NC Rocketry

On the last launch of 2025, we had a good turnout and a great mix of flights and certifications.

Starting with our L2 certifications, Lauren Wilkie flew Strawberry Sunset on a J800 for a great flight. Danielle Stacy followed with Hanson Doom Part 2 on another J800. Our newest group of L1 flyers were next with Craig Abell flying What Goes Up on a H550, Vishant Patel flying Flying D Rocket on a H100 and Luis Martinez flying Ace on a I140.

Special congratulations to long time flyer Richard Powers for achieving his L1 flying his Kronos on a H135. Richard had a little more of walk with the H motor than his normal D-G motors to recover his rocket, but the rocket came back in great shape and ready to fly again. Congratulations to all our newly certified flyers!!

Among the regular flyers, Mark Harmann was back again flying his Frenzy XL on a K2050ST for a super quick flight off the pad. Dave Morey and the Jordan High School team brought their Upscale Citation Patriot with a five motor air-start cluster consisting of a main K700, two J270W and two I211W. The J270s lit, but the I211s did not due to too much arc on the flight path. Matt and Morgan Willis had a couple of flights with Matt flying Punisher on a I500 and Morgan flying Chuffed to Bits on a J540R – all great flights. Jackson Tesofo flew his Darkstar on a K2050 and Mike McKeon followed with Bob on another K2050. Mike also had time to fly his Wildman Standard Arm on a J1799. Samual Patterson flew Redemption on a long burn I40. Chad Holm tried to launch his Go Devil on a research K860 but had issues with the forward closure keeping the rocket grounded. Dennis Hill flew Tiberius with a camera attached with high-speed rocket tape on a K550 for a great flight. Mike Nay flew a 38mm rocket with a H130 with a “unknown” delay. Ejection occurred just after apogee for a nominal recovery by the NC state team.

On the low power pads, we had two flyers that held all the flights – Richard Powers flying Patriot and New Sheppard on C5’s before his L1 flight. Eric Braschwitz was busy with SLS RTF on a D16, Astro Cam on a C6-7, So Long Sing Stage on a E16-6 and a Aspire on a D12-7.

Thank you for another great year of flying rockets. We have a great field, location and landowner with Clifton. I also want to thank Dave Morey, Dennis Hill, Jim Livingston and Kurt Hesse for making Tripoli NC East one of the best locations to fly on the east coast. Have a great Christmas and holiday with family and friends and we will see you all at the next planned launch weekend: January 24-25, 2026.

Regards,

Mike Nay

Prefect, NC East Tripoli

The weather on Saturday was typical for Bayboro rocketry with clear skies and a steady wind from the west that challenged recovery teams. Attendance was high and we had a variety of flights across the commercial and research motor spectrums. Special thanks to Josh Anderson who served as LCO for most of the day and set the pace for launching rockets.

Due to the high altitudes we are allowed to fly at the field, all teams and flyers will now be required to show evidence of tracking and recovery capability along with the estimated altitude and estimated landing zone given the current wind direction. All flyers and teams are responsible for recovering their rockets and parts from the field.

We had several certification flights with TRA and NAR.  Peter Toiman achieved his Tripoli L2 on flying his Adventurer 3 on a J270. Charles Ricks achieved his NAR Level 1 on Gertrude with a H100 and Rianna Madhinini under the mentorship of Dave Morey achieved her Jr Level 1 NAR certification flying a Loc 4 on a H123.  Congratulations to all!

The regular flyers were back with some great flights. Kurt Hesse was back with Butt Ugly flying an Alan Whitmore 38mm I motor. Kurt decided to upgrade to the featherweight GPS system and recovered his rocket with no issues. Brent Bierstedt returned to our field with a few flights. Red Max on a J450 EX, Spool on a G74 and a Honest John on a I287. Jim Livingston flew Carbon High on a L1200 EX for an awesome flight. Dennis Hill flew DRK-1 Dark Eye covered with an outboard camera and tracker to 4677 feet on a J415. Although the main did not deploy, all parts were recovered. Dan Fritsch flew his Madcow Tomach on a G80 and his DX3 on a I500.  Mike Nay flew Pink Lady on a K400 and was recovered by Carol Nay using a GPS for the first time. Alex Key from NC State group few Lil Frank on a J800 and attempted to fly Barbenheimer two-stage on a H550 to a I140. I believe the H550 boost was ok up to separation but no sustainer ignition due to flight angle.

Steven McConkey made the trip from Florida to fly Charlie’s Punisher on a L1000. Bayboro was the only place on the East coast where Steven was able to fly to 14K feet. The flight was perfect and the rocket was recovered about 1.5 miles away from the launch site. A lot of planning went into this flight. It was great to see everything go successfully including the recovery.

Sailor Koeplinger was up next with Changes in Altitude flying on a K1100. Mathew Willis flew Lance 52 on a K695. Anasha Atkins flew Houston on a L2200. Dan Crompton returned with his Cowabunga and flew on a H100 to repeat his flight from last launch. Morgan Willis flew Dream Canteen on a K480.

On the low power side, Joy Hoppert flew an Estes Patriot on a C6-5 and John Hoppert flew Big Bertha on also on a C6-5. Shri flew Sushi several times on a F51 and Momentus on a H220 with support from Dave Morey. Dave Moreno had a couple flights starting with 6-7 Yellow on a E16 and Initiator on a G80. Richard Powers was busy again with two flights on his Patriot with D16 and his BMS School Rocket on a E35 and G74.

Due to windy conditions and availability of ground support, Sunday’s flight schedule was cancelled.

Will see you all at the next planned launch weekend : December 13-14, 2025.