KCAR Launch Report: March Sport Launch

Launch date and time: March 25th, 2006 at 12:00
Launch location: The Tickwood Ranch near Drexel, MO
Launch wind and weather: Cool and (nearly) calm

Saturday dawned bright and clear and provided an excellent day for a launch. The winds were light and temps cool, and a waiver was active (thanks Dave). This was a great improvement on last weekend, which was cold, wet and windy, and we were all glad that we postponed for a week. This is possible because Dave secured an open waiver rather than for specific days and it is proving to be worth the trouble.

Alan arrived first with the equipment and was followed closely by Dave and Martin. Rick was also on site when I arrived and was taking photos. Dave Lucas started the action with a Code Red on a B6 for a good flight, followed by Martin’s Micro-Max rocket from a very neatly built custom tower launcher.

Gonna fly that thing, Alan?

The first flight of my upscale Tangent (from Holverson Design) on a D12 went pretty well. Looks like it will be a good flier. It was flown many times during the day on everything from D12’s to F21-8’s, was very stable and even survived landing in a tree and the ensuing recovery using Alan’s lamp pole. And I must say, it gets quite high on an F21!

In the mean time, Dave L. was helping Chris Hyers with his level one certification attempt. There was plenty of time, and Chris already has experience with reloadable motors and things so it seemed to go pretty smoothly. When Chris was ready, we took the obligatory photos, and then burned that motor. It went very well, didn’t drift very far, and Chris was back with a nearly perfect rocket in a very few moments. Congratulations, Chris! Chris certified with a PML 1/4-scale Patriot kit on an Aerotech H148R-M. Redline motors have a very bright red flame and the beautifully built and finished Patriot looked spectacular on top of the jet.

And while all this was going on, Alan was working hard on his new Klingberg Wing. We kind of harassed him a little (OK, we harassed him A LOT), sitting there working on that thing on such a nice day instead of burning some motors, but he took our harassment calmly and without comment. We also interrupted him in the middle of everything when the battery went flat and had him connect the battery in his vehicle to launch controller. (“Quit messing with that thing and fly some rockets, Alan!”)

The Proud dad: Alan with his Klingberg Wing

At some point, Martin flew his new D.A.N.A. and pranged it. But it wasn’t damaged too badly so he flew it again, only to land it right in the top of one of the few trees on the field. A few seconds later, my Maxi-Alpha (on it’s 60-something flight) landed in the same tree. Once again Alan was interrupted from his Wing to assist us by breaking out and unfolding the huge Christmas light installer pole that he brought. Martin and I went over together and after a bit of struggling managed to pull the Alpha free (sans the ’chute.) We took turns working at Martin’s rocket which was somewhat higher than the Alpha, and after a while I was finally able to get hold of one of the fins and gave it a pull. It came free finally, and I was able to control the pole and prevent it landing on the tube. Alas, the fins were pretty badly torn up, and Martin continued whining about that until the sun went down — all kidding aside, it wasn’t too bad in fact and he set about mending the damage straight away.

At some point Bob Clark arrived and was getting some respectable altitudes on a Wizard and Chris burned another H for general principle with his new certification.

Finally, Alan was ready with that Wing and put it out on the rail for launching. After a little nervous talking, and getting cameras ready, Dave counted down and lit the motor. It was a tad underpowered, and the balance was a bit too far forward, but it put in an OK flight anyhow, and Alan managed to get it back on the ground without breaking anything or even running into his van, which he’s been known to do. He made some adjustments to the balance point, put in a bit more powerful motor and had a pretty good flight even in the dead air! Eat them words, oh Tangent-dental three-fins-and-a-cone flier!

In between glider flights my very squirrely flying Initiator made a second flight on top of a G80-10 for a fast, high and impressive (if somewhat circular) flight.

We were having such a good time, and flying pretty high without having to walk a mile to retrieve, that we didn’t want to stop. So when the waiver ran out we kept flying unregulated rockets and motors until the sun started to go down. Whereupon we packed all the equipment up, argued about the ramifications of the lawsuit and possible pending legislation, loaded everything in the Alan’s van and hit the highway.

The club wishes to thank the Alberty’s for their hospitality, and Alan for toting around the equipment, and Dave Lucas for tackling the FAA paper-work and responsibility.

The statistics for this launch are 30 flights, for 30 motors burned, and a total impulse of 1476.74 (that’s a “K”). There were no clustered nor staged flights this launch.

Any day on the range (good or bad) is better than any good day work!

That smile on Chris’ face is from that new Level 1 cert. card in his pocket!	Flights by Rocketeers Flights Rocketeer(s) 11 Tim Burger 5 Alan Shaffmaster 4 Martin Ashwell Dave Lucas 3 Bob Clark Chris Hyers
Bob Clark was able to get in a number of good fligts in the calm air	Rockets Making Multiple Flights: Flights Rocket Rocketeer 5 Big Tangent Tim Burger 3 Klingberg Wing Alan Shaffmaster 2 D.A.N.A. Martin Ashwell Micro Needle #1 Initiator Tim Burger Wizard Bob Clark Snapshot Alan Shaffmaster
Chris poses with his level 1 PML Patriot Chris Hyers’ successful level 1 flight begins	Totals by motor: Motor Number Flown Impulse (Newtons) A8 1 2.32 Total A’s: 1 2.32 B6 1 4.33 Total B’s: 1 4.33 C11 1 8.80 C6 5 44.10 Total C’s: 6 52.90 D12 2 33.68 Total D’s: 2 33.68 E15 1 39.76 E9 3 83.61 Total E’s: 4 123.37 F12 2 86.40 F20 2 120.90 F21 3 181.35 F40 1 78.09 F52 1 72.95 Total F’s: 9 539.69 G33 1 98.39 G64 1 118.80 G80 1 99.72 Total G’s: 3 316.91 H148 1 215.00 H73 1 188.29 Total H’s: 2 403.29 MM 2 0.25 Total MM’s: 2 0.25 Total: 30 1476.74 (K)
Alan’s Klingberg Wing under boost
Martin repairs damage to a rocket after it’s somewhat less than perfect landing in a tree and being retrieved by Tim using Alan’s lamp pole

Submitted by Tim Burger NAR78486 L1, photos too.

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Page created on April 2, 2006.
Last updated on April 10, 2006.