NC Rocketry

This weekend’s launch was much better than the launch we had at the end of October, mainly because of the glorious weather we were given on Saturday. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced better conditions out at Bayboro. Absolutely cloudless skies, virtually no surface winds, and temperatures hovering in the upper 50s. Sunday was a different story, however. Overcast, breezy, and chilly. Here is the motor table summary for last weekend’s event.

Something special happened this weekend in the certification department. Out of the five successful certifications we had, there was one rack of rockets where four of them were certification attempts. Excellent! Up first was Steven Singletary who brought out a rocket that he named Lazarus, which went up on an Aerotech single use J-250W. Steven had his rocket loaded with all sorts of fancy electronics, and they worked just as intended. Steven left Bayboro as a Level 2 flier with the Tripoli Rocket Association. Nathan Potvin was up next, and he was after a Level 1 certification with the TRA. Nathan flew a rocket that he calls Karet on an Aerotech H-242T which turned in a nominal flight. Franklin Rice showed up with a rocket he calls Sad, also in search of a Level 1 certification, and he wouldn’t be disappointed. Franklin chose an Aerotech H-242T for propulsion and had a textbook flight. Ben Lewis is fresh off of getting his Level 1 certification, and is climbing up the HPR ladder very quickly. He brought out his rocket You Can Fit a lot of Text on a Rocket This Big (the same rocket he got his Level 1 certification with), and threw an Aerotech J-250W in there. After a beautiful liftoff, Ben’s altimeter functioned as it should have, and Ben walked away with a Level 2 certification. Lastly, Evelyn Ong was in search of a Level 1 certification. She brought a 4″ diameter Loc IV which took an Aerotech I-180W for power. Eveyln knows what she’s doing, because her flight was perfect, and she is now Level 1 certified with the TRA. A big congratulations to Steven, Franklin, Nathan, Ben and Evelyn!!!

When we have weather as nice as we did on Saturday, it brings out a lot of people. I think at one point I counted thirty three cars on our flight line. Of those, we had a lot of the usual suspects. Alan Rose brought out a couple of rockets, all of which he took back home after wonderful flights. He flew his Condor rocket on an Aerotech J-420R, and his Big Cletus rocket on an Aerotech I-284W. Brent Bierstedt brought out a couple of rockets on Saturday – a minimum diameter Mongoose which got an Aerotech I-229T, and his Tomahawk which flew on an Aerotech J-520W. Mike McKeon kept busy with four flights – a Stealth 54 on a classic Aerotech long burn J-180T, an Estes Big Daddy on an E-12 (twice), and his Bob rocket on an Aerotech K-1100T. Tom Keith joined us again and flew his Red Reaper rocket on an Aerotech super fast J-1299N and his Optima on a CTI I-345WT. Nick Pyrtle brought out a minimum diameter rocket, chose the stout Aerotech K-1275T for power, looking for Mach 2, and to kiss the waiver. The last data packet that Nick got on his ground station was that it had hit 17,299 ft. Richard Powers has become a Bayboro regular and keeps the low power pads nice and busy. Alan Whitmore had his Astro Mollusk 6 rocket with him and put it up on a two grain 54mm J motor filled with his very reliable Black Velvet propellant, this time with 5% aluminum. Joe Hill brought out a new rocket that he named Beta Wolf. This rocket was 9.5″ in diameter, 15′ tall and weighed 135lbs on the pad. Jim Livingston had mixed up a 7 grain, 115mm motor with his tried and true White Smoke formula yielding ~20,400Ns making it a 99% N/1% O. Jim’s motor put out just shy of 1600lbs of thrust, and burned for 4.3 seconds. After a spectacular liftoff, Beta Wolf came back home unscathed. 

We had two academic teams out with us on Saturday; the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and NC State. The NCSSM brought out their rocket ‘B.R.R.D.S’ for a 2nd flight on an Aerotech L-1000W. This rocket was to go supersonic and just shy of 13,000ft. Unfortunately, everyone lost sight of the rocket, and it was not recovered until mid-afternoon the next day. There’s your reminder to always fly with some sort of tracking!! NC State had a new rocket that they named ‘Purple Nurple’ which flew on an Aerotech J-420R. This project had 2 prototype tracking devices onboard which may or may not have worked. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them about it, but would love to hear more about this. Either way, the rocket performed well, and they took it back to Raleigh. 

Sunday was extra slow, and we only had three flights. Robbie Kirk has been getting into mixing up experimental motors, and he tested a two grain 38mm H motor filled with Black Velvet propellant that had 3% aluminum in it. Robbie’s motor performed well, which really got his spirits up about experimental motor manufacturing. Alan Whitmore flew his Astro Mollusk 7 on a 38mm six grain I motor which had Livingston White propellant in it. I believe Alan was running this motor at a Kn of about 240 and that is definitely a sweet spot for Livingston White. Mike Nay had a 3″ all fiberglass rocket with him, and he decided an Aerotech K-550W would give it a nice ride. To finish out the day, NC A&T flew a 12′ long, 5.5″ diameter rocket on an Aerotech L-1150R. 

I want to take this time to sincerely thank a few people for helping me get Beta Wolf in the air. The first big thanks goes to Jim Livingston for taking the time and effort to mix up such a big motor. The second big thanks goes to Paul Schaefer for lending me the room/assistance in wrapping two 9.25″ OD body tubes with fiberglass cloth. The third big thanks goes to Alan Whitmore for turning the aluminum thrust plate and centering rings. The fourth big thanks goes to my dad, Dennis Hill, for letting me take over his shop for a full day to put the whole thing together. The fifth big thanks goes to my girlfriend, Lexi Tucker, for continuing to encourage me to work on this thing when I wanted to give up. She was an extra set of hands when I needed them the most, as well. I also want to thank Kurt Hesse and Mike Nay for helping me get the rocket on the pad. I couldn’t have done it without you all.. I’m eternally grateful for your everlasting help, and friendship. This project is as much yours as it is mine. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We have one more launch of 2022, and I hope to see everyone out on the field! As always, join us if you can.

Joe Hill 

Prefect, Tripoli East NC

Those of you who opted to not make the trip last weekend, didn’t miss a whole lot. The weather was absolutely atrocious for rocketry. When I left Raleigh Saturday morning (at about 4:45am), there was a slight drizzle and it was very breezy. That drizzle continued for the entire trip down east, and did not stop until about 11:30am. Only the hardcore regulars showed up, and even then, only a few stuck around. Sunday was slightly better at best, and we got in a couple more flights than we did on Saturday. Here is the motor table summary.

For about the first two hours of the launch, most of the people who showed up enjoyed conversation with one another due to the low cloud deck. It was very apparent that no one was going to try and fly a rocket in the type of weather we were dealt on Saturday. As time went on, there were very few breaks in the clouds, and we launched rockets when we could. Jeff Goldstein was up first with his Scarab 54 rocket that was loaded with a homebrew H-191 motor, filled with what he called ‘slow green’ propellant. If there’s one thing that overcast days are good for, it’s providing a nice background to compare the exhaust flame of rocket motors against. Jeff’s homebrew motor put out a really nice, bright green flame. Paul Kraemer made the trip all the way from Charlotte and put in the majority of the flights we had on Saturday. First up was his No Name II on a CTI J-600RL, second was his HV Arcas on a Aerotech long-burn K-185W, third was his 5.5″ diamater Big Nuke on an Aerotech boost-sustain K-455NW, and fourth was his Quadraphonic on a cluster of two Aerotech G-75FJs and two Aerotech G-77Rs. I gotta say – seeing the red flame of the G-77s cut through the black smoke of the G-75s was really cool! Joe Hill flew his Motor Holder rocket on a central CTI H-255WT with two outboard Aerotech G-40s, but failed to light the outboards. Sophia Harrell finished out the day with his Sophi rocket on a B6-2.

Sunday started out virtually the same as Saturday, minus the rain. Once everyone got out to the field, we all just putzed around until the cloud deck was high enough that we could launch a few rockets. Jim Livingston was up first with his LZ rocket, which took a 38mm six grain I motor with ‘Thing’ propellant. When the button was pushed, it was very apparent that this motor had a lot of Livingston White propellant in it. Ralph Reda joined us again and put up two flights; his Nike Zeus on a longburn CTI I-100, and his Aerotech Initiator on a Aerotech F-52C. Alan Whitmore flew one rocket on Sunday named Extended Irene on a 29mm 6 grain H motor that had Thing propellant in it. Alan likes to say that these motors are filled with propellant from a good neighborhood, which is very true! Robbie Kirk, our New Bern local, flew one rocket, which took an Aerotech E-11J motor. Lexi Tucker has now been to every launch this season so far, but flew her very first rocket this weekend. She prepped Joe Hill’s Yersinia Pestis rocket, dual deployment and all, with one of the G-40Ws from Joe’s Motor Holder rocket that didn’t ignite from the day before. Everything worked perfectly, and she seems pretty intent on going for her L1 certification soon. 

Hopefully we have better weather at the next launch! We can control a lot of variables, but mother nature is not one of them. I’m also working on the schedule for our 2023 season, so keep an eye out for that soon. 

Joe Hill

Prefect, Tripoli East NC

Mother Nature once again looked after us, yielding perfect weather for flying rockets last weekend. The temperature on Saturday was in the mid 70s with very little surface wind and stayed that way for most of the day. Sunday was a little hotter, and winds were higher, but everyone who came down to the launch site made the most of each day. Here is the motor table summary for last weekend’s activities.

We had some wonderful certification flights this weekend – the most important part of any launch! Up first in the certification department was Ian Edgerly. Ian brought out a 4″ diamater rocket that he calls New Horizon and put it up on an Aerotech H-242T for a perfect NAR Level 1 certification. Mike ‘Mr. 2, Sometimes 3 Stage’ Nay took the time to prep just ONE rocket, that was ONE stage last weekend for his Level 3 certification! After the majority of the Tripoli East NC regulars grilled him on his checklist, Mike shoved an Aerotech M-1297W in his 5″ diameter Blue Iguana and had a picture perfect flight to about 8200′. Ralph Reda was also in search of his Level 3 certification and he was not going to be let down. Ralph built a beautiful 7.5″ diameter Patriot replica and it went up on a CTI M-1160G. After a lengthy burn time, Ralph’s rocket recovered successfully and he certified without issue. Congratulations to Ian, Mike and Ralph!!

The normal suspects were on site and everyone stayed busy launching at least one rocket, if not more. Mark Peot opened the launch with his rocket that he calls Cheerwine  with an Aerotech K-480W. I really like this motor, it’s a full K with about 5 seconds of burn time. Mark also brought out his Lydia the Rocket which went up on an Aerotech J-540R. Matt Willis flew two K motors on Saturday – the first was in his Honest John (Aerotech K-805G), and the 2nd was an Aerotech K-375NW in his Drago rocket. The K-375NW is really cool! This motor fits the 54/2560 hardware and is filled with ‘Boost-Sustain’ type grain geometry. When the motor comes to pressure, the aft most grain acts like the booster of a two stage rocket, burning faster Aerotech calls this Warp-9 propellant) which leads to a high average thrust right off of the pad. The rest of the propellant is Aerotech’s classic White Lightning, which has a much slower burn rate. The total burn time of this motor is 6 seconds with 300lbs max thrust for 0.5 seconds, dropping down to about 90lbs for the rest of the burn. 

Alan Whitmore and Kurt Hesse show up in the research department, both flying six grain 38mm I motors. Kurt chose a propellant type called Everclear (low metals, so an almost transparent flame with very little smoke), and Alan flew a Thing motor (filled with all sorts of propellant from various mixing sessions). Both flights were nominal. Allan Rose flew a pair of Aerotech I-284Ws. One was in his Warlock rocket, and the other was in his Skyraider rocket. I enjoy watching Allan’s flights because they’re always in large diameter, short rockets which lead to a loud, low and slow lift-off. Brent Bierstedt stayed busy on Saturday with four flights – his Patriot on a F-22FJ, Tomahawk on a K-550W, Honest John on a G-125T, and Der Red Max on a J-180T. Phew, I think the last time I got four flights in on a single day was back in Whitakers when I was about nine years old and had the energy to do such a thing. My hat is tipped to you, Brent! Dave Morey joined us again and flew some rockets that we’ve seen several times before. His 3″ upscale of Aerotech’s Arreaux on a J-415W, and his Big Daddy Cluster on a central CTI F-79, air starting four D-12s in two separate sequences. Speaking of clusters – Paul Kraemer brought out some spectacular cluster rockets. Paul’s first flight was with his Energizer II rocket which had a central J-570W surrounded by six CTI I-540s. The second was his classic King Viper III which was loaded with three J-315Rs. The bright red flame against the super clear blue sky was really something. Very nice!! Joe Hill put his 4″ diameter Iron Moon rocket up on a L-1390G for a nice high flight, Ralph Malone flew a Loki I-405 in his Sudden Rush rocket, and Richard Powers kept the low power pads busy.

Sunday was much slower and we only had seven flights. First up was Alan Whitmore who had a five grain 54mm K motor mixed up with JSTB #4B (Jim Scarping Tribute Blue). This is one of my favorite formulas that Alan mixes. It’s very aggressive, and puts out a beautiful blue flame. Brent Bierstedt flew a 8″ diameter V2 on an Aerotech M-1780NT which really took off nicely. Jim Livingston flew his trusty Carbon High on a four grain 75mm L motor that was stuffed full of his Livingston White propellant. Joe Hill flew his Pink Dog rocket on a K-550W and lost track of it after the motor burned out. Thankfully, his tracker took him straight to it, and Pink Dog was about a mile straight out from the pad, a direction completely different than the surface winds were blowing. Nick Pyrtle brought out a minimum diameter rocket that he plans on tickling the waiver with for a test flight. This time it went up on a small I motor, and everything functioned perfectly. He plans on flying it at the end of the month on a K-1275R to almost Mach 2 and 17,500ft. Brent Bierstedt finished out the launch with a beautiful 2.6″ scale model of the JayHawk missile on H-242T power. 

We have a launch next weekend (10/29-10/30) and I hope to see everyone out at the field, weather permitting. As always, join us if you can!

Joe Hill

Prefect, Tripoli East NC