NC Rocketry

I don’t think that we could have ordered better weather for the first launch?of the 2021-2022 season. Saturday gave us clear skies, moderate temperatures, and light winds. You could tell that several eager fliers wanted to take advantage of this weather because we had one of the largest attendances?that I’ve seen in quite some time. The weather on Sunday was very similar to Saturday, but slightly windier. We had a total of 74 flights this weekend, and I’ll list the motor table summary below.

As always, the most important part of any launch are successful certifications. We had three Level 1 certifications on Saturday. Ben Mount made the trip down and brought his Loc IV?rocket, along with an Aerotech H-180W for propulsion. This is a great kit/motor combination for a Level 1 certification and Ben’s flight was flawless. Sean Aiton and Mike Pudlo are both NC State students who had successful L1 certification flights as well. Sean had a rocket he calls Sky High, and Mike had a rocket he calls Wish You Were Here (a nod to Pink Floyd). They both chose an Aerotech H-242T motor and each flight was nominal. Congratulations?to all!

A lot of the hardcore regulars were on site this weekend and found some time to put up a least one project. Alan Rose flew his Warlok?on an I-284W, possibly one of my favorite commercial 38mm motors. He was also able to get his Bandit?in the air on an Aerotech I-161W. Mark Peot is a relatively new Bayboro regular and he flew a couple rockets earlier in the day on Saturday, all of which were successful. Joe Hill flew a new rocket; a 6″ diameter?1/2 Little John missile replica on an Aerotech L-1520T. Brent Bierstedt never ceases to amaze me with the finishes on his rockets, and on Saturday he put up his gorgeous 7.5″ diameter, 60lb Patriot?on a Loki M-1650 Cocktail motor. For those who don’t know, Loki’s signature?Cocktail?loads have a mixture of blue and red grains, giving off a fluorescent?pink flame with visible Mach diamonds. Brent’s flight was perfect, and he brought the Patriot?back home with him. There were several other regulars that joined us – Mike Nay, Robbie Kirk, Ralph Malone, John Allman, and Dan Fritsch to name a few.

It’s becoming more and more common to have not just one, but several universities out at the field. We were joined by NC State and Duke on Saturday, both of whom put up ‘interest’ flights to try and get more students involved in their respective High Power Rocketry programs. Duke AERO flew one of their projects from last year; a two stage rocket with a CTI K-1440WT in the booster and a CTI J-295C in the sustainer. NC State was back with their 81.5?rocket that they’ve been successfully flying for quite some time now. They chose an Aerotech L-1520T for power, and their flight went off without a hitch.

Sunday was much slower in terms of attendance and flights, but that’s pretty common. Alan Whitmore started things out with his Astro Mollusk?rocket on a 6 grain 38mm I motor. I happened to notice that he labeled this motor Thing 71. To catch you up to speed – a Thing?motor?is stuffed with the leftover propellant from multiple mixing sessions. So, this is I motor #71 that would have otherwise just been thrown away. Jim Livingston also flew a Thing?motor, and he designated his an I-350. These guys don’t let good propellant go to waste!

Later in the afternoon, Alan also put up Bertrand Brinley’s?Beta?on a 2 grain 54mm J motor that was stuffed with Livingston White?propellant, which is Jim Livingston’s White Lightning?clone. Joe Hill was back on site with his Pink Dog?rocket, which flew on a Loki J-712B. Mike Nay, Robbie Kirk and Dan Fritsch all stayed busy throughout the day and Ralph Malone finished out the weekend by flying his Quicksilver?rocket on an Aerotech H-130W.

I had an absolutely amazing time this weekend, and I hope everyone that attended did too. Thank you to everyone who served as RSO/LCO or simply lent a hand when they could. We’ll be back out in Bayboro on the weekend of October 9th, and I hope to see you then!

Joe Hill

Prefect, Tripoli East NC

Once again, Mother Nature challenged us with some exceptionally bad flying conditions on both Saturday and Sunday. There was a massive storm that moved in from the southwest that only gave us about a half of a day’s worth of flying on Saturday and Sunday was partly cloudy, but super windy. Having said that, everyone that attended took advantage of last weekend of flying at Bayboro. Below is the motor summary.

Allan Rose started things out Saturday with his SkyRaider rocket by putting it up on one of my personal favorite 38mm Aerotech reloads – an I-284W. Alan Whitmore flew his rocket that he calls Bertrand Brinley’s Beta on a homebrew 2 grain 54mm motor filled with Livingston White propellant. If I remember correctly, I believe the name of this rocket was inspired by Brinley’s book Rocket Manual for Amateurs, a nonfiction written in 1960. Jim Livingston threw his LZ899?up on a ‘back of the bench’ 38mm I motor. If you don’t know what that means, these types of motors are filled with leftover propellants from all sorts of separate casting sessions. This one turned out to have mostly Jim Scarpine Tribute Blue #4B, my favorite! Matt Willis joined us again and flew his Back 2 Basics?rocket on a CTI J-354WT. Brent Bierstedt sent his 54mm minimum diameter Mongoose for a 9 second trip on the classic Aerotech I-65W. Joe Hill put up his 4″ all fiberglass work-horse rocket, Iron Moon on an Aerotech K-1050W, Mike McKeon stayed busy and got in 3 perfectly successful flights, and Mark Peot got in two perfect flights.

Sunday started out cloudy with light rain, but by about 10AM, the clouds broke and the wind really started to pick up. Pete Vorenkamp came out for the first time, not only as a spectator, but as a brand new Tripoli member. Pete has basically never flown or built a rocket prior to joining us. Most people start out with an Estes rocket and black powder single use motors with motor ejection, etc… not Pete. His first rocket, a 54mm Mac Performance Scorpion, was built for dual deployment and even had onboard GPS. The Scorpion’s first flight was on an Aerotech G-64W reload. All electronics worked right on time, and Pete had a textbook dual-deploy flight. I’ve gotta say, that’s an incredibly ambitious dive into this hobby, and Pete had it all figured out first try. I’m sure we’ll be seeing him at another launch. Way to go, Pete!!

Joe Hill was back on Sunday and flew his Voodoo Ranger?on a Loki I-405W, Abhi Kondagunta launched his Stinger?on an Aerotech I-218R, Alex Thomas brought out his Zephyr?and put it up on an Aerotech I-245G, and Robbie Kirk flew his 2.6R3 on an Aerotech H-238T. Greg Hanson is a new Bayboro regular and he brought his Yellow Submarine out, stuffed it with an Aerotech K-805G, and it went out of sight very quickly. Robert Jennings joined us for the first time and flew a beautifully finished Saturn V?on an Aerotech E-30T.

We were joined by 4 universities on Sunday – NC State, NC A&T, UNC-Charlotte, and Duke. NC A&T have been working extremely hard on their project, Pizza Planet?and it definitely showed. They were the first to launch, and they chose an Aerotech L-1420R for their rocket. Pizza Planet?took off, and when the main parachute deployed, the students let out an eruption of cheers, rightfully so. They have really come a long way in a short period of time, and they deserve a lot of credit. UNC Charlotte brought back the same rocket that they’ve been flying over the last couple of months and flew it on a CTI L-935IMAX motor for a great flight. NC State flew their That’s Hot?rocket on an Aerotech I-435T, which I believe has flown several times before. The students from Duke decided to try a two stage rocket that was full of all sorts of electronics for various things with a CTI K-1440WT in the booster, staging to a CTI J-295C. All systems performed nominally and Duke brought back their entire project.

And just like that, another season at Bayboro is over.. While this season was undoubtedly different than any other season we’ve ever had, I think it’s safe to say we all took as much advantage as we possibly could to fly rockets. Thank you for following the COVID restrictions we have in place as well. I hope everyone has a great summer, and come join us in the fall if you can.

Joe Hill

Prefect, Tripoli East NC

This weekend’s weather is a perfect testament to the ever-changing conditions that Mother Nature provides us with down in Pamlico County. The forecast just a few days prior to the launch called for 50%-60% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms. Well, luckily, we got in a full day of flying with partly cloudy skies and relatively moderate winds.

The highlight of any launch is always certification flights/attempts. Matt Willis brought back his stoutly built Space Dragon for a TRA Level 3 certification flight after a successful shakedown flight last month. He chose an Aerotech DMS(Disposable Motor System) four grain, 75mm M-1350W for propulsion and when the button was pressed, it came to pressure almost immediately and off the Space Dragon went. Matt got about 9,000ft of altitude and all deployment events were right on time. Congratulations on a successful Level 3 flight, Matt!!

The range stayed busy with a mixture of heavy duty regulars and a couple newcomers. It’s always a pleasure seeing what rockets Brent Bierstedt ends up bringing out because of how nicely finished they are, and how much attention to detail he has. Brent brought out a brand new Bullpup that looked like it had just been sent over by Martin Marietta themselves and flew it on an Aerotech K-1100T. Those types of rockets take a lot of nose weight to get the CG/CP right because of how far forward the fins are, and Brent clearly knows that because it was a perfectly straight flight. He also flew his 11.5″ diameter V2 on a CTI N-1800WT which took it to about 7,000ft or so. The main came out at apogee, the rocket drifted far to the east end of the field, but Brent was able to bring it home after a lengthy search and rescue mission. Dennis Hill was on site with another one of David Rushing’s ‘donated’ rockets and put this one up on an Aerotech G-64W. Allan Rose launched three rockets on various Aerotech I motors, Robbie Kirk kept the low power pads busy, and Mark Peot attempted his first dual deployment flight on a classic J-350W. Mike Nay and Mike McKeon both put up several beautiful flights as well.

Kurt Hesse, Alan Whitmore and Jim Livingston joined us as usual and put up some really cool research flights. Alan brought out a scale model of one of his larger rockets and it looked like he did just that – scaled down all the building techniques, the way the electronics were incorporated, etc. The name of this rocket was?Ettarre?and he launched it on a 5 grain, 24mm homebrew F motor. Kurt put up his Shiny Diner?on a 3 grain, 38mm CP4 motor and ran it at a Kn of 250. It kicked the nozzle out and will need a little repair work, but I’m sure Kurt will have it done in no time and we’ll see the Diner fly again. Jim flew his trusty Sea Hawk?on the eccentric Jim Scarpine Tribute Blue #4B propellant formulation in a 76mm, 4 grain configuration which turned out to be about an L-1000. The motor let loose at about 200ft above the ground and the bottom half of Jim’s rocket will need to be rebuilt. Jim has my vote for ‘Best Attitude’ when it comes to this hobby. After the L motor catoed, he immediately burst into laughter. He really doesn’t let those types of things bother him, and that’s just the approach you need to have in this hobby or you’ll get burnt out real quick. I’m sure he’ll rebuild the booster section and the Sea Hawk will see many more flights to come.

The clouds and wind would break about twice an hour and there were a couple people who were patiently waiting for the right time to go for some serious altitude. Heath McPherson launched his 4″ diameter rocket named 4 the Girls?on a CTI M-1101WT and got just over 13,000ft out of that flight. Eric Lynn flew with us for the first time this weekend and I could tell he was eager to fly high. He shoved a CTI L-1030RL in his 3″ Shape Shifter 75?which turned in over 13,000ft of altitude as well. Joe Hill brought out a new 3″ diameter rocket called Pink Dog?made with ‘canvas phenolic’ to test how strong that material really is. He put it up on an Aerotech K-695R which turned in a supersonic flight to just shy of 10,000ft, and it held together just fine.

NC State was back with the same rocket they’ve been flying for the past couple of months, called 81.5.?They chose an Aerotech L-1520T which lifted the 50lb rocket with ease. I believe they had some payload issues, but all the parachutes came out on time and there was no damage done to the vehicle. Lenoir-Ryhne University out of Hickory brought out a 4″ diamater, 10′ tall rocket made out of various 3D printed parts and carbon fiber. They selected a 99% CTI L-1115C as the motor, and the rocket went out of sight rather quickly.

Now, for a not so great note – We had a few people drive in areas of the field this weekend that resulted in us losing the privilege of driving on the field. I was asked nicely by one of the farmers to NOT allow ANY vehicles on the field moving forward. We owe a great respect to the landowners and farmers who are gracious enough to let us all over their land. I’d like to maintain a great/positive relationship with them and this is what’s been asked of us. If you decide to drive on the field, you’ll kindly be asked to leave the launch site and not come back. This is a ZERO tolerance rule. I’ll be posting an updated set of rules on this website in the next couple of days.

We’ve got one more scheduled launch in Bayboro before the season is over, and I hope to see everyone on the weekend of the 25th!

Joe Hill

Prefect, Tripoli East NC