After a grueling June and July, we finally caught a break in the weather and had a (relatively) cool Saturday for our launch at Butner, the last Butner launch of 2017.? A light breeze and occasional cloud cover made for some very pleasant flying conditions.? I shall try to list every flight, alphabetically by flyer?s last name.
There were a whole family of Ambrose there, and they were certainly busy.? Owen Ambrose flew his Orange Arrow on a B4, the Solar Warrior on an A3, a rocket called Yankee on an A3, and a 2 stage Loadstar II on a B6-0 to a B6-4.? Jarrod Ambrose flew the Old School on a B6 and then Blue and Gold on an A3.?? Somewhere in there, Sadie Ambrose flew her Scout II on an A3.? The Ambroses have benefitted from the generosity of Matt Fletcher, who gave away a lot of his low power rockets before going off to college.
Jimmy Blackley flew his Aspire on a D12 and had a much more satisfying flight than with last month?s C11.? A whole bunch of kids showed up at about the same time and just filled up the sky.? Natalie, Nicole, and Nery Flores all had good flights on small rockets with the A8 motor, and Natalie learned something about stability and short rockets with the two flights of her Super Flyer.? The first was unstable, but resulted in no damage, and she was able to put some modeling clay in the nose cone to bring the center of gravity forward, and the second flight worked perfectly.? Armand LoBuglio also flew his Maverick in this group.? Nice flight and a good recovery.
Chuck Hall flew a beautifully-finished Little Joe II model on an Aerotech E28T reload, for a great flight.? Safe recovery far away from the asphalt.? Elio Lobuglio flew his Sky Writer and Big Bertha, both on B6?s, for two more fine flights.?? Dave Morey had two good flights; one with his Centaur two stage on a C6 staging to an A8, and the other using his Defender ground-starting 2 B6s and 1 C6.
Mike Nay flew his helicopter-style recovery rocket called Flip Flyer on a C6, and then his Blue Streak on an F15 which worked extremely well.? We were a little apprehensive about this one because the F15 does not exactly have a glowing reputation right now.? Mike also enjoyed a moment of triumph when he got all 3 E12 motors in his Triple Trouble project to light on the pad, and then realized that he may have put too much parachute on the rocket to bring it down from the maximum altitude of a perfect motor ignition sequence.?? Two of the 3 separate parts drifted off into the woods to the Southwest.? Extremely unfortunate, because there was a key-camera on the main section.? I have the other side-pod in my truck.
Alan Whitmore flew his Micro Stealth Blue on a B6-4 and the Mini Red Rudy on a C6-7.?? Ed Withers was active all day and made four flights; the Photon Probe on a B6, the Twister on a C6, his famous Caffeine Power on another C6, and topped the power chart with Der Red Max using the Aerotech G53FJ reload.
Thanks to everybody who came out to Butner to fly with us this summer, and a special thanks to the NCSU High Power Rocketry Club for helping watch the gate, collect signatures on the waiver forms, and assist with equipment set-up and tear-down.?? I hope to see most of you in Bayboro this Fall.
Alan Whitmore, Prefect, Tripoli East NC
