Launch Report April 25-26, 2015
This weekend marked the final launch of the 2014-2015 Rocketry Season at Bayboro and the first day of halfway decent rocketry weather since November 2014. After 4 months of terrible luck in the weather department, Saturday was like a dream: no wind, warmer than arctic temperature, and no precipitation until about 2:30 in the afternoon. Sunday was rained out.
Let?s look at the motor use summary and then examine some high (and low) points.
| Size | Stat |
| C | 1 |
| D | 2 |
| E | |
| F | 3 |
| G | 3 |
| H | 4 |
| I | 2 |
| J | 1 |
| K | |
| L | 4 |
| Total | 20 |
Mike Collier had 4 successful flights with motors ranging from the D to H range. Dan Fritsch also made 4 flights, but he ran into a short spell of bad luck that first involved an Aerotech G138T that CATO?ed, damaging his Pyramid, and then a CTI F36 malfunctioned in his Quest Big Dog that resulted in the longest zipper I have ever seen on a rocket; clearly a new world record!!
Natalie Harrell brought back her 3? Talon and made a great flight on an I216, after some mean and heartless LCO made her take out and replace the sparky motor that was installed. It is especially great to see new flyers, and this month Robbie Kirk joined us for two flights, his Terra Cotta on an F15 (that really didn?t want to light), and his Red and White on a G54. Both flights were nominal and recovered intact.
The big news of any launch has to be the certification flights, and this month Kurt Hesse brought back his Shiny Diner for a TRA level 2 certification attempt. After acing the written exam, Kurt flew the Diner to 6311? on an Aerotech J420 and recovered it in perfect shape, using the Big Red Bee device. The Raven altimeter riding on board reported that the rocket attained Mach 1.1 during the boost! Congratulations to Kurt and welcome to the world of bigger (and more expensive) motors!
We had four L motors flown this weekend. Jim Livingston gave his new 5.5?, all-fiberglass rocket, called No-Name?, a trial run on a homemade L for a perfect flight, and easy recovery in knee-high wheat. The No-Name was built to handle 115mm diameter motors in the minimum-diameter configuration in order to explore the upper regions of our 16,000 foot waiver at Bayboro.
The North Carolina State University Senior Design teams were on site to finish up their projects for the year. Team 2 flew their Big Bad Wolf on an Aerotech L1390G for a great flight, and later on an Aerotech L1150R with a similar result. Team 3 had a perfect flight with their project, named The One Rocket, on an Aerotech L1150R, but the rocket landed on a paved road and damaged a body tube, ending their day.
Join us in Butner for our summer launches if you can, and we will get together in Bayboro again in the fall (September 26-27, if the crops are agreeable).
Alan Whitmore
Prefect, Tripoli East NC
