NC Rocketry

The first launch of 2025 started out very promising weather wise.  By the time Kurt Hesse and I had completed the pad set-up around 9:30, the frozen ground felt like a great start to the day.  By 11:00 am we were all standing in a wet ankle-deep mud bog. As this was my first launch as Prefect, I was happy to see a good turnout on Saturday despite the field conditions.  I also want to thank Jim Livingston, Kurt Hesse and the other volunteers who assisted with pad set-up, pad operations and take down. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A	1
B
C	2
D
E	3
F
G	1
H	4
I	3
J	4
K	1	1
L
M
Total	19	1

On Saturday we had a couple of certification flights. Adrian Tejada flew Cygnus I on a H180 to achieve his NAR Jr. Level 1. With Dave Morey as his mentor, I look forward to more flights from Adrian. Next up was Abigail Kuppler flying her Asteria on a Aerotech H550 Super Thunder for a successful Tripoli L1.  Congratulations to both of you.

NC State High Power Rocketry Club was out in full force on Saturday flying Legacy twice on J500’s for successful flights with key objectives to obtain data from the airbrake system. The team also flew Barbenheimer – a 2-stage project on a H550 with this flight objective focusing on the sustainer as a boosted dart and completing a boost and separation events. It is great to see teams get involved in multi-stage projects which opens another level of complexity in electronics and staging events.

Starting the day off was Mark Hartmann Flying a DX3 on a J460 and Pitbull on a H268R. Nate Orlowski flew Tempest on a K1275 to around 6600 feet. Allen Harrell Flew Tsar Bomba on a G106.  Jake Miskow flew his Pitbull on an I435. Dave Morey tried to fly his Prasa Spool on a C11, but the C11 blew out through the forward end like a Roman candle. Greg Hanson flew his Speed Banana on a J250. Ethan Sites flew MCRN Cydonia on a I140 to celebrate his graduation. Robbie Kirk and son Samuel Kirk made an appearance, and I think they had the record for the day walking back and forth to the pad testing battery connections. Once a good battery was in place, Robbie flew his 3.9R1 on a I300 while Samuel Kirk flew the Scar on two B4’s from the low power pad.  Richard Powers had a couple flights as he gets ready for a future L1 attempt. Richard flew his 3 inch school rocket on a G74 and Modulus on a E35. Katherine Jackson flew Hi-Flyer on a E36 and Saturn on  a E16. Cambria Holley made a trip to the low power pad with the Star on a A8.  That was all for Saturday.

Sunday morning started off just as wet and muddy as it was Saturday. Brett Michal was the only flyer brave enough to fly and recover a rocket from the muddy field and had intended on flying a test launch before his level 3 certification flight in the same day.  Brett flew Leo on a K1000 for a perfect flight and decided to defer his level 3 certification flight to a later date after the muddy recovery was completed.

Will see you all at the next planned launch weekend: February 22-23.

Mike Nay, Prefect

The weather for this launch was not promising looking and very few folks showed up.  Saturday had four launches and Sunday subsequently got cancelled.

Summary of the motors flown:

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A
B
C
D
E
F	2
G
H
I
J	1
K	1
L
M
Total	4

Shriyans Dwivedi had two flights of Mercury on F51 motors for TARC data.  These drifted a long way in the winds we were having.  Mike Nay flew Pink Lady on a J430 and Mike McKeon flew Ugly on a K100.  That was it for the weekend. 

Looking back, I noticed I never did a report for the middle of November launch.  So, belatedly, here it is.

Motor summary:

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A		1
B		3
C		4
D		6
E		2
F	1	3
G
H	5	1
I	3	1
J	8	1
K		1
L	1	3
M		1
N	1
Total	19	27

On Saturday the 16^th, there were a lot of certifications.  Nate Orlowski flew Tempest on a J800 for his L2.   Ethan Sites flew MCRN Cydonia on a J270 for his L2.  James Garmon flew Cosmic Rider on a J305 for a successful L2. Jake Miskow flew Pit Bull for a successful NAR L1.  Emily Cates flew Bue Jay on a I175 for her L1.  Ben Radspinner flew The 4^th Journal on an I175 for a successful L1.  Gabriela Santiago flew Kerbal Space Program on an I80 for an L1.  Congratulations to all.

A couple of college teams were out with NC State High Power Rocketry Club flying Genesis twice on a J500’s for successful flights.  Sage Cooley with the Duke team (Mike Nay as responsible flyer) flew Pitchfork on a 4 grain 115mm N motor, made by Alan Whitmore.  That flight went up well, but the down part was a little “exciting”.  We want to avoid those…

Mark Hartmann flew Frenzy on a L1080. Sailor Koeplinger flew Quicksilver on a I229 and Mark Peot flew Cheerwine on a J415.  Matt Willis had a couple of flights with Where’s Waldo on a J800 and Punisher 3 on a J420.  Shriyans Dwivedi (w/Dave Morey) flew Iris V2 twice, both times on an H130.  Mike Nay flew Tree Hugger on a H550.  That rocket has an interesting back story – ask Mike.  Finally, Dave Morey flew Sinister 24 on a G107 with a pair of F51’s and then a pair of D12’s air started in succession.  He also flew Two Stage Crayon on a F51 staging to a D12.

On Sunday the 17^th, Chad Holm came for a visit and certified L3 with Go Devil on a M1297.  David Stack got his L1 certification with his Hyperloc 300 on an I377.  Congratulations.

Robbie Kirk was a little busy with Olympus on an E18, 2.0 R2 on an experimental motor in BV3 formula estimated to be an F25, Cherokee E on a D16, Blue Thunder on a D13 and Astra on a C6.    John and Connie Tolppi were quite busy as well.  Connie flew Shuttle Express on a C6, Guardian on a B6, Sky Writer on a B6, Predator twice on an A8 and a C6 and Baby Bertha on a C6.  John flew Delta Flyer on a B6, D-Region Tomahawk on a D12,  on a D12, and Super Sprite twice, both times on a D12.  Mike McKeon flew Stan on an I405 and Bob on a J1799.

Jim Livingston flew Sea Hawk on a L850 experimental motor in white smoke formula.  David Cox flew Black Brandt VB on a H128, Copper Top on an F12 and D Tomahawk on an I161.  Richard Powers flew Stargazer on a F15, Falcon Heavy on an E12 (which did some interesting, low level skywriting) and Vapor on an E12.  Mike Nay flew his Double Shot on a K1100 staging to a J140.  Nick Pyrtle flew Fever Pitch on a L1256 and Kurt Hesse flew Performer 98 on a two grain 75mm motor in BV5 made by Alan Whitmore.  There are still quite a number of motors remaining that Alan made that will be making an appearance at the field.

Regards,

Kurt Hesse

Prefect

We had very good weather for this launch, but attendance was down again.  The winds were about normal for us but primarily out of the Northeast so that really put a damper on anything high.

Summary of the motors flown:

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A	2
B	3	2
C	5	1
D	2
E	4
F	1
G		1
H	4
I	2
J	3
K	1
L	1
M
Total	28	4

There were some certifications this weekend.  On Saturday, Todd Bowman flew his Competitor 3 on a J425 for a Tripoli level 2 certification.  Cory Campbell flew Night Fury on a H100 for a Tripoli level 1.  Paxton Lammey, after a time away, completed the level 2 exam to re-instate his Tripoli level 2 certification.  Congratulations all of you.

For Saturday, we had one flyer who was extraordinarily busy.  Wes Shipley flew Alpha on a A8 and again on a B4, Bid Daddy on a D12 and twice more on E12’s, Amazon on a C6, Baby Bertha on a C6, Crossfire on a C6, Viking on a B6, Hi Jinks on a A8, Code Red on a B4, and Rascal on a A8.  That’s a lot of flights, some of which were a decent recovery hike for low power.  Richard Powers flew Patriot on a C5, Big Bertha on a C5, and 3 Inch School Rocket twice on E35’s.  Dave Morey flew Two Stage Crayon on a F63 in the booster to a D12 sustainer,  Stretched Mega Der Red Max on a I211, and Sinister 24 #2 on a G150 with two pairs of D12’s air started in succession, all of which worked perfectly.

Morgan Willis flew The Dream Machine on a J540.  Matt Willis flew Punisher III on a J315 that unfortunately started blowing gas out of the forward closure on the way up, popping off the nose cone and doing a little sky writing.  I am not sure, but I think the rocket escaped without major damage from the motor failure.  Cory Campbell flew Night Fury again after his certification on a H550. Paxton Lammey flew 4” Ugly Phoenix on a H220, Transonic II on a I180 and Estes Phoenix on a D22.  Jim Livingston flew Seahawk on a K560 research motor made from white smoke and Carbon High on a L1200 made from JSTB II 4b that didn’t quite go as expected.  Liftoff was good but somewhere between about 100 and 200 feet up, the motor casing let go.  Examination of the casing revealed that it apparently had a seam in it as it was split from one end to the other along a straight line with a nice shiny stripe down what looked like a step midway through the tubing wall.  It certainly looked like a defect in the extrusion.  The bottom of the rocket was a total loss and needs rebuilt.

Sunday was a very low activity day.  Dennis Hill flew WAC Corporal on a B6 and Big Dawg on a B6.  Samuel Kirk flew Shark on a G64 and with his father Robbie, Blue Star on a C6

Hope to see you all at the next launch.

Regards,

Kurt Hesse

Prefect