Launch Report for 2001/11/18

Motor Power	Least Powerful	Estes A (2.5 N-s)
	Most Powerful	Estes C5-3 (9.5 N-s)
Flight Duration in Seconds	Shortest	17 (Flight 644)
	Longest	45 (Flight 647)
Distance From Pad in Feet	Shortest	4 (Flight 644)
	Longest	~300 (Flight 649)
Number of Landings Outside the Recovery Area		2
Number of Flights Carrying Payloads		0
Number of non-Estes Motors Used		1
Total Number of Flights Today		7

Launch Location
The Schoolyard of
Howard S. Billings Regional High School
Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada

With the great flights that I managed to do yesterday, I decided that conditions appeared to similar today, I got a lift out to my favorite flying field at the schoolyard of Howard S. Billings High School here in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada and I brought roughly 20 rockets with me.

I also brought my NCR Command Control launch controller and my Estes Porta Pad 03 launch pad. As always, I brought my Sony TRV103 digital camcorder and all the photos & videos that appear on my web site were produced using this camera.

Winds were a little stronger than yesterday, but still fairly light at first, coming in out of the west at about 10km/h which had increased to about 20km/h by the end of the launch day and the temperature was quite warm for this time of year being at about 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees F) with mostly clear skies.

The smaller images you see below are thumbnails and clicking on them will magnify the image by a factor of four.

Flight 643, 162nd flight this year
Estes Skywinder on an Estes C5-3 for its 8th flight

Time at Liftoff:	11:47:42
Flight Duration in Seconds:	19
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	103 southeast

Couldn't follow this one with the camera for some reason. For those that don't know the Estes Skywinder, this one deploys and descends on spinning helicopter blades.

Flight 644, 163rd flight this year
Scratch built Jupiter 1 on an Estes A8-5 for its 7th flight

Time at Liftoff:	11:53:45
Flight Duration in Seconds:	17
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	4 southwest

Closest landing yet for this rocket. I built this baby in 1982. This is its fourth nose cone due to modifications in design and losses due to shock cord separations. First time on an A8-5 for this rocket.

Flight 645, 164th flight this year
Estes Space Racer on an Estes A8-5 for its 2nd flight

Time at Liftoff:	11:59:09
Flight Duration in Seconds:	19
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	230 east

Nice flight, broke a fin and bent another from a hard landing on the gravel covered track & field track. First time on an A8-5 for this rocket.

Flight 646, 165th flight this year
Estes Tidal Wave on an Estes B4-4 for its 5th flight

Time at Liftoff:	12:09:43
Flight Duration in Seconds:	24
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	51 southeast

Flight 647, 166th flight this year
Estes Thunderhawk on a Quest B6-4 for its 17th flight

Time at Liftoff:	12:15:25
Flight Duration in Seconds:	45
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	~300 east

First time on a Quest motor for this rocket. Lost in a tree, ironically on the same property where so many of my rockets have landed before. Unfortunate loss since this one was one of my first BAR rockets.

Flight 648, 167th flight this year
Estes Prowler on an Estes C5-3 for its 6th flight

Time at Liftoff:	12:23:17
Flight Duration in Seconds:	24
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	86 north northeast

Excellent flight.. I was hoping to fly this on an Aerotech D13-7W today, but it was too breezy for this kind of high altitude flight.

Flight 649, 168th flight this year
QED Hot Dog on an Estes C6-3 for its 7th flight

Time at Liftoff:	12:29:55
Flight Duration in Seconds:	36
Distance from Launch Pad in Feet:	~300 east

Manufactured by a little known Canadian company called QED. I don't think they're around anymore, unfortunately. Almost lost this rocket too, but it landed in the street... in front of the house where I lost the Thunderhawk!

By the end of the launch day, the winds were becoming frustratingly intolerable for flying rockets and so I decided that it was time to pack up and bug out. Before leaving, I stood near the tree that ate my Thunderhawk for about fifteen minutes, hoping that the breeze might blow it out of the branch and onto the ground. The shock cord seemed to be caught on the branch and it didn't look like it was going to come down. I may yet get this rocket back since I have landed rockets on this person's property numerous times in the past three years and my phone number is on the parachute. They've retrieved rockets out of their trees before, so I may get lucky.

Temperature	~12^o C (54^o F)
Winds	~20 km/hr west

Launch Controllers	NCR Command Control
Launch Pads	Estes Porta Pad 03