Launch Report for Sunday, September 19th, 1999

The skies and winds were perfect today. No breeze and clear blue skies... I wasn't letting today go by without sending up a few! Temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees F). My father & I headed out to our usual launch site at the school grounds of Howard S. Billings Regional High School here in Chateauguay which is a suburb of Montreal in the province of Quebec in Canada.

I brought my Estes X-Ray (the new version), Big Bertha, Colossus, Der Big Red Max, Mongoose, Challenger 1 01 (my first of two Challenger 1's), Thunderhawk, Maniac, Multi-Roc, Pegasus, and Rampage, as well as my Custom Serval, QED Hot Dog, and my scratch built Big Bertha II, Pyramid rockets.

Flight 289, 164th flight this year
Estes X-Ray (New) on an Estes 1/2A3-4T for its 4th flight


	First to get off the ground was X-Ray on a 1/2A3-2T with no payload for its fourth flight on a mission to gauge wind speed and direction. It landed within twenty feet of the pad. Today was going to be a good day to fly! :-)

Flight 290, 165th flight this year
QED Hot Dog on an Estes B6-2 for its 4th flight



Next was Hot Dog on a B6-2 for its fourth flight. This B6-2 seemed more like a B6-0.5... There wasn't even a second of delay in that motor! It's a good thing QED rockets are tough as nails otherwise I'd have a pretty nasty zipper in that body tube! In the end there was no damage.

Flight 291, 166th flight this year
Estes Big Bertha on an Estes B6-4 for its 12th flight



My 1981 vintage Big Bertha went up on a B6-4 for its twelfth flight and its first since 1986 for a perfect flight. It was nice to be flying this baby again after I finally got around to changing the rotting rubber shock cord for a much longer and newer elastic one.

Flight 292, 167th flight this year
Estes Colossus on an Estes D12-3 for its 6th flight



	It was time for the big one... Colossus was up next on a D12-3 for its sixth flight. The slow liftoff of this rocket is always impressive! A perfect boost and a perfect recovery only about forty feet from the pad. I knew it was time to put the BIG motor in there...



	This time, I sent Colossus up on an Aerotech E15-4W for its seventh flight and my first ever use of ammonium perchlorate motors. After the Copperhead igniter spit smoke twice, Colossus blasted into the air on a white flame in a display of power and glory and lots of noise and smoke and it finally reached apogee and it finally landed just over the fence in the schoolyard of St Willibrord Elementary School. Even a huge rocket like Colossus took a full minute to complete its flight. I would have sent it up again on another E15, but I couldn't get the motor casing out.

Flight 294, 169th flight this year
Custom Serval on an Estes B6-4 for its 4th flight



Serval was up next on a B6-4 for its fourth flight. After the Colossus "E" flight, Serval's flight looked somewhat anti-climactic to my father, but it was still a perfect boost but a bit of scary recovery after it landed on a paved walkway near some trees. The only damage was a slightly scorched streamer which had nothing to do with the hard landing.

Flight 295, 170th flight this year
Estes Der Big Red Max on an Estes B6-4 for its 5th flight



	Der Big Red Max, one of the rockets that my high school computer science teacher gave me back in the eighties flew once again today on a B6-4 for its fifth flight as a part of my fleet after giving it a new parachute. As always, this rocket had a perfect boost and it landed only thirty feet from the pad. great flight!

Flight 296, 171st flight this year
Estes Mongoose on an Estes B6-0 staging to an Estes B6-6 for its 4th flight



	Mongoose took to the skies next on a B6-0/B6-6 combination for its usual kick-ass flight. It landed hard about sixty feet from the pad and the upper stage fin unit came loose and had to be glued back on.

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