We found the lost launch cards from the October 28 Sunday event, so allow me to give you the individual run-down on that day before I get into this last weekend.?? I?ll list the flyers alphabetically, since I don?t remember the order in which these flights happened.? Dan Fritsch flew his Madcow Tomach 4? on an Aerotech K400C DMS motor, and one other flight with his Madcow DD Screech on a Loki I430.? Kurt Hesse flew his new-ish Butt-Ugly on a homemade 3 grain 54mm motor.?? The apogee charge fired, but did not separate the parts, so when the main deployed there was some minor damage.?? This is a fiberglass rocket, so it wasn?t nearly as bad as had it happened to a paper or phenolic rocket.
Johnny Hoffman was on hand with a 3? hybrid rocket powered by a HyperTek J317.?? Flight and recovery were perfect.? Robbie Kirk had two fine flights:? His Red and White II flew on an Aerotech G79W using the Jolly Logic device, and the Moonracker flew on an Aerotech H210R.?? This one chuffed a few times on the pad, so the delay element started burning too soon, resulting in an early ejection.
Jim Livingston flew his big V-2 on a homemade 6 grain 54mm K560 that was probably made from the blue-flame CP5 formula.? Mike Nay flew his Yellow Jacket on a K650 that worked very well.?? Unfortunately, both CTI and Aerotech make K650?s, so I can?t tell you which one it was.?? Since it was Mike Nay, it was probably a Cesaroni motor, but I don?t know.?? Everybody could help out the launch report writer by writing the manufacturer and ?single-use? or ?reload? or ?EX? on the flight card.?? Alan Whitmore flew the Stealth Blue on a 3-grain EX 76mm small L made from the Black Velvet formula, and his GFI flew on a 4-grain 54mm EX K motor made from the CP5 formula.
Now?.??? On to November.?? The weather this weekend was so fine that I worry that we have used up all of our good-weather luck for the 2018-2019 season!?? Saturday was clear, cool, and amazingly calm, for Bayboro.? The wind was out of the west, blowing everything out over one of the longest axes of the field.? First, the motor use summary:
| Size | Sat | Sun | Total |
| B | 1 | 1 | |
| C | 1 | 1 | |
| D | 2 | 2 | |
| E | 0 | ||
| F | 1 | 1 | |
| G | 7 | 7 | |
| H | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| I | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| J | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| K | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| L | 1 | 1 | |
| M | 3 | 3 | |
| N | 0 | ||
| O | 1 | 1 | |
| 35 | 6 | 41 |
Eric Noguchi usually flies with the Butner group, but this weekend he was in Bayboro to try his luck in a really big field.? He flew his Rumble Bee on an Estes B4, and the Vertigo on a D21.? Tom Keith returned after a long absence to fly 2 rockets twice.? The Formula 54 flew on a G80sk and again on a G83 blue flame motor.?? Then, the Optima flew on a CTI G280 vmax and again on an H151.
Allan Rose was back with his short, fat rockets.? This weekend the Minnie Mag flew on an Aerotech H148R, and the Sky Raider and Big Cletus both took rides on the Aerotech I284W.? The NCSU High Power Rocketry team made their qualifying flight with their sub-scale model called NICE on an Aerotech I435T.?? The flight was good and recovered intact, but the full-scale needs a little more fin area.
Tommy Harrell made a flight with his two-stage project, which placed the Crazed Pink on top of a booster section, with a CTI I566 Vmax in the booster staging to a CTI I224 cl in the sustainer.?? These two motors add up to a total installed impulse in the J range, so this rocket is listed in the ?J? group in the motor use summary.?? As of Sunday afternoon, the sustainer has still not been found, so be on the lookout for a pink rocket lying over to the south of our usual launch site.?? This flight and one of Tom Keith?s reminds me that someone reported that Cesaroni will no longer be marketing the Vmax propellant formula.?? It did give a lot of flyers problems with CATO?s during its lifetime, so the decision is not really surprising, but it was always one of my favorite commercial propellant formulations.
David McCloy, the prefect of the South Carolina group, made the trip from the Palmetto State to fly on a larger field, and flew his G3 on a CTI K750.??? This was a flight to the 10K foot region of the skies, an attempt that could never be made at the somewhat smaller Camden sod farm.
A lot of our regulars were on hand keeping the pads busy until the sun was almost down on the horizon.?? Mike Collier had 4 flights, Dan Fritsch had 3, and Joe Hill, Ralph Malone, Robbie Kirk, Mike Nay, and Dennis Hill were all busy and productive.
Because of the almost-ideal atmospheric conditions, there were a lot of big motor/high altitude flights on Saturday.?? Paul Schaefer flew his Worst Paint Job Ever on an EX M1330 made from the Black Velvet 7% formula.?? This flight was perfect both up and down.? Johnny Hoffman flew his Hy Tek Red Nek on a Hypertek M1000 hybrid motor.?? Like the best of the large-tank nitrous motors, this one seemed to burn forever as the bright dot of flame disappeared into the clear sky.?? The HTRN was recovered ?intack?.?? Jim Livingston tested his Viper with his new 7 grain 115mm O motor made from his white-smoke formula, and this time the power of the O4470 was just too much for the fins on the Viper.?? Somewhere around 950 feet/second and 2500 feet up, the fins started to rip off, the rocket turned sideways, and it started to come apart in grand fashion.?? Several very heavy parts hit with a major thump, but no property damage or injury was reported.?? To finish off the BFR group, Alan Whitmore flew the recently rebuilt Spork III on a 3 grain 115mm M motor made from the EX CP5 propellant, a blue-flame recipe.?? This one was recovered with only minor airframe damage after flight to the 9200 foot region.
Sunday was another great day for weather, with warm temperatures, bright, clear blue skies, and extremely calm surface winds.?? We soon discovered that the winds aloft were very strong, and anybody who put anything up to any serious altitude was taking a very long walk to bring things home.?? The winds and the fact that everybody was still a little tired after Saturday resulted in an early close on Sunday.?? I can mention every flight on Sunday.?? As usual, Dan Fritsch was very busy, flying the PML Ariel on an Aerotech H178DM, his PML Tethys on a Loki J377 [The J377 is not listed in the TRA/NAR combined list of motors or in the Loki catalogue, but the I377 cocktail motor is, so maybe this was an I motor flight.]? Dan also flew his Madcow Tomach on an Aerotech K1100T for a very exciting flight and athletic recovery.?? Mike Nay started his day off with a flight of his Sahara on a CTI I55 mellow yellow motor, and then followed that up with a flight of his Sublime on an Aerotech L1000W.?? Both Mike and Dan were over in the northeastern section of the field for A LONG TIME on Sunday, chasing the Tomach and the Sublime, but they made it back home safely.? Alan Whitmore then flew his Bertrand Brinley?s Beta on an EX 2 grain 54mm J motor made from Livingston White.
Have a great Thanksgiving and we?ll see you in December for the last launch of 2018.
Alan Whitmore
Prefect, Tripoli East NC
