2014 Launch Reports
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
January, 2014
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
February, 2014
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
No club launch took place this month due to unavailability of our field.
Finally! Thanks to the efforts of our club president Howie Druckerman, we got back our flying field in St Albans, VT after being without it since October 2012. That's nearly two years. THANK YOU HOWIE!! During the long hiatus, our club membership has been reduced in numbers as Jeff O. and Doug S. both departed the state for better jobs. We did gain a new, female Level 1 member, Molly H. who was introduced to high power rocketry by boyfriend Dave L in April 2014 and she got her certification at URRF in June 2014.
On Saturday August 16, we managed to pull off a club launch to re-inaugarate our flying field under threatening skies and corn to the west. The forecast was better than the actual weather but we did manage to get 9 flights in between the raindrops. There were 4-C, 1-F, 1-G, 2-H, and 1-I, for an average of a G. We started flying by 1000 and the rain started by 1115, and we were off the field around 1200. Five club members arrived as did 3 guests, a father and his two young boys.
Howie D. And Scott T. arrived in our soggy field at 9:00 AM followed shortly thereafter by Dave L. and girlfriend Molly H. Jeff R. showed up a bit later as did our 3 guests. It had rained quite heavily the night before and the morning was overcast with temps around 70 degrees. Rain was forecast for later on.
Dave L was the first
flier and flew a red/black Johnny Rocket Saucer on a C6-5 to test the launch
system. It was a typical saucer flight and it is always great to watch the whole
flight. The kids loved this one. Although taking off from the low/medium power
pad, this saucer landed closest-to-pad just inches from the high power pad.
A custom 7 inch tall, 7 inch diameter lime green Buzz Lightyear lawn sprinkler
base converted to an oddrock was Dave’s second flight. The flight was nice with
the AT F40-10W white providing plenty of thrust to about 300 feet (after discarding
a useless copperhead). Dave was then ready with a Crayon but wet weather does
not go well with cardboard rockets so no attempt was made, and the rain stopped
his planned Rocketry Warehouse Formula 54 flight as well.
There were two visiting brothers whos dad purchased a pair of CMRMC saucer kits
for them to decorate and fly. The first attempt was with a very old Quest C
motor from a former member, and the nozzle blew out the bottom. It did get off
the rod but just barely, His brother was successful to about 100 feet for a
typical saucer flight. On the second attempt, the nozzle did not blow out and
a second saucer flight was finally successful on an Estes.
Jeff R attempted to fly his blue PML Pterodactyl, Jr. on a 38mm CTI H225. The
first 25 feet of the flight were very nice and then all heck broke loose as
the casing flew through the rocket. The piston saved the laundry and the parachute
partially deployed to prevent total chaos. The casing landed separate from the
rest of the rocket and was missing a large chunk of metal with the threads to
connect with the nozzle. The nozzle section of the motor was still locked safely
inside the motor retainer. It looks like the rocket survived though.
Scott T managed two odd-roc flights. First was a fairly low flight of his yellow
Yellow Beer’d on a CTI G88 Smoky Sam. The flight was nice and landed less than
10 yards from the high power pad under parachute. Scott waited for the rain
to pause and then had the last flight of the day on the biggest motor of the
day. It was an I211 in his large saucer-like Patio Ryan. Another successful
flight and the laundry deployed successfully.
Molly H prepped her scratch built Toys R Us purple Crayon rocket aptly named Purple Haze. This is the rocket she built for her successful level one certification two months ago at URRF. Unfortunately rain and wind scuttled her flight so back in the car it went.
As for me, I came with 3.5 rockets prepped but only managed to fly one. I had
the honor of the first high power flight, my Coors beer bottle rocket on a CTI
H123 skidmark (were you expecting something else from me?). It went about 1000
feet up and then about 500 feet back down before the parachute opened. I landed
two fields away, luckily in the opposite direction of the corn.
A few closing comments… It was windy and cold but because we had not flown in
so long, we took advantage of the opportunity to fly again. With the wind from
the south, the darkest clouds were over us and it was lighter to both the east
and west. We ended up getting the brunt of the rain in the end.
The weather was absolutely
perfect with almost no wind, temperatures in the upper 60s, sunny without a
cloud in the sky.
We entered the field across from the farm and barn and launched from the field
at the bottom of the hill. This was to put us as far away from the corn as possible.
The conditions were perfect for flying. There were a total of 19 flights for
a total of an L motor. The overall average impulse for guests and members was
a G, and for club motors only, an I. The motors were 1-B, 6-C, 2-D, 2-E, 1-F,
4-H, 2-J, and 1-K.
Guest Ron R came to his first CRMRC launch, brought his son, and was joined
by four members of the family of someone Ron works with. They were all amazed
to see a high power field and a high power rockets. They arrived at the field
at exactly 1000hrs and I was in the middle of setting up the pads and launch
controller; all of them helped me complete the setup and Ron got off the first
flight. In increasing power, here are Ron's fights. Ron flew a blue Estes Porta
Potty on an Estes B6-4 which snapped off a fin upon landing (I let him know
that the high power folks flew an actual blue Porta Potty). Ron was flying the
largest motor for each rocket on most of his flights, including an Estes Bull
Pup, a Big Red Max, a Patriot, and an Andromeda, all on Estes C6-5s. All of
these were high and successful. Ron's big flight was a classically painted Estes
Big Daddy on the Estes Mighty "D" D12-5. This flight was a 5:1 flight
going about 500 feet down range but only about 100 feet in altitude.
Jeff R brought all his kids and each flew something:
Ben R flew a naked Estes
Big Daddy on an Estes E9-6. Those are wonderful slow burn motors. Matt R also
flew a naked Estes Big Daddy on an E9-6 with the same long slow burn.
Stephen R outdid his older brothers and had 3 successful flights. His blue Estes
Crayon was flown twice, both times on Estes C6-5. Stephen's big flight was a
naked Estes Mega Mosquito on the Estes Mighty "D" D12-5. As with the
first two flights, the parachute deployed and the rocket landed successfully.
One of the Big Daddy flights had it's parachute fail to deploy and lawn darted
into the field.
Jeff did get something off the ground when he flew an Aerotech Initiator on an Aerotech F25-6W. The rocket flew higher than my expectation for an F and came down safely.
Our newest club member, Molly H, flew a scratch built purple crayon called "Purple Haze" on a CTI H123 skidmark. It came down nicely on a 20 inch purple parachute. It was carrying a Garmin GPS tracker but this was not necessary as the rocket landed well within visual range due to the lack of wind. Nice one Molly! Molly's dog, Betty Boop tagged along for the recovery.
Dave L got two flights off the ground. Dave’s first flight was a custom made
green crayon appropriately called Green Crayon on a CTI H90 classic expected
to go up around 1500 feet. The flight was straight up and the motor delay deployed
a green parachute (were you expecting a different color?). Dave's big flight
of the day was a green and black Rocketry Warehouse Formula 75 on a CTI J335
red motor which went well over 4000 feet. The motor eject released a green and
black parachute, causing the rocket to gently float down within visual range,
so the onboard GPS was not needed. Dave also brought a bunch of other rockets
to show our guests.
As for me, I managed 4 flights which were all prepped for last month’s launch but were kept grounded due to the weather last month. My first flight was my purple and red King Arthur kit from Hanger 11 to about 1000 feet on a CTI H175 Smokey Sam. It landed in a water filled ditch but luckily the vegetation kept it above the water. Next I flew a PML 3 inch AMRAAM on a CTI H255 about 1500 feet when the RRC did it’s work to separate the two pieces and then deploy the PML red and white chute. A Performance Rocketry ¼ Patriot flew on a KBA J520 to about 3500 feet where the pair of RRCs did their assigned tasks to bring it gently down. The last flight of the day was my highly modified Giz gone wild! on an AMW K885 Black Bear. The flight was supposed to go to 5000 feet but the rocket wiggled after it left the rail and veered away from straight up. The MARSA and Perfect Flite altimeters did their jobs but the rocket landed about half a mile away, on the other side of the road and in front of the barn. The nosecone hit the ground and so did the fincan, but the center section was hanging by the parachute in some phone lines. The farm had a pipe that was exactly tall enough and had a slight hook on it which allowed me to release the parachute and get everything to the ground without endangering myself.
Overall, it was a perfect day to be in the middle of a field and launching rockets.
Howie D.
(No photos taken at
this launch as far as we know). The weather afforded a good day for flying:
temperatures were in the 50s, winds were mostly below 10mph, and the day started
out sunny but moved to partly cloudy. I got to the field around 9:15 and the
road down had a pile of stones that blocked most of the road. By being half
off the road, it was possible to get by though, There were two more piles of
stones and an excavator as I drove further down, but I got to the final hill
down to the field. For those of you that remember how muddy that section of
the road can get when wet, that was how bad it was. For those of you who were
not members of the club at that point of time, the best way to describe it was
that the vehicle was following between the hump in the middle regardless of
which way you pointed your wheels (even in 4WD).
Based on this, I put the "Rocket Launch Parking" sign at the top of
the hill and recommended people walk down. Everything was set up by 10:15 but
no one had showed up. I had planned for no one being there by bringing along
some water, vinegar, a pot, a 1 burner Coleman stove, and the rail cleaning
pipe. My intent was to warm up the water, then put water and vinegar in the
pipe. Then insert the 1010 rail to remove the grime on the rail. When I went
to use the stove, Coleman fuel was leaking out around a pipe fitting. I spent
the next 20 minutes taking the stove apart and putting it back together, to
no avail. So I just put the cold water and vinegar into the pipe and started
soaking one of the 1010 rails. I spent about 40 minutes soaking, wiping, and
cleaning that rail.
After that, I swapped the two rails, putting the clean one in the blue pad and
put the dirty one in the pipe. With no one still there, I put a motor in a rocket
and continued to soak and wipe the rail. By that time, it was 11:15 and I was
willing to have one flight before finishing cleaning the rail and leaving. At
11:30 a car made it down to the field, so the launch actually started. Guest
Ron and Nick, who were at last month’s launch were back again. After unloading,
they carefully drove their car back up to the safer high ground.
Nick and Ron managed 4 flights. The first flight was a red and grey Estes Big
Daddy on an Estes E9-4. The flight was not exactly straight but not too bad.
The chute came out and the rocket drifted downwind staying in the field. Ron
took a circuitous path back as it turned out the nosecone was not with the rest
of the rocket. His classically painted Estes Patriot flew two times on Estes
C6-5 for some beautifully straight flights which landed in the fields. Between
the two Patriot flights was a classically painted Estes Der Red Max also on
a C6-5. The parachute partially opened and tangled so the rocket hit slightly
harder than normal and a fin was damaged but repairable.
Between Nick's and Ron's flights, I finished wiping down the other rail and
managed one flight. I flew my King Arthur on a CTI H151 Red Lightning to around
1000 feet. The motor eject popped off the nosecone but the parachute did not
come out. My small insurance parachute connected to the nosecone opened up and
pulled the main parachute out and the rocket came down successfully and without
damage.
Ron and Nick helped me put all the launch gear back in my truck and I drove
up the hill to park in a safe place. Then the 3 of us spent about 30 minutes
systematically walking the field looking for the lost grey nosecone. We did
not find it though. At 1:30, I started driving off the field and collecting
all the signs which were scattered along the road.
The totals were 5 flights overall, one for club members. Average motor was just
below an F overall, and H for the club member. Total thrust was an H. On top
of that, two rails were cleaned, along with last month’s cleaning all the rods
and replacing all the clips.
Howie D.
November,
2014
The weather made a good day for flying: temperatures were in the 30s, winds
were mostly below 10mph, and the skies were mostly blue with a lot of sun. It
felt warm when the wind died down. I got to the field around 9:00 AM and the
manure spreader was in full operation on the field we normally launch on and
the one to the east. I moved the launch area one field further west. Then spoke
with the tractor driver as he was driving by, letting him know what we were
going to be doing. He agreed to move his spreading further away from us until
we left. He said he had seen us flying on previous weekends, so he knew what
we were doing. The launch area was spared but the downwind fields had already
been sprayed. Caveat rocketor.
I started setting up and was mostly done when Scott T arrived to help finish
up things. We were ready to launch by 10:00 AM, right on time. A group from
the Plattsburgh 4-H said they would be there around 10:00, and one family arrived
at 10:00, but we did wait for a couple more 4-H families to show up. We were
told to start because the last family would not be arriving until 11:00. Another
family from Burlington showed up; they had seen us at the Maker Faire and had
started flying on their own. Dave L arrived at 10:00 and Jeff R, with sons in
tow, arrived around 11:30. In total, about 25 people showed up to watch some
rockets and enjoy the weather.
I really appreciated help from Scott T, Dave L and Jeff R. Dave handled the
RSO duties for a while, while Scott helped fix any issues the kids were having
with their rockets. I did the pad manager and LCO work. After the launch, Jeff
and sons were a big help in getting my truck repacked, so I could leave quickly.
As for the flying, there were 10 kids and 3 CRMRC members who got flights off
the ground. There were 24 flights: 19 low power, 3 mid-power, and 2 high power.
The total propellant burned was an I, with the overall average an E. The CRMRC
had 3 flights, totaling an I, and averaging a large G. I cannot provide details
of all the flights, so I will list what stood out for me.
Guests:
Petra F had two flights of a custom red and grey 12 inch tall, minimum diameter
rocket, both on C6-7s.
Keldon F flew a red
and white Estes Viking called Columbia a total of 3 times, starting small and
going bigger; twice on an A8-3 and the final flight was on a C6-7. This landed
in the reeds in one of the drainage ditches. About a dozen people spent half
an hour looking, but the rocket was not found.
Henry S flew a red and
silver Estes Flash on a B6-4. This rocket took the record for number of times
having to pull the switch before taking off, 5.
Harrison S flew a yellow
and black Estes Bumble Bee twice. First was an unimpressive B6-4. Second was
on a C6-5, when the airframe separated from the nosecone and parachute. Search
parties were sent out and both pieces were found.
Alex L flew silver and
red rocket Estes Flash on a B6-4.· Luke L managed to get 2 different
rockets off the ground, for a total of 3 flights. First was CRMRC saucer kit
on a C6-5; nice to see the whole flight up close and personal. Then a yellow,
red and black Estes Taser flew twice on B6-4s.
Trent T had construction
issues with his Estes Wizard. A B6-4 flight was attempted and it exceeded the
stability and strength of his rocket; one fin MIA.
Miriam S flew a yellow
Estes Hornet two times on B6-4s.
Gideon S flew a white Estes rocket called Snowflake twice, both on B6-4s.
Liam S had a red Estes Super Neon XL which flew 4 times. This tube and straight
finned rocket flew first on a D12-5 but the nosecone separated with the parachute.
The airframe core sampled but the ground was soft enough to not damage the rocket.
The parachute cord was reattached and the rocket flew twice more on E9-4s, with
the last flight another D12-5.
Members:
Dave L flew a dark blue Performance Rocketry Lil Rascal on a CTI H175 Smoky
Sam. As this was the first flight of the day, it was a nice introduction to
the guests as to what high performance rocketry is about, with the trail of
thick black smoke. The rocket went up about 1200 feet and landed two fields
downwind, so crossing a sprayed field was required for retrieval. From Dave:
"The rocket was sitting on freshly manure-sprayed earth but luckily the
chute was high and dry on trampled corn stalks. I was wearing hiking boots and
realized when I packed to go home that I had forgotten a change of shoes. I
drove for 2 hours with the heater blowing the moo poo odor off my boots up into
my face, Nice! "
Scott T flew his custom
yellow crayon called Yellow Beered on a CTI G131. The up portion of the flight
was good but the parachute did not come out of the tube. A fin was cracked off
but everything else survived. A rebuild is planned.
As for me, I also flew
a blue Lil Rascal. Mine is painted with light blue glitter paint and a red nosecone.
As I started announcing my rocket, one of the kids in the crowd told a latecomer
that it would have a lot of black smoke. I politely corrected him saying there
was little smoke and a red flame from the CTI H121 Red Lightning. I also adjusted
the rail to be tipped into the wind a bit more, having watched Dave go two fields
downwind. This meant my rocket landed about 50 feet away from the pad and close
to the audience. I warned the audience not to catch it.
Cleanup took about 15 minutes and I was off the field around 1330, having spent
an enjoyable 4.5 hours outside on a sunny day. Until next month......
Howie D.
No club launch took
place this month due to poor field and weather conditions.