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Launch Report for Sunday, March 28th, 1999
Since the weather was so good for flying yesterday, my father & I headed back out to the schoolyard of Howard S. Billings Regional High School here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada to send a few more rockets up. We got there around 9:30 AM and I brought my Estes Python, Der Big Red Max, X-Ray (new version), Nike Arrow, Rampage, Bandit, Airwalker, and Manta as well as my scratch built Triton, Warthog and Arrow rockets.
The weather was good, visibility excellent, and there was a slight breeze coming in from the north east and there were more clouds than yesterday although it was sunny. Temperature was around 12 degrees Celsius.
I used my Estes Porta Pad that came with my Airwalker starter kit since there was a bit of wind and I needed a launch pad with a tilter to adjust the launch angle. Since I got robbed on the first of March, I couldn't bring my video camera to record each flight as I normally do.
Flight 143,
18th flight this year
Estes Nike Arrow on
an Estes 1/2A3-2T for its 2nd flight
The
first rocket to go up was my Estes Nike Arrow on an Estes
1/2A3-2T straight up to determine where I could expect my rockets
to land and to see what kind of angle I should launch them on.
It didn't land too far away from the pad, so I decided to
continue launching straight up. Nike Arrow flew well, but
the streamer was a little melted. The night before, I used
silicone sealant to seal the base of the transducer section so
that ejection gases wouldn't seep into the payload section and
pop the nose cone off. This seems to have worked.
Flight 144, 19th
flight this year
Estes Nike Arrow on
an Estes A3-4T for its 3rd flight
Next
up was Nike Arrow again on an Estes A3-4T. Again it flew
well and again, there was more melting of the streamer. I
decided to give this one a break for the rest of the day.
Flight 145, 20th
flight this year
Estes X-Ray (New)
on an Estes 1/2A3-2T for its 2nd flight
Next up was X-Ray (the new
version) on an Estes 1/2A3-2T. As with the Nike Arrow, I
sealed the base of the transducer section to prevent the ejection
gases from popping the nose cone off and it worked on this rocket
as well.
Flight 146,
21st flight this year
Scratch built
Warthog on a Quest A6-4 for its 2nd flight
Warthog blasted into the air
on a Quest A6-4 after yesterday's launch had to be scrubbed
because of a weak shock cord mount. I also changed the
streamer for one made of the Ukrainian streamer material that I
bought from Sigma Rockets. The rocket worked great, but it
was hell trying to get the motor casing in and out. Quest
wraps their motors with a colorful sticker which unfortunately
increases the motor's diameter and makes it very hard to get it
into and out of the rocket.
Flight 147,
22nd flight this year
Scratch built
Triton on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight
Triton is a parallel staged
rocket that I designed and built in 1982 and only today did it
make its first test flight (sustainer only). It flew
extremely well with rock solid stability on an Estes B6-4.
Hopefully, I'll be able to use the strap on boosters for its next
flight.
Flight 148,
23rd flight this year
Estes Airwalker on
an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight
Airwalker was up next for its
maiden flight on an Estes B6-4. Great flight and a rather
rugged rocket too in comparison to most other Estes designs.
Flight 149, 24th
flight this year
Estes Rampage on an Estes
B4-4 for its 3rd flight
Rampage went up next on an
Estes B4-4 for its first time since its broken fin was repaired
from a December flight. This was my first use of a B4-4
since a Cobra 1500 flight in 1981. Rampage's flight was
beautiful.
Flight 150, 25th
flight this year
Scratch built Arrow on an
Apogee 1/2A2-2 for its 2nd flight
Arrow, my rocket that I built
only two days before to be able to use Apogee's micro motors went
up for its second flight, this time on an Apogee 1/2A2-2
motor. The two second delay is a bit too short for this
rocket, but since Arrow uses nose blow recovery, I wasn't too
concerned about the shock cord zippering the body tube.
Just like yesterday, Arrow flew beautifully although I almost
lost it in the sun's glare as it was coming down.
Flight 151, 26th
flight this year
Estes Bandit on an Estes
B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Bandit was up next on an Estes
B6-4. It went higher than I remembered from the previous
Bandit flight and drifted quite far from the pad too. Nice
flight.
Flight 152, 27th
flight this year
Estes Der Big Red Max on
an Estes B4-2 for its 4th flight
Der Big Red Max went up next
on an Estes B4-2 and while the flight was nice, one of the
parachute shroud lines snapped in the middle and when I recovered
the rocket, I pulled on another shroud line and it snapped too,
so I decided to retire for the day since I'll have to change all
the shroud lines. The parachute was a homemade one and
obviously, the string I used rotted over the years.
Flight 153, 28th
flight this year
Estes LTV Scout on an
Estes C6-3 for its 1st flight
My LTV Scout is a scale model
of the rocket that NASA used to launch the Uhuru satellite into
orbit that was I built in 1982 and it flew for its first time
today on an Estes C6-3. The flight was straight up which
was a pleasant sight since I was a bit concerned that it might
not be quite stable because of the tiny fins. Such a
beautiful flight! Unfortunately, when it landed, I
discovered that the motor mount had came unglued and so now it
needs to be repaired. It seems to have separated during
ejection. Thank God it didn't come unglued during boost!
Flight 154, 29th
flight this year
Estes Python on an Estes
C6-3 for its 2nd flight
Python was up next for its
second ever flight. Like yesterday, I sent it up on an
Estes C6-3 in a homemade 24mm to 18mm adaptor. Today, I
was hoping to send it up on a D12-5 so I used a C6-3 first to
keep the altitude low to see where it was going to land so I
could determine if I could get away with a "D" flight
or not. It actually landed quite close to the pad and so I
decided to go ahead with the "D" flight.
Flight 155, 30th
flight this year
Estes Python on an Estes
D12-5 for its 3rd flight
Python went right up again on
an Estes D12-5 and the boost was incredible! Even on a D12,
it looked like it could still use a bit more power (I'll have to
try it on an Aerotech E15 soon!) but its relatively slow climb
was awesome to watch! Coming down on its chute, missed the
roof of the nearest apartment building by mere inches and it came
down past four floors of windows! Those people must have
gotten quite a surprise!
Flight 156, 31st
flight this year
Estes X-Ray (New) on an
Estes A10-3T for its 3rd flight
After that near miss with
Python, I decided to fly a streamer recovered rocket since the
winds seemed to be picking up a bit. I sent up X-Ray (new
version) again, this time on an Estes A10-3T and it shot off the
pad and landed a reasonable distance away. Love those
A10's!
Flight 157, 32nd
flight this year
Estes Airwalker on an
Estes B4-4 for its 2nd flight
I decided to try Airwalker
again, this time on an Estes B4-4. Beautiful flight and it
didn't even land too far away from the pad. The winds
seemed to be calming again...
Flight 158, 33rd
flight this year
Estes Airwalker on an
Estes C6-5 for its 3rd flight
Since Airwalker landed close
to the pad, I decided to see if I could use up some of those 12
year old C6-5's that I had floating around, so I sent up
Airwalker again on an Estes C6-5 for a great flight lasting just
over a minute and it landed in the recovery area too.
Flight 159, 34th
flight this year
Estes Airwalker on an
Estes C6-5 for its 4th flight
Airwalker went up again to use
up another C6-5. The flight time was 14 seconds less than
the previous one. I guess Airwalker caught a thermal or two
on its way down on the previous flight.
Flight 160, 35th
flight this year
Estes Rampage on an Estes
C6-5 for its 4th flight
To give another rocket a
chance to fly, I sent up Rampage again, this time on a 12 year
old Estes C6-5 and it landed in a puddle of water, but with no
damage done, I decided to send Rampage up again.
Flight 161, 36th
flight this year
Estes Rampage on an Estes
C6-5 for its 5th flight
On yet another Estes C6-5 (my
last one from that old Blast Off Flight Pack), Rampage went up
again, but this time the winds had obviously picked up since it
landed past two apartment buildings and into the middle of a
street which thankfully was not a busy one. It was quite a
trek back to the launch pad. This was the longest flight
duration of the day at 78.35 seconds.
Last to go up was to be Arrow again, but the batteries in my Quest launch controller gave up the ghost and they just couldn't light any more motors. I was hoping to make it twenty flights for today, but I had to settle for nineteen. A really great (and exhausting) day of flying!!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just to say Hi?
E-mail: kbedard@rocketryonline.com
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