For the past few months I have been more lax than usual about writing the monthly launch reports.? Things have been so busy at work and at home that I often forget that I have been to a launch the moment I walk back in the door.? But I still have the flight cards and a few pencil notes I made on Sunday night, so let me try to reconstruct the last two launches at Bayboro.
Two-day winter launches at Bayboro can occasionally have a split personality and this weekend was one of the most extreme examples of this tendency that I have seen.? On Saturday, the combination of high wind, low temperature, and high humidity made the weather conditions extremely harsh and unpleasant, while Sunday had long stretches where there was absolutely no wind whatsoever;? it was still cool, but the sun was out and the winds were very calm and it felt great to be outside.
The biggest news of the weekend was the weather.? Winter in North Carolina is not an unbroken spell of cold and ice and snow, but is often interrupted with brief periods of balmy warmth, clear skies, and calm winds.? Those golden idyllic intervals seldom occur on rocket weekends: nobody is that lucky.? But, this weekend we hit the jackpot!? Nobody who attended this launch failed to comment on how fine the weather was.
The next biggest story was the big group that came to visit from the SEVRA group, the Southeastern Virginia Rocketry Association.?? At least nine adults and a bunch of children made the trip from the north looking for a place to fly while the runways at the Fentress field are being re-paved.? We all enjoyed meeting them and they enjoyed the huge field with its almost total lack of rocket-eating trees.? Looking through the flight cards I see the names of Phill Ash, Randy Regan, Joe Vanlandingham, Bill Pleban, Pat and Joshua Harden, Michael Pieknik, Joe Zawodny, ?Naked Nick? DeBrita, and Jeff Goldstein.??? (Those of you who have flown with us for a few years will remember Jeff Goldstein as one of the only 2 people to ever fly and successfully recover a J motor at the tiny and treacherous field at Battleboro, NC).
How about a motor use summary?!?! Continue reading
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