September 22, 2007 launch report (9/25/2007)
On Saturday, September 22nd, MASA held its ninth launch of the
year. This launch was held at the sod farm near Nowthen. The
weather was pretty nice albeit with an annoying breeze out of the
SW.
The theme for the day was science fiction and fantasy rockets
Thanks to the LCO/RSO volunteers: Alan Estenson, Jeff
Taylor, Ken Jarosch, and David Whitaker.
A few of the flights:
MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the
launch!
Ken Corey-Edstrom writes:
After a long absence I returned to the Nowthen field with my
nephew Nate Edstrom, age 8, and budding rocket expert, to fly
with MASA. Nice to see everyone again. Got started late because
of home chores and didn't get to the field until about noon,
just in time to see the hybrid flight - WOW! Nate was in awe of
all of the rockets going off and it took some time to get the
prep done for the first flight of his D Squared. He was planning
on using a pair of D12-3s which, in light of the winds, wasn't
prudent. We swapped the 3's for 7s and cut a hole in his chute.
We got a great picture of Nate next to his rocket and had a very
high flight -- and watched the rocket disappear just short of
the corn way, way out there. Despite our best efforts, we could
not retreive Nate's rocket but Nate was not deterred. He has
launched rockets in trees, into lakes and out of sight many
times in his short career and was happy with the results. Even
better, three hours later, Mike, having retrieved his Loki Dart
in the same vicinity, came back with Nate's rocket. Thanks again
Mike! Having forgotten my launch rail at my parent's cabin
several weeks ago, I was not able to fly any of my large,
buttoned inventory, but did get off a set of 4 foam whistling
rockets, which were converted from a Toys R Us air pump set, and
a memorable but sad last flight of my monocopter which
cheerfully tore itself apart on an E30 while taking a somewhat
dangerous path and strewing parts all over the field.
Nate's brother Alex, who has never been much of a rocket guy,
showed up and pushed the launch button for another foam boinker
I converted and happily recovered rockets downfield, racing with
his older brother. We even used my wife's Rendevous' internal
compressor to launch an air powered rocket to new heights to end
the day.
Had a great time. That is a great field. We hope to get their
earlier next time. Thanks MASA for keeping us all safe.
Caleb Boe writes:
My first flight of the day (while the wind was fairly calm)
was my Red River Rocketry P-Chuter Xtreme on a G77-7R. This was
a very fast and high flight (about 3,000ft). The rocket drifted
a long ways and landed in a small tree. Thankfully the tree was
small enough that I could reach it with my hands. Next I flew my
modular rocket (no name yet) which I built for the Washington
County Fair on a G77-8R. In addition to the Washington County
Fair, this rocket also received a blue ribbon at the MN State
Fair. Next up was my IQSY Tomahawk on an F40-10W. Deployment was
late on this flight, and as a result, the tail section reached
the end of the shock cord and snapped back at the payload
section, causing damage to it. I also flew my Deuce's Wild on 2
B6-4's and my Astrocam 110 on a C6-5. Also one of the members of
my TARC team, Joe Pahr, came with us and flew some of his
rockets.
One special note: my younger brother Daniel flew a rocket in
which he forgot to put a parachute in. He ended up very lucky
when the rocket ended up landing on the rope (which marked off
the range) and the shock cord just wrapped up around it. The
rocket didn't even hit the ground! Despite the 5-6mph wind
(thankfully it was blowing away from the corn), the weather was
beautiful.
Ken Jarosch writes:
I only managed to put up 2 rockets before the winds picked up. I
flew the L.B. Bertha an a F24-4w for a nice flight. It only
drifted into the next field by the dirt road.
The first flight was with the Executioner on a F39-6T -3secs.
The rocket took off fast and arced over when someone noticed a
puff of smoke. The rocket slammed into the edge of the western
ditch and buried itself up to the coupler in the body tube. I
ripped the rocket off at that point. The nose cone was shattered
and the top half of the rocket was driven into the ground around
the nose cone. It took me a half an hour to dig this out.
At first I thought that the sticking nose cone had been the
problem. Another thought was that the pre-packed wadding had
hardened into a solid mass. I've noticed this effect and usually
loosen the wad. I didn't this time. When I first walked up to
the rocket I thought I might have lost the casing, but it was
still hooked and taped in place.
When I removed the motor I found the ejection cap was still in
place. Removing the end cap I could see the burnt delay charge
and residue of the black powder charge. However the charge in
the ejection cap had not fired. The hole in the cap was open so
it should have worked. But just to be sure I ran a tooth pick
through the hole before I flew the Bertha which worked.
Today Paul help me with his Dremmel tool grind away the old top
tube and glue off the coupler. It's already to receive a new
body. Glad I didn't have to do that by hand. Time to up grade
the Executioner with LOC parts.
The Details:
Full launch tally (Adobe Acrobat PDF)
The totals were: 122 flights, 127 motors.
The cumulative total impulse was 2081 Ns with an average total impulse of 16.4 Ns.
The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
0 |
|
1/2A |
5 |
|
A |
12 |
|
B |
27 |
|
C |
52 |
|
D |
12 |
|
E |
8 |
|
F |
7 |
|
G |
3 |
|
H |
1 |
|
I |
0 |
|
J |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
