Launch Report for Sunday, July 11th, 1999

The wind was a little stronger than I'm used to flying in, but I hadn't flown during the last two weekends so I decided I had to send a few up today. My father & I headed out to our usual launch area at the local high school grounds around 8:15 AM only to find that it had already been commandeered by kids at soccer practice, so we headed out to the alternate site which is a park at the corner of Hope & Stanton here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada.

As mentioned, the winds were a bit brisk so I had to keep altitudes low today. It was sunny although patchy white clouds made spotting the rockets difficult and even harder to videotape. I had to just point the video camera where I could see the rocket with the naked eye since the viewfinder's resolution wasn't high enough for me to be able to see the rocket at long distances. In the end, I got some decent footage of every flight except for Skywinder which I'll explain later.

Most of the rockets that went up today went up for their first time. I brought my Estes Colossus, Skywinder, Mosquito, Quark, Maniac, Airwalker, Red Storm, Banshee, Dagger, Flash, Prowler, Pegasus, and Mongoose, as well as my Custom Serval and my scratch built X-3 02 (my second of two X-3 rockets). All the motors I used today were made by Estes.

I had a few spectators today, most notably a couple of fourth or fifth graders who were dying to see me send up the Colossus.

Flight 216, 91st flight this year
Estes Pegasus on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight

First to go up was the Estes Pegasus on an A8-3 for its first ever flight. Very nice straight boost, but a surprisingly long walk to get it back.

Flight 217, 92nd flight this year
Estes Mongoose on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight

Next up was the Estes Mongoose in single stage configuration on a B6-4 for its first flight. In this small field, I wasn't going to send it up as a two stage rocket, although considering how close to the pad it landed, I probably would have gotten it back if I had. It had a bit of a dent at the top of the body tube from the shock cord being just too darned short.

Flight 218, 93rd flight this year
Scratch built X-3 02 on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight

The next one to go up was my second of two scratch built rockets which I named the X-3. The first one, I lost to my high school's roof back on May 16th, 1982 after launching it on a Centuri C6-0 in the booster and an Estes A8-5 in the upper stage and the construction of X-3 02 was started soon after this loss to replace this cool high flying two stage rocket. It was never finished until I rediscovered it in my parents' basement when I became a BAR in late 1997 and I completed X-3 02 on Friday, July 2nd, 1999. It flew today for its first time in a single stage configuration on a B6-4 just as X-3 01 did back in 1982. It had the same deceptively high performance being very quick and flying very high. On landing, it broke one fin. I had to use Pegasus' chute for this flight since X-3 02 doesn't have its own chute yet.

Flight 219, 94th flight this year
Estes Skywinder on an Estes B6-2 for its 1st flight

Skywinder was up next on a B6-2 for its first flight. At first the motor didn't light and then a few seconds later, WHOOOSSH!!!... of course after I had stopped my video camera. Unfortunately, the nose cone popped off at apogee and the two pieces came tumbling down. It really didn't go very high at all, maybe 100 feet. I'll have to try a C6-3 in it next time.

Flight 220, 95th flight this year
Estes Red Storm on an Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight

Flight 221, 96th flight this year
Estes Red Storm on an Estes B6-4 for its 3rd flight

Next up was Red Storm, an Estes RTF rocket which despite some bad things I've heard about this rocket, it's consistently turned in great flights over the three flights that it's made. I did move the shock cord mount forward towards the top of the body tube with a standard Estes type shock cord mount so that the shock cord wouldn't be getting blasted by the motor's ejection charge directly. Red Storm went up on a B6-4 for its second flight and the flight was great although the chute shroud lines really got twisted which resulted in a fairly quick descent. After untwisting the lines, I sent it up again on another B6-4 for its third flight and the flight duration was nearly twice as long coming in at 24.1 seconds since the lines didn't twist this time and the descent was much slower.

Flight 222, 97th flight this year
Custom Serval on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight

My Custom Serval made its first flight on a B6-4 after the sixth time trying to get the motor to light! After the fifth try, I decided that the motor must be a dud and I loaded another one in. It lit on the first shot. This rocket flies great and I love that reflective crimson red streamer. It makes a nice crackling noise on its way down too as the streamer blows in the wind.

Flight 223, 98th flight this year
Estes Dagger on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight

Dagger was up next for its first flight and it went up on a B6-4 for a great flight. By this time, a couple of young boys had arrived and sat on a rock on a nearby hill to watch what was obviously going to be a rocket launch. They seemed to be making fun between themselves of the fact that Dagger had a pinkish color to it. After the countdown, WHOOOOSSHHH!!!... and they were amazed. I doubt that they had ever seen a model rocket flight before. It landed on the edge of a small flower garden in the park.

Flight 224, 99th flight this year
Estes Flash on an Estes B6-4 for its 1st flight

Flash was up next on a B6-4 for its first flight. Its payload section reflected brilliantly in the sun. It's flight was almost identical to Dagger's except that it drifted a little farther, landing just over a small hill past the flower garden. As I walked past the hill that the boys were sitting on, one of them said "Nice rocket!!!" to which I responded "Thanks!"

Flight 225, 100th flight this year
Estes Banshee on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight

"Dad!! Look at the rocket! They're going to fly a rocket!" one of the boys shouted to his Dad who was somewhere around. As my father pressed the launch button, the A8-3 didn't light and we had to wait out the mandatory one minute before approaching the rocket. After changing the igniter, Banshee took off immediately for its first flight. Great boost with ejection just as it started to fall backwards a couple of feet from apogee. The kids cheered and then they started shouting, "Launch the big one!! Launch the big one!!"

Flight 226, 101st flight this year
Estes Colossus on an Estes D12-3 for its 4th flight

Colossus is a huge rocket and I knew it wouldn't go very high on a D12-3 and I knew it would land well within the recovery area so up it went on a D12-3 for its fourth flight to the loud cheers of the kids. As usual, a great and impressive boost, but given the recent problems I've heard about weak Estes D12-3 ejection charges, I kept thinking, "C'mon, pop the nose cone... Pop the nose cone..." In the end, it was a flawless flight and it landed over that same small hill that Flash landed on. When I reached the rocket, the shock cord was partially wrapped around a telephone pole. A curious landing, but there was no damage.

Flight 227, 102nd flight this year
Estes Colossus on an Estes D12-3 for its 5th flight

"Are you going to launch it again?" one of them asked as I walked by. I nodded "yes" and they cheered again. Colossus went up for flight number five on another D12-3. Again, it flew flawlessly, but it broke a fin on landing. Curiously, the wadding was still inside the rocket. I was lucky on this flight I think, since the ejection charge obviously had barely enough force to blow off the nose cone!!

I didn't get to fly the rest of my rockets today since I had to do other things today. As we started packing up for the day, the kids asked me a few questions such as where I got Colossus and if I was coming back tomorrow. I'd launch every day if I didn't have to work. :-)

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just to say Hi?

E-mail: kbedard@rocketryonline.com

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