Launch Report for Wednesday, July 21st, 1999

With the weather being so great for flying yesterday and with similar weather today, I decided that I'd try to send up the rockets that I didn't get to send up yesterday as well as a few others. As usual, my father & I went to our usual launch area on the school grounds at Howard S. Billings Regional High School here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada, which is a suburb of Montreal for our usual time of about 8:30 AM

The winds were a little stiffer than yesterday and the skies were generally clear. It was also warmer than yesterday being around 25 degrees Celsius (76 degrees F.) and it was a little more humid as well. Our biggest environmental annoyance was the city workers driving large noisy lawn mower tractors and we had to keep checking to make sure that they weren't in the recovery area before launching. The noise they produced also stole a lot of sound quality from the video I was making of each flight since there was a constant background hum.

Today, I brought my Estes Alpha III 02 (my second of two Alpha III's), Dagger, Multi Roc, Quark, Ninja, Banshee, Manta, Omloid, Gamma, Cobra 1500, Maxi Alpha 3, and my two Gold Strike rockets, as well as my scratch built rocket which I named Arrow. All motors that I used today were Estes unless otherwise specified.

Flight 254, 129th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 02 on a Quest A6-4 for its 5th flight



Alpha III 02 went up on a Quest A6-4 for its fifth flight as the first flight of the day. I had to give my father a hand signal to press the launch button since the mowers were so loud! Very nice boost, but a fast descent since the ejection charge fused several parts of the parachute together slightly. Easily fixed.

Flight 255, 130th flight this year
Estes Quark on an Estes 1/4A3-3T for its 2nd flight

Next up was Quark on a 1/4A3-3T for its second flight. I started zooming the camera out too late so the launch was a white streak across the frame bottom to top with a smoke cloud behind it. I managed to film the rest of the flight though which was nice except for Quark's frightening tendency to lawn dart even after the motor casing ejects from the rocket. That combined with Quark's pointy nose makes this a bit of a dangerous rocket, I think. I'll have to try to fix this tendency.

Flight 256, 131st flight this year
Estes Ninja 01 on an Estes A3-4T for its 3rd flight


	Ninja was up next on an A3-4T for only its third flight since it was built in November of 1997. It wobbled a little in flight as usual since while building this rocket (one of my first rockets as a BAR) the motor mount seized about a half inch further back than it was supposed to which changed the CG enough to affect its stability.

Flight 257, 132nd flight this year
Estes Dagger on an Estes B4-4 for its 3rd flight



Next was Dagger on a B4-4 with no payload for its third flight. Great boost, slower than on a B6-4 and a nice recovery about a hundred feet from the pad with no damage.

Flight 258, 133rd flight this year
Estes Banshee on an Estes B6-4 for its 3rd flight

Banshee surprised me a bit when I sent it up on a B6-4 for its third flight. It had a neutrally stable boost which was surprising since I've flown this rocket with heavier motors before and the boost was straight as an arrow. Also, winds were quite light so I don't see how wind caused instability could have been the problem. I thought that maybe a fin came off during flight, but after recovering the rocket, I found that was not the case. In the end, no damage though.

Flight 259, 134th flight this year
Estes Manta on an Estes C6-5 for its 3rd flight


	Manta was up next without its glider on a C6-5 for its third flight. A great nearly out of sight boost, but I had my angle wrong on this one since even on a streamer, I had at least a three hundred foot walk to get this one back. Also, it narrowly missed a line of trees. No damage...

Flight 260, 135th flight this year
Estes Omloid on an Estes C6-3 for its 2nd flight



Omloid was up next on a C6-3 with no payload for its second flight. Nice boost, nice recovery, no damage.

Flight 261, 136th flight this year
Estes Gamma on an Estes B6-4 for its 4th flight



Next was Gamma on a B6-4 for its fourth flight. This rocket was given to me by my science teacher back in high school when the school's rocket club closed up. It needed a lot of repairs back then including replacement of the parachute and all four fins, but now it flies great. Three of the same kids that were spectators from yesterday's launch came back to see me fly again today. One of the kids said, "I'm going to get myself some of these!" It's always nice to inspire someone into the hobby. :-)

Flight 262, 137th flight this year
Estes Cobra 1500 on an Estes C6-3 for its 8th flight



My 1981 vintage Cobra 1500 was up next on a C6-3 for its eighth flight. The kids loved to see this one go up. Recovery was a close call though as it landed just on our side of the chain link fence bordering the school grounds and someone's property.

Flight 263, 138th flight this year
Estes Maxi-Alpha 3 01 on an Estes D12-3 for its 9th flight



After repairing Maxi Alpha 3's broken fin a week or so ago, it went up on a D12-3 for its ninth flight. This one is another rocket that I got as a kid back in 1981 in a "Pro Demo" starter set with the Big Foot launch pad and a mint 1979 catalog. As usual, Maxi Alpha 3 went up with a fast spin due to its warped plastic fins which came like that when I bought the kit. Again, recovery was a close call with the rocket landing just within our side of the fence. The kids loved the smoke and noise from this one! :-)

Flight 264, 139th flight this year
Estes Gold Strike 01 on an Estes B4-4 for its 2nd flight
Flight 265, 140th flight this year
Estes Gold Strike 02 on an Estes B4-4 for its 2nd flight



For the last flights of the day, I sent up my two Gold Strike rockets at the same time each on B4-4's each for their second flights. Surprisingly, two identical rockets on identical motors on the same launch angle and direction landed well over a hundred feet from each other! I'm clueless on this one.

So ended another great launch day during my vacation and the spectators enjoyed it too. :-)

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