Report by Roland Wheeler TRA #4431
The first launch of the year 1999 seemed to mirror the last launch of 1998 in every way: Santa Anas blowing in the canyons, and clear, calm conditions on the lake bed (last year at this time the "dry" lake was more suitable for boating than launching, as El Nino had left its mark in a big way, shutting down launching activity for the following several months). From 8:00am until well after 3:00pm the only thing interupting launching on this January was a voters meeting at 11:00am (see website for results!), and a few electrical gremlins in the launch system.
Our resident "Hybrid Man" Wayne Mrazek entertained us with 2 nice Hypertek flights: the first, a long-burn J100, the second a very loud 1200ns, J300 burn in his scratch-built "Magical Fruit". Gary Bitterman flew his "Jade", a LOC Magnum, on a J415, giving it a rest from its normal K550 diet. Barry Forrest used a Missle Works dual deployment altimiter to sefely recover his scratch-built unnamed rocket after a nice I284 boost. Kurt Gugisberg was back with his PML Pterodactyl, which crashed at a recent launch (go ahead Kurt, tell us why it crashed!), but flew this time successfully, with a nice recovery thanks to a BSR ALTAAC.
Shawn Canada flew his Custom Lightning using both stages loaded with Estes D12 motors. Bob Keating went one better, staging a D12 to C6 to C6 in an Estes Comanche for a great flight. Todd Rowe, our most prolific, if not always successful, stager, quieted everyone when his self-built 3 stage holding three plugged D11's in stage 1, three D12's in stage 2, and one D12 in stage 3, was announced. Possibly the lack of 3 pounds in the nose of this creation signed its death, as it was seen augering in behind the flight line. Todd was our most motors burned champ of the day with 14.
Quite a few cluster projects made it off the pads on Saturday. Jeff Stai's Thoy Nighthawk loaded with seven G40's made it off the pad ok, but lawn darted when the ejection charge(s) failed (actually, only two motors lit... - Jeff). Greg Lyzenga's "Gamma Prime" suffered the same fate after a nice E18 and two D21 powered flight. Bob Keating brought out his Estes Impulse and loaded it, per Vern's recommendation, with two D12 motors (come on Bob, that thing is begging for a pair of E30's!). Greg Lawson loaded 2 of the 4 holes in his LOC 4-29SS with single-use G80's for a nice, quick boost. And Ken Finwall, resident motor vendor and air-starting expert, again successfully flew his Top Gunn, this time with a K1100 air-starting two H124's.
Troy Monroe Stacey brought his god-daughter, Krystal Canada, to her first ever launch, and she had a nice flight with a C6 in an Estes Sizzler. Amanda Wahlquist flew her Binder Designs Thug (hey, I've got one of those!) with an F62 Darkstar motor. Jeff Gortatowsky brought out one of his more unusual projects, this one named "Eggcelleration", manned with an "Eggstronaut", who returned to earth safely after an F32 boost. And Chuck Lahmeyer used his Apogee Centuri to drag race two of Tom Emerson's rockets; all three loaded with 1/4A Estes motors. The 1/4A in Chuck's rocket catoed, handing the win to Tom.
There were 4 certification attempts, three Level 1, and 1 Level 2, and all successful. Charles Rogers came back from defeat last month to certify Level 1 using an H123 in a LOC EZI-65. Bob Keating also certified using the same reload, while Mike Murphy opted for the single-use H124 for his attempt. The only Level 2 cert of the day went to Chuck Platisa, who used the only long-burn Blue Thunder reload, a J180, to certify in a LOC Expediter.
Hulan Mathies, our most flights champ (8), and also most propellant burned champ (over 5,500 Newton Seconds!), flew several Kosdon demos, including a K1300 Fast Propellant reload in his "K-ROC". Rick Magee, not to be outdone, countered with an awesome APS demo, a K325 Spitfire reload, in his stretched LOC Magnum.
Other large motor fliers this weekend included Joe Huber, who used the mighty J570 to shred his scratch-built rocket named "Grey Ghost", and Bill Seiders, whose rocket burned on the rail when the K550 decided to smoulder instead of light. Ron McGough, though, had better luck with a K550 in his upscale Estes Maniac named "Maniacules". Two rockets seemed to go through the sound barrier on Saturday, both while under the influence of J350's. Steve Trainor's BSR Optimal 65 and John Wahlquist's PML Nimbus were the surviving victims.
When the range finally shut down late in the afternoon, 70 fliers had burned up 190 motors in 164 flights. Let's hope for an equally nice February!
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