The weather this weekend was decent at best, but anyone who attended the launch on Saturday made the most of it. There was an almost predictable pattern of cloud cover and sunshine, with winds often gusting as high as 20mph; the threshold of surface?wind speed that is allowed before not allowing rockets to fly. Sunday offered a full 100% chance of rain, so we didn’t even bother and no rockets were flown. Here is the motor table summary?for Saturday’s launch.
| Motor | Saturday |
| A | 1 |
| B | |
| C | 3 |
| D | 3 |
| E | ?1 |
| F | |
| G | |
| H | 4 |
| I | 3 |
| J | 5 |
| K | |
| L | 2 |
| M | 1 |
| Total | 23 |
Certifications are always the most exciting part of any launch we host, and we had three successful attempts on Saturday. Jack Sommer was the first to go, and he was looking for a Level 1 certification with TRA. Jack brought along a 4″ diameter Loc IV rocket and chose an Aerotech 38mm H-219T motor for power. Jack’s flight was textbook and he achieved exactly what he was after. Caitlin Bunce was the second to go, and she was after a Level 2 certification with NAR. Caitlin’s rocket Nebula 3.0 was equipped with an Aerotech 38mm J-500G. After a quick boost, Caitlin’s rocket deployed its chute right on time and she is now successfully certified L2. This rocket also served as a UNCC test vehicle for another flight later in the day on the same motor. The third and final certification flight was attempted by a Bayboro regular, Tom Keith, who has been flying with us for some time now. He brought along his rocket Force Majeure, which literally translates from French to ‘Superior Force’. Tom chose an Aerotech 54mm J-540R for impulse. His rocket had dual Altus Metrum Easy Mini altimeters which did their job perfectly. Tom’s flight was nice and high and he also left the field successfully certified Level 2 with NAR. Excellent job, and congratulations to Jack, Caitlin and Tom!!! Well done.
A few of the hardcore regulars were on site, especially in the research department. Kurt Hesse flew his Shiny Diner on a three grain, 38mm motor that had CP4 propellant mixed up in it. CP4 stands for ‘copper propellant, 4% aluminum’, and it gives off a nice blue flame with light white smoke. I’m going to guess and say that this was designated something like a H-250 or so. Jim Livingston flew a rocket we’ve been seeing a lot of lately, LZ, on a homebrew I-427 filled with his Aerotech White Lightning clone that he calls Livingston White. Jim also flew his Sea Hawk on a four grain, 76mm L-1200 that had the same Livingston White propellant in it. Joe Hill brought out his 6″ diameter half scale replica of the U.S. Army’s Little John missile and flew it with an Aerotech 75mm M-1780NT for a nominal flight. Brent Bierstedt put his 4″ Mega Der Red Max on a Loki J-396 Spitfire, which was nice and noisy. Dennis Hill joined us with his SP-3 rocket and flew it on an Aerotech H-135W. SP-3 stands for ‘Spare Parts 3’, because he doesn’t let perfectly good rocketry parts that are laying around go to waste! NC A&T made the trip down and put up their project, Aggie Comet on the potent bite of an Aerotech 75mm L-2200G. John Allman, Allen Harrel, Daniel Knowler and Ralph Malone also joined us and kept the pads busy.?
Dave Morey came down to Bayboro and flew a few projects. The first of which was his Upscale Arreaux on an Aerotech 54mm J-415W; my favorite commercial J motor of all time. He also brought out his complex Cluster 10 which houses ten motors! This particular flight had six Aerotech F motors (2xF-62FJs, 2xF-51Ts, 2xF-39Ts), two Estes F-15s, and two Estes C6s. The total impulse of this flight yielded?424.82Ns, so it’ll go in the ‘I’ category in the motor table. Dave also flew his ‘Defender’ on a cluster of three C6-5s.?
Although we only got one day of flying this weekend, I still enjoyed my time and I hope everyone who attended enjoyed it as well. We’ll be back on the weekend of January 22nd, so join us if you can!
Joe Hill
Prefect, Tripoli East NC
