Launch
Report for Saturday, June 12th, 1999
My father & I headed out to the schoolyard of Howard S. Billings Regional High School here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada at around 8:30AM with my Estes Cobra 1500, Alpha III (my first one), Hijax, X-Ray (Original model), Gamma, Maniac, Thunderhawk, my Custom Oasis, my QED Hot Dog, as well as my scratch built Pyramid, X-2, and Arrow rockets.
Weather was great, being about 28 degrees Celsius and sunny, although the wind was a little stronger than I would have liked so I kept the altitudes under 1000 feet. Despite the winds, not a single flight landed outside the field.
I brought my video camera along to record every flight. At 19 flights in all today, I tied my old personal record of the most flights in a single day that I set on March 28th of this year.
There were a number of firsts for me today as well as setting new personal records. Today I used a 28 year old motor which is the oldest I've used at the time of this writing. It also marks my first ever use of an MPC motor as well as my first flights of QED and Custom rockets. Many of the rockets that went up today were maiden flights and many others have flown for the first time since 1982.
Flight 183,
58th flight this year
Estes Thunderhawk
on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight
First
up was my half painted (one coat) Estes Thunderhawk on a 16 year
old Estes A8-3 that came with a Challenger 1 starter kit that I
bought from Countdown Hobbies a few months ago. A straight
uneventful flight except that it suffered from an "Estes
Dent" at the top of the body tube from too short a shock
cord. Nice flight!
Flight 184,
59th flight this year
Estes Gamma on an
Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight
Next
was my Estes Gamma for its first flight as part of my fleet on
another 16 year old Estes A8-3 from that same Challenger 1
starter kit. Rock solid flight although this one too suffered
from a bit of an Estes Dent. Gamma was given to me by the former
head of the HSB Rocket Club which was the school's rocket club
when I was in high school. Gamma flew roughly as high as
Thunderhawk did.
Flight 185,
60th flight this year
Estes Cobra 1500 on
an Estes B6-2 for its 4th flight
Next
up was the first flight of my Estes Cobra 1500 since 1982. I sent
it up on an Estes B6-2 and I seem to remember it going higher
when I was 14, but I kept my altitudes pretty low back then so it
might have seemed high to me at the time. I had the hardest time
getting this ready for launch as it was teetering on its skinny
1/8 inch launch rod in the breeze. I'll be changing those 1/8
inch launch lugs for 3/16 inch ones pretty damn quick! I'll never
know what possessed Estes to supply 1/8 inch lugs with this kit.
Great and impressive flight though, although it was short.
Flight 186,
61st flight this year
Custom Oasis on an Estes
B6-4 for its 1st flight
Custom
Oasis was up next for my first flight ever of a Custom rocket. It
wasn't painted yet, but I just couldn't wait to send it up. :-)
Up it went on an Estes B6-4 in a 24mm to 18mm adaptor for a great
flight that sent it higher than I expected it to go. I love that
really reflective parachute! Being unpainted, one of the fins
suffered a bit of damage to its trailing edge on landing.
Flight 187,
62nd flight this year
QED Hot Dog on an Estes
B6-4 for its 1st flight
My
QED Hot Dog was up next and this was my first ever flight of a
QED rocket. I like QED rockets since the quality is better than
Estes and at least these guys give you a long enough shock cord!
Hot Dog has large fins and it weathercocked right into the wind,
but came in for a perfect landing with no damage.
Flight 188,
63rd flight this year
QED Hot Dog on a Quest
C6-5 for its 2nd flight
I
sent Hot Dog up again on a Quest C6-5 that came with my Quest Big
Rage starter kit and it really flew into the wind this time,
actually landing on a tennis court behind the recovery area.
Thankfully, no one was playing there! I know now not to launch
this one into the wind. One of the fin tips ended up getting a
bit scraped from its impact onto the tennis court, but the damage
wasn't serious.
Flight 189,
64th flight this year
Scratch built Pyramid on
an Estes C6-3 for its 2nd flight
Another
rocket that hadn't gone up since 1982 was my scratch built
Pyramid which I built from plans in an old issue of NAR's Model
Rocketeer. Up it went on an Estes C6-3 with a lot of crackling
and smoke behind it. Interestingly, it was perfectly stable going
up, but it tumbled all the way down. This rocket actually relies
on its incredibly high drag at high speeds to keep it stable.
Flight 190,
65th flight this year
Scratch built X-2 on an
Estes 1/2A3-2T for its 7th flight
Yet
another rocket to not see action since 1982 was my scratch built
X-2. It went up on an Estes 1/2A3-2T in a homemade 18mm to 13mm
adaptor. The boost was great, but it tried to core sample when
the ejection charge was only strong enough to push the nose cone
off, leaving the recovery system and wadding inside the rocket.
The result was a crumpled body tube. I don't blame Estes for the
fact that the recovery system didn't deploy since I knew that the
fit was a bit tight and I knew that it might be a problem.
Flight 191,
66th flight this year
Estes Thunderhawk on an
Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Thunderhawk
went up again on an Estes B6-4. Great flight and no damage. I had
to run pretty far downrange to get this one back!
Flight 192,
67th flight this year
Estes Gamma on an Estes
B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Gamma
went up next for its second flight on an Estes B6-4. Another
great flight and no damage.
Flight 193,
68th flight this year
Estes Hijax on an Estes
B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Hijax
was up next and the boost was nice, but the recovery was terrible
since the chute got tangled and one of the shroud lines separated. No damage to the rocket though.
Flight 194,
69th flight this year
Estes Gamma on an Estes
B6-4 for its 3rd flight
Gamma
went up yet again on an Estes B6-4 since the other Gamma flight
was so cool. I increased the launch angle a little so that I
wouldn't have to run quite so far this time.
Flight 195,
70th flight this year
Estes Cobra 1500 on an
Estes B4-2 for its 5th flight
I
just had to send Cobra 1500 up again. After all, it hadn't flown
in over 17 years! Up it went on an Estes B4-2 for another great
flight with no damage. Again, the flight was short and the rocket
landed reasonably close to the pad.
Flight 196,
71st flight this year
Estes Cobra 1500 on an
Estes C5-3 for its 6th flight
I
decided to give Cobra 1500 a little more altitude, so I sent it
up again on an Estes C5-3. Crackling on its way up, the flight
was quite impressive and itr landed reasonably close to the pad.
I wanted to send it up yet again, but I discovered that a fin got
broken so I had to retire it for the day.
Flight 197,
72nd flight this year
Estes Alpha III 01 on an
Estes A3-4T for its 13th flight
My
third rocket ever, my Estes Alpha III (designated "Alpha III
01" since it's my first of two) went up on an Estes A3-4T in
my homemade 18mm to 13mm adaptor for a flawless flight. Since
some of its fins are a little curved, it spun on its way up. No
damage.
Flight 198,
73rd flight this year
Estes Alpha III 01 on an
MPC B3-5M for its 14th flight
I
decided to be a little adventurous with my 18 year old Alpha III
by putting a 28 year old MPC B3-5M in it. I had a misfire on my
first attempt to get it to light, but it lit the second time
around after clearing some stuff out of the nozzle with an
igniter retainer (toothpick) that comes with all Apogee motors.
It was a perfect flight although I was getting a little nervous
when Alpha III arced over at apogee, wondering if the 28 year old
ejection charge was going to have enough OOMPH to deploy the
chute. Everything worked perfectly and the tracking smoke was
very visible. Again, no damage to my beloved Alpha III 01!
Flight 199,
74th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 01 on an
Estes B6-4 for its 15th flight
I
sent Alpha III 01 up for a more standard flight this time on an
Estes B6-4. Great flight with no damage. Alpha III 01 has made 15
flights and it's the rocket that that has gone up the most number
of times in my fleet now to date.
Flight 200,
75th flight this year
Estes Maniac on an Estes
D12-5 for its 3rd flight
Maniac
went up for only its third ever flight when the shock cord separated at apogee after going up on an Estes D12-5. I recovered
to airframe intact, but the nose cone is in a tree with my
parachute. Estes customer service will be getting a call from me
about this one...
Flight 201,
76th flight this year
QED Hot Dog on an Estes
B6-2 for its 3rd flight
As
the last flight of the day, I sent Hot Dog up again on an Estes
B6-2 since the four second delay of the B6-4 seemed to be a
little long for this rocket. I launched it straight up this time,
expecting it to weathercock and this time, it landed much closer
to the pad. Again, no damage to this very tough rocket.
In the end, I never got to send up Arrow or X-Ray. I tried prepping X-Ray to go up, but after changing its shock cord some time ago, I realized today, that it was a bit big for its BT-20 body tube and it made the rocket almost impossible to prep for a safe flight, so I decided to give up on this one for today. I had planned to stop at 20 flights so I could break my personal record of 19 flights in a day, but I miscounted and it turns out that I only did 19 flights today to tie my old record. Next week!!...
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just to say Hi?
E-mail: kbedard@rocketryonline.com
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