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January 2010 launch report (1/31/2010)

On Saturday, January 30th, MASA held its first launch of 2010.  It was held at Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake.

A total of 53 rockets were flown on motors ranging from A to D.

A few of the flights:

MASA members - please send in your thoughts about the launch! 

Neal Higgins writes:

I arrived at the field around 9:45 and Alan was already there setting up his equipment. I only brought the wadding, trash buckets and flight cards so set up was fast and easy. I did bring a small weather station that seemed to be accurate on the wind speed and direction but the temperature readings were not even close. The sustained winds were in the 2 to 4 mph range with the highest gust of 6.7mph.

I started by flying a Fliskit UFFO on a C6-0. The flight was a low slow arc maybe 50' in altitude. I flew it again later in the day with the identical flight path but this time the landing caused some damage that should be repairable.

I also flew a small rocket that had 3 cheap gliders hanging off of it. 1 glider shredded while leaving the pad, 1 did a pretty decent glide and landed fairly close but the 3rd glider decided it liked the wind and as far as I know it is still flying.

I had a total of 10 flights today with 9 leaving the pad.

I have created a photo album of today's launch on the MASA yahoo group's site. If anybody else has photo's they would like to post please do so. The album is Launch-2010-0130.

Alan Estenson writes:

It was a little cold, but not a bad day for flying rockets in January. The blue skies and sunshine were especially nice. The snow on the field was fairly compacted and walking after rockets wasn't too hard a chore.  Seeing the rockets against the blue sky, I thought, "I should have brought a camera." Then, I remembered that I keep a digital point-and-shoot in my truck specifically for those occasions when I wished I'd brought a camera. So, I dug it out and snapped about three dozen photos... When I got home, I found that all of them were solid black. Yes, the lens cover was open. <grin> Looks like the sensor in that camera died. :-(

Turnout was light with just 7 fliers participating today. However, we managed a total of 53 flights in about two and half hours.

I arrived at the field just a few minutes before Neal. I set up my two pad system for myself and others to share. The night before, I had prepped six rockets at home: a Quest Skydive (rtf), my MASA SPEV Saucer, Astron Sprint (clone), Warrior 56, Maniac, and Screaming Yellow Zonker.

My Astron Sprint on an A8-5 had a "bonus" delay (more like A8-8) followed by a shotgun ejection which snapped the shock cord.  Fortunately, it wasn't otherwise damaged.

I had decided that this would be the last flying day for my trusty ol'  Maniac before a well-earned retirement. Back in November, I'd had two  C11-3's CATO on me. I had four more of them in my range box, so I decided to use them all up in the Maniac (if it survived). The first three flights went fine, but I did get another CATO on the fourth flight.

This Maniac had it's first flight on February 27, 1999. Over the intervening years, it flew 31 times (including today's flights). Back in 2002, I flew it for my official NARTREK Bronze "D flight".

Ken Jarosch writes:

It turned out to be a real nice day. Didn't need the heavy gloves and coat I brought.

I started out with my usual Winter Rockets. These are old junk rockets upgraded to D and E motors from the 18mm C's. But at White Bear I only use C11-3's for a medium altitude. Also I use under-sized nylon chutes to reduce any drift.

1) Interceptor, C11-3 and 12" chute. (Down from 18")
2) FireHawk, C11-3 and 12" chute. (Down from 18")
3) D-Region Tomahawk C11-3 and 9" chute. (Down form 12"+)

Next I flew two standard rockets with C11-3's and full sized chutes

4) Classic Fat-Boy, C11-3 and 18" thin mill chute.
5) Upscale Mosquito (Fat-Boy Based) C11-3 and 18" thin mill chute.

Finally, I put up two AppleWhite oddrocs.

6) Scimitar (Fancy Qubit) on a D11-P - Rotates up and down.
7) Red Ultra-Delta (Ultra-light) on a D11-P.

Bottom line: All rockets got nice altitude with minimum drift.

Only problem was several mis-fires before I discovered the clay material had covered the BP.

By then it was 12:30 and I had had enough and had plans for the afternoon.

The Details:

Full launch tally (PDF)

The totals were:  53 flights, 56 motors.  The cumulative total impulse was 434 Ns with an average total impulse of 7.7 Ns.  The motor breakdown follows:

(Alan Estenson)