Launch Report for Saturday, July 17th, 1999

My father & I headed out to the local high school schoolyard here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada at about 8:15 this morning to do what I had hoped would be twenty or more flights today. I decided to try something a little different for me and that was to prepare the recovery systems at home ahead of time so that turnaround time from one rocket on the pad to the next would be faster. This worked quite well and all recovery systems worked as they were supposed to which was nice to see since I was concerned that chutes might not open after having been rolled up for a couple of hours.

Winds were a stiff today like last week being I would guess around 15 - 20 mph from the west, but I did well last week so I figured I'd follow the same strategy as last week and try to keep altitudes low. There was a summer haze and some clouds, but it was sunny for the most part.

My father pressed the launch button while I videotaped all the flights although my Banshee flight was cut off at the end since I ran out of tape. All the motors I used today were Estes.

Flight 228, 103rd flight this year
Estes Manta on an Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight
First up, Manta went up on a B6-4 without its glider. A great flight with a landing fairly close to the pad.

Flight 229, 104th flight this year
Estes Red Storm on an Estes B6-4 for its 4th flight
Red Storm was up next on a B6-4 for its usual great flight although it was a bit of a walk from the pad to get this one back.

Flight 230, 105th flight this year
Estes Maniac on an Estes C6-3 for its 5th flight
Maniac was up next on C6-3 in a homemade 24mm to 18mm adaptor for its fifth flight. Not all that much altitude, but it turned a great flight as usual with a short walk from the pad.

Flight 231, 106th flight this year
Estes Skywinder on an Estes C6-3 for its 2nd flight
Next was Skywinder on a C6-3 for only its second flight. Although Estes says in the instructions that the nose should have a tight fit, but that it shouldn't be glued on, I decided to glue it anyway since the ejection charge from last week's flight popped the nose cone. Gluing it worked out well since it stayed attached after the ejection charge went off. Launching this on an angle was a bad idea though since it immediately weathercocked right into the wind and it landed farther from the pad than it actually attained in altitude.

Flight 232, 107th flight this year
Estes Skywinder on an Estes C6-3 for its 3rd flight
I sent it up again on another C6-3 for its third flight and I adjusted the launch angle to near vertical and for the first time, it came in close enough for me to see those helicopter blades spinning. I suppose I could have seen them spinning from a distance if I would have applied the decals to the helicopter blades before flying.

Flight 233, 108th flight this year
Estes Maniac on an Estes C6-3 for its 4th flight
Skywinder was so cool, I just had to send it up again. Up it went on another C6-3, but this time it landed considerably farther downrange.

Flight 234, 109th flight this year
Estes Flash on an Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Next up was Flash on a B6-4 with no payload for its second flight. Great boost, but the shock cord seperated. Fortunately, the booster tumbled in as opposed to trying to core sample while the parachute took my payload section about 300 feet downrange. In the end, the only damage was to my shock cord. Everything else was fine and all pieces were recovered.

Flight 235, 110th flight this year
Estes Dagger on an Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Dagger was up next on a B6-4 with no payload for its second flight with a great boost and recovery about 150 feet from the pad.

Flight 236, 111th flight this year
Estes Mongoose on an Estes B6-4 for its 2nd flight
Mongoose was up next in single stage configuration on a B6-4 for its second flight. Great boost with little weathercocking, but it landed about ten or twelve feet up in a pine tree. I wondered how I was going to get this rocket down. I tried reaching it with a spare launch rod... not long enough. I had to give this matter some thought.

Flight 237, 112th flight this year
Estes Banshee on an Estes B4-4 for its 2nd flight
Banshee was up next on a B4-4 for its second flight. Great boost with a very visible flame and a recovery closer to the pad than I had expected. Great flight! Unfortunately, I ran out of videotape about halfway through the recovery phase of the flight.

Having run out of videotape plus the fact that a couple of people were walking into my recovery area to play soccer, I had to stop flying for the day. I had an idea of what might be long enough to reach my stranded Mongoose rocket though... my 1981 vintage Cobra 1500! I brought Cobra to the tree and tried to hook Mongoose's fins with those of the Cobra 1500. After about fifteen minutes, I made progress untangling the shock cord and streamer out of the pine needles, but I still couldn't get it out of the tree. I found a fallen pine branch nearby, placed it into the Cobra's motor mount and used it as an extension and with this, I was able to pull Mongoose low enough for me to reach it with my hand and I pulled it slowly out of the tree. In the end, no damage. :-)

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just to say Hi?

E-mail: kbedard@rocketryonline.com

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