Event 03/03/01: Rocket Launch

MASA members Alan, Mike, Glen, and I did an impromptu launch today since the weather was so nice.  We were at Sunrise Middle School in White Bear Lake from 1pm till about 4:30 when Glen and I finally left.  I was wearing a T-shirt most of the time it was so warm and sunny, but the snow was still deep and wet.  My socks got wet on my first recovery so it was a squishy day for me.

As usual I packed heavy, but had a nice site setup.  Chair, table, tool box, tarp, etc.  It was in stark contrast to Alan who preps his rockets in the car and only has the pad and a small tarp out at the site.

Glen arrived a bit later and unfortunately lost his first rocket on the school roof.  When he initially set up his pad, he was angled downwind.  I told him that our earlier flights had been drifting to the east, and the wind appeared to be from the SouthWest.  So he angled more West and a bit South but the winds had shifted to NW. His first flight was on a C6-5 and it caught the higher winds and drifted south over the school.  Sorry Glen.

I only recorded my own flights below.  The Initiator was the only rocket built less than 25 years ago.

Flight Results:
 
Owner Rocket Engine Notes Alt Results
Jeff Centuri Taurus Estes C6-3 14" plastic chute 500 Nice flight, long walk deep snow.
Jeff Estes Mars Snooper Estes C6-3 14" plastic chute 400 corkscrewed at engine cut out, probably due to loose fitting nosecone.  Deployment over school, but wind drifted it back.  Long walk, deep snow.
Jeff Estes Trident Quest A6-4 14" plastic chute 40 Under powered, barely climbed.  Nosed over and ejected at 4' off the ground next to the pad.  The recoil of the ejection almost completely stopped its dive and the snow core-sample was fairly jentle.  No damage
Jeff Estes Trident Estes B4-2 14" plastic chute 300 Nice flight
Jeff Aerotech Initiator Aerotech E28-4T 24mm RMS 22" nylon chute 600 Perfect.  Landed on edge of parking lot.
Jeff Estes Apogee Estes C6-0 to Quest A6-4 Nylon streamer 1500 Long, high boost.  Booster shredded 2 fins at separation.  Sustainer ignited nicely, streamer only partially deployed.  Booster recoverded (except the fins) but sustainer drifted into a tree behind a house East of the field.  After the launch I went back and threw about 100 snowballs at it and knocked it partially loose but it's still hanging 30' up.
Jeff Centuri Spartan Quest A6-4 10" plastic chute 400 Very nice flight.
Jeff Centuri Taurus Estes B4-2 14" plastic chute 300 Nice.
Jeff Aerotech Initiator Aerotech E28-4T 24mm RMS 22" Nylon Chute, beeper 650 Excellent.

A nice day.  Even starting late and with no pre-prep, I made 9 flights with one loss (though I left my phone# with the home owner and there is a chance it might come down someday).

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