May 30, 2009 launch report (5/30/2009)
On Saturday, May 30th, MASA held its fourth launch of the
year. This was the second launch of the season on the sod near Nowthen.
There was plentiful sunshine and perfectly clear skies.
Temperatures were in the 60's. The bummer, however, was the
wind. Coming out of the N to NNW, it was about 7-9 mph early
in the morning, but increased to 12-15mph with gusts to 20mph by the
early afternoon. The wind served to keep the turnout light and
the number of flights comparatively low at 44. We called it
quits for the day about 1:30pm.
The theme of this launch was "odd-rocs". Strange rockets
seen taking to the air included:
- A three Sputnik drag race on C6-0's (Neal Higgins & Alan
Estenson)
- A three Death Star drag race on C6-3's (Dwayne Shmel, Dave
Schaffhausen, Todd Carpenter)
- An Art Applewhite Pyramid (Todd Carpenter), a "Pumpnik"
(Alan Estenson), and a Birdie (Alan)
- UFO's - a Snitch (Dwayne Shmel) and a Pheord X150 (David
Whitaker)
Despite the wind, there were four G-powered flights by Scott
Gleason, Neal Higgins, Andy Juntunen, and David Whitaker.
There were also two successful Level 1 high power certification
flights. Congratulations to Andy Juntunen (1/4-scale PML
Patriot on H123), and to Scott Gleason (Junior L1, "Inferno" on
H180). Dave Gensler's H180 powered flight in his PML Matrix
didn't fare as well when he suffered immediate delay-train blow-by
and ejection.
Andy Juntunen's L1 Cert Flight
(click on thumbnails to see fullsize pics)
Thanks to Neal Higgins for for helping set up the launch range.
Thanks to Neal and Andy Juntunen for helping disassemble and pack it
up, too. Thanks to Ted Cochran for his shift as LCO/RSO.
A few of the flights:
MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the
launch!
Alan Estenson writes:
I chalked-up 8 flights - most of them "odd-rocs". I flew two
Sputniks in a 3-way drag race with Neal. I also flew my "Pumpnik"
and a Birdie. From an old MASA kitbash meeting, I flew the
"RQ-70" - made from a SR-71 kit. For somewhat-odd-looking
rockets, I launched the "Screaming Yellow Zonker" tubefin
rocket, bt-56 upscale Solar Warrior, and "Harmonize" (harmonicas
for fins).
The Details:
Full launch tally (PDF)
The totals were: 44 flights with 45 motors burned.
The cumulative total impulse was 1622 Ns with an average total impulse of 36 Ns.
The motor breakdown follows:
|
Type |
# Burned |
| MicroMaxx |
0 |
|
1/4A |
0 |
|
1/2A |
0 |
|
A |
6 |
|
B |
5 |
|
C |
15 |
|
D |
8 |
|
E |
2 |
|
F |
2 |
|
G |
4 |
|
H |
3 |
|
I |
0 |
|
J |
0 |
(Alan Estenson)
|
