This was the first launch of the season for Tripoli-MN and it was a perfect day: cool in the morning, warming to the mid 70's, clear, light winds, and best of all - NO CORN!  Just short green grass in all directions except the the south which was plowed.

I was a bit late but so was the setup so I was able to be in on the first round.  Decided to take advantage of the low winds and finally put my Initiator up on a G motor for the first time.    Had ignitor problems on the first attempt but a perfect flight on the second.

Had a very productive day, flying everything I brought.  Every rocket was recovered and only two suffered fin cracks that will be easily repariable.  Actually, I left with more rockets than I came with since one poor fellow lawn darted a nice NCR SA-14 Archer and threw it away in disgust.  I was the first one to the trash barrel and now have a "fixer-upper" project.   A few feet of new body tube and it will be back in the air.

There were many spectacular flights by others, including two flaming CATOs, the first by Glen.   There were also a fair number of heartbreaking lawn-darts.  One of the most impressive launches was a large orange upscale of an Estes Initiator.  It had three J motors clustered and two F's in the outboard pods.
Another was Ted Cochran's 2x upscale Mars Lander on an I211, and his Machbuster F101 flight.  I don't think there were any lost rockets this day.

Finally got pretty organized as far as range box and accessories.  Also, used an old wheeled suitcase to carry my smaller rockets (each wrapped in bubble wrap).  The only thing I did wrong was to not get around to applying sun-block.  I'm pretty pink right now.

Notes for next time:  Remember to take hat and apply sun block.  Bring lots of clothes pins for launch rod stand-offs and vinegar for cleaning RMS cases.
 

Flight Results:
 

Owner	Rocket	Motor	Notes	Est. Alt	Results
Jeff	Aerotech Initiator	Aerotech G35-4W SU	Beeper	1900	Awesome!  Landed on hard gravel road but no damage.
Jeff	Completely Cardboard	Estes D12-3	16" chute + 10' streamer	1000	RSO was suspicious but it flew beautifully.
Jeff	Centuri Orion	Aerotech D13-4W 18mm RMS	16" plastic chute	1500	Excellent.
Jeff	Centuri Taurus	Quest C6-5	14" plastic chute	700	Nice flight, cracked fin on landing.
Jeff	Estes Astron Trident	Quest C6-5	16" plastic chute	800	Very nice.
Jeff	Bic Arcas	Quest 1/8A MicroMaxx	Tiny parachute	40	Perfect.  Crowd appeal. Ky & Jodi Michaelson got to see it.
Jeff	Clone of Estes Mosquito	Quest 1/8A MicroMaxx	Ejectable Motor pod w/Streamer	30	Laughter.  Perfect flight.
Jeff	Estes Mini Mars Lander RTF	Estes 1/4A-3T	1st flight	10	Wrong motor. Severely underpowered. Plopped down next to pad long before ejection.
Jeff	Estes Mars Snooper	Quest C6-3	14" plastic chute	700	Nice flight.  Cracked outboard fin tip on landing.
Jeff	Aerotech Initiator	Aerotech E11-4J 24mm RMS	22" nylon chute	600	Perfect.  Slow climb.  Intended motor for Completely Cardboard but found casing didn't fit well, so used it in the Inititator.
Jeff	Completely Cardboard	Estes D12-3	16" chute + 10' streamer	1000	Perfect.
Jeff	Centuri Spartan	Quest B6-4	10" plastic chute	1000+	Very nice flight.  Much higher than expected, very long walk.

What a perfect day!

See the photos of this launch on the Minnesota Rocketry Network.

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