Lino Lakes Cub Scout Build & Launch (11/7/2009)
On the evening of Tuesday, October 20th, MASA members Jason
Colt, Alan Estenson, and Buzz McDermott helped with a rocket
building session at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Circle Pines. A
group of 40+ Cub Scouts built rockets during a two hour period. The
youngest Scouts built Estes Spaceloft rockets. There were very few
problems with these simple rockets; the one-piece plastic fin unit
made for easy assembly. The older Scouts built a combination of
Estes Viking, Estes Wizard, and Custom Razor rockets. With their
individual fins, the Vikings and Wizards presented more of a
challenge - especially for those Scouts who insisted on putting the
maximum five fins on their Vikings. The tube fins on the Razors were
more assembly-friendly. Most Scouts had a parent helping them. [My
observation - Moms did better at helping with the rocket building
than Dads. Probably because Moms read the instructions.] Buzz
provided a variety of stickers, so many of the rockets were brightly
decorated. The rest went home to be painted first.
The launch was originally scheduled for the afternoon of
Sunday, October 25th, but was postponed due to poor weather. With
the launch rescheduled for the morning of Saturday, October 31, MASA
members Alan Estenson and Neal Higgins met at Blue Heron Elementary
in Lino Lakes. It was a cool morning with a stiff breeze out of the
west. The launching area was a softball field with about 250 feet of
recovery distance before a scrubby/marshy area.
A six-pad launch range was set up on the west side of the
softball field with a separate prep area nearby. The Scouts and
their families started arriving just before 10am. Neal manned the
prep table and was kept hopping as he helped the Scouts get their
rockets ready to fly. The engines for the day were 1/2A's for the
Spacelofts and A's for the Vikings, Wizards, and Razors. For
simplicity's sake, Estes wadding was used instead of cellulose. Each
Scout could launch their rocket twice (more if they wanted to
purchase extra engines from the Cub Master).
Alan operated the launch range, and the flying started just
after 10am. The Scouts were all excited, and the enthusiasm was
contagious! A count of the flights wasn't kept, but there were
easily 80 launches in about 90 minutes time. Full racks of six
rockets were being launched one after the other. Stealing a trick
from Ted, the Scouts were told that told that rockets fly better
when the countdowns are LOUD! :-)
The flights nearly all went well; there were a few
separations and one lawn dart. Thanks to Neal's excellent work at
the prep table, there were only three misfires all morning. With the
stiff breeze, a small number of rockets drifted off the field -
about two or three were lost. Two Scouts also brought and launched
their Estes Metalizer rockets.
One unusual event, about halfway through the launch, was a
flyover by a B-52 bomber at low altitude! Needless to say, we all
stopped and watched.
Everyone had fun, and all the rockets had been flown by
11:30. We packed up the equipment and headed home to warm up.
[Alan Estenson]
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