NC Rocketry

The morning of Saturday March 15, 2025 we were greeted with a very low cloud ceiling and thick fog which prevented us from flying. The clouds started to lift around noon and flight operations started as clear skies began to appear.

Setting up and running a launch does not happen without the assistance of volunteers. On this day our normal launch team of Kurt Hesse, Jim Livingston and myself were assisted by Mike McKeon and Brett Michal [with members of ODU Rocketry team]. In addition, thanks to Dennis Hill for covering LCO duties for majority of the day.

We had some successful certification flights starting with Brett Michal’s Level 3 flight for Leo with a M1297. Brett’s flight was perfect and he handled my crooked fins and motor recall comments on the way to the launch pad with ease and learned the best way to light an M is through a “Jim Livingston” Pyrodex supplemented ignitor. Earnest Reager was up next and achieved his Level 2 certification flying Cherokee on a J350. Seth Olanovich flew Rockoon on a I284 for his Level 1 and Daniel Letter flew Access Denied on a H238 also for his Level 1 certification.  Congratulations to everyone on these accomplishments.

A couple university teams made the trip down to Bayboro to complete flights and collect data for their respective competitions. ODU Rocketry [IREC] flew Reign on a M1845 and North Carolina Agricultural and Tech [USLI] flew their Franken Rocket on a L1150. Both flights were successful, and the teams were able to collect the data they needed for submission.  Both teams learned about bringing spare ignitors supplemented with pyrodex and dowels to ensure proper ignitor placement on larger motors.

Ernest Reager – fresh off his L2 flight – flew Drago3 on a H268.  Ralph Malone flew Sudden Rush on an I211 and Quicksilver on a I130. Mike McKeon started things off with an awesome sugar motor – J559 in his Goblin and following this up with a flight of Bob on a K1100 – reaching an apogee of 6317 feet. Brent Bierstedt was back in action flying his Patriot on a J450 and a Saturn V on a F63 which resulted in an “exciting” just-in-time recovery.

Robbie Kirk was back with his Super Multi-roc on an E11. Richard Powers flew Big Bertha on a C5 and Kronos for its first flight on a G74. This was a practice flight for a future L1 attempt. Jason Consrantino flew Darkstar on a I600 for a nominal flight. Ari Seran flew Methuselah on a K535 for another great flight. John Meredith’s Sandhawk suffered a CATO on a H220. Noah Piraino flew Punisher Super Sport on a I210 and James Larman flew Pour Cosmic on a J90 – long burn. Mike Nay flew his Magnum Plus on a K711 and air starting two H135s after main burnout.

There were no flights on Sunday.

Will see you all at the next planned launch weekend : March 29-30, 2025.  This will be the last launch of the season until September.

Summary of the motors flown:

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A
B
C	1
D
E	1
F	1
G	1
H	5
I	5
J	4
K	3
L	1
M	2
Total	24

Regards,

Mike Nay

Prefect, NC East Tripoli

Saturday February 22, 2025 was wet and muddy – much like the January launch. Despite field conditions, we had clear skies and very low wind for the flight day.

We had a couple successful certification flights. John Kruger flew Aqua 5 on a K535 for his L2 and Nathan Meyer flew Blue Angel on a J800 for his L2.  Congratulations to our newest Tripoli L2 members.

A couple university teams completed flights and collected data for the NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI).  NC State High Power Rocketry Club flew Pelicanatar on a L1520 and Spunky MacDoogle on a K650. The team also flew Barbenheimer – a two-stage project on a H550 staging to a I140.  The boost and separation went as planned, but the sustainer did not light. All deployment charges worked as planned and all the pieces were recovered. Aggie Rocketry also made the trip down to Bayboro to fly their Rocket on a L1150.

Wil Sanderson flew Test Tube on a G79. Ernest Reager flew Drago on a H210. Nate Orlowski flew Orange Creamsicle on a G80. Cade Brinkley flew Kermit on a J415. John Kruger flew Aqua3 on a I140.  Mathew Polansky was busy with three flights – Corkscrew on a B6, Silver Comet on a D12 and Ketchup & Mustard on a F24. Jim Livingston flew Sea Hawk on a L1000 experimental motor in CP-5 Blue formula and Mike Nay flew Broken Arrow on a K1103X.

There were no flights on Sunday.

Will see you all at the next planned launch weekend : March 15, 2025.

Summary of the motors flown:

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A
B	1
C
D	1
E
F	1
G	2
H	2
I	2
J	2
K	3
L	3
M
Total	17

Regards,

Mike Nay

Prefect, NC East Tripoli

The first launch of 2025 started out very promising weather wise.  By the time Kurt Hesse and I had completed the pad set-up around 9:30, the frozen ground felt like a great start to the day.  By 11:00 am we were all standing in a wet ankle-deep mud bog. As this was my first launch as Prefect, I was happy to see a good turnout on Saturday despite the field conditions.  I also want to thank Jim Livingston, Kurt Hesse and the other volunteers who assisted with pad set-up, pad operations and take down. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Motor	Saturday	Sunday
A	1
B
C	2
D
E	3
F
G	1
H	4
I	3
J	4
K	1	1
L
M
Total	19	1

On Saturday we had a couple of certification flights. Adrian Tejada flew Cygnus I on a H180 to achieve his NAR Jr. Level 1. With Dave Morey as his mentor, I look forward to more flights from Adrian. Next up was Abigail Kuppler flying her Asteria on a Aerotech H550 Super Thunder for a successful Tripoli L1.  Congratulations to both of you.

NC State High Power Rocketry Club was out in full force on Saturday flying Legacy twice on J500’s for successful flights with key objectives to obtain data from the airbrake system. The team also flew Barbenheimer – a 2-stage project on a H550 with this flight objective focusing on the sustainer as a boosted dart and completing a boost and separation events. It is great to see teams get involved in multi-stage projects which opens another level of complexity in electronics and staging events.

Starting the day off was Mark Hartmann Flying a DX3 on a J460 and Pitbull on a H268R. Nate Orlowski flew Tempest on a K1275 to around 6600 feet. Allen Harrell Flew Tsar Bomba on a G106.  Jake Miskow flew his Pitbull on an I435. Dave Morey tried to fly his Prasa Spool on a C11, but the C11 blew out through the forward end like a Roman candle. Greg Hanson flew his Speed Banana on a J250. Ethan Sites flew MCRN Cydonia on a I140 to celebrate his graduation. Robbie Kirk and son Samuel Kirk made an appearance, and I think they had the record for the day walking back and forth to the pad testing battery connections. Once a good battery was in place, Robbie flew his 3.9R1 on a I300 while Samuel Kirk flew the Scar on two B4’s from the low power pad.  Richard Powers had a couple flights as he gets ready for a future L1 attempt. Richard flew his 3 inch school rocket on a G74 and Modulus on a E35. Katherine Jackson flew Hi-Flyer on a E36 and Saturn on  a E16. Cambria Holley made a trip to the low power pad with the Star on a A8.  That was all for Saturday.

Sunday morning started off just as wet and muddy as it was Saturday. Brett Michal was the only flyer brave enough to fly and recover a rocket from the muddy field and had intended on flying a test launch before his level 3 certification flight in the same day.  Brett flew Leo on a K1000 for a perfect flight and decided to defer his level 3 certification flight to a later date after the muddy recovery was completed.

Will see you all at the next planned launch weekend: February 22-23.

Mike Nay, Prefect