 12 year old A8-3 and it came down a few hundred feet away from the pad since the rocket was launched with the wind before I realized that the wind had changed direction.

Flight 110, 17th flight this year
Estes Rampage on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight

The next rocket to go up was Rampage on its maiden flight, again on a 12 year old A8-3 and this time I changed the launch angle to compensate for the changed wind direction. Being a heavier rocket, it didn't go very high, but it was a perfect flight. Unfortunately, I didn't get video footage of this launch because I accidentally stopped the camera right before liftoff and I didn't realize it until seconds before Rampage landed.

Flight 111, 18th flight this year
Estes Athena on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight




I didn't have any more A8-3's left from that 12 year blast off flight pack, so I had to use a 1/2A6-2 on Athena's maiden flight. Again, a perfect flight although it was an exceptionally short one.

Flight 112, 19th flight this year
Estes Maxi Alpha 3 01 on an Estes D12-3 for its 3rd flight





On the next flight, I blew the cob webs off my 17 year old Maxi Alpha 3 for only its third flight ever. I heard the igniter sizzle, but the motor didn't light until several seconds later. It blasted to about 400 feet (I think) on a D12-3. My little Quest launch pad was able to support this rocket with a 1/8" launch rod which I was pleased with. This was my first time launching a rocket with too small a launch rod. What a flight! I love loud motors :-)...

Flight 113, 20th flight this year
Estes Bandit on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight





With the successful flight of Maxi Alpha 3 on a "D", I decided to send Bandit up on a B6-4 for its maiden flight. This was my longest flight today at 36.3 seconds and it was a perfect flight. Yes, the B6-4 was from that 12 year old blast off flight pack.

Flight 114, 21st flight this year
Estes Mosquito on an Estes 1/2A3-2T for its 1st flight

Next was Mosquito on a 1/2A3-2T. This was probably the fastest flight of the day and in fact I lost the rocket. My father & I searched for Mosquito for about twenty minutes, but we didn't find it. I returned to the field later in the afternoon and after about an hour, I found the rocket and then the motor casing. I actually found the motor casing just as I was leaving to go home after giving up on finding it!

Flight 115, 22nd flight this year
Estes Challenger 1 01 on an Estes B6-4 for its 8th flight





After not finding Mosquito after our twenty minute search, we decided to go ahead with one more launch. Challenger I was the last to go up and the flight was perfect right up until the point where it landed on someone's roof about a thousand feet away or more. While we were searching for Mosquito, the wind intensified a bit and the direction shifted again and Challenger I drifted out of the field. After a few minutes, it blew off the roof and into their back yard. I asked the owner's permission to go into his back yard to retrieve my rocket and he was very nice about it. I was very lucky today since Challenger I was my first rocket and I REFUSE to lose it!!!

After Challenger I, we figured we'd better call it a day since the winds were getting stronger and changing direction more often and I didn't get to fly the other rockets that I brought today. I especially wanted to fly my Sky Raider since I built it 16 years ago, but I never flew it. I couldn't fly it today since I forgot to bring masking tape for my 18mm motor adaptor since it uses a friction fit for the motor.

Time at Liftoff:
Flight Duration in Seconds:	25
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:

Time at Liftoff:
Flight Duration in Seconds:	32
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:

Time at Liftoff:
Flight Duration in Seconds:	36
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:

Time at Liftoff:
Flight Duration in Seconds:	~7
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:

Time at Liftoff:
Flight Duration in Seconds:	38
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet: