ROC February 2003 Launch |
| Report by Robert H.
Brigham
Lucerne Dry Lake Bed, California (RBP). After the windy debacle
of November, the so-so weather of December, and the complete lack of activity
of January, ROC was ready to bust out – and we did! Despite a low which hung off the coast and threatened
to come inland, the weather for this February launch turned out to be
pretty good. The regulars turned out the night before to lay claim
to the lake bed and ensure that the porta-potty was deposited in the general
vicinity of the flight line. Arriving
on the scene first, I found the wind light (3-5mph) and out of the east,
but chilly, and the sky overhead clear with clouds lingering in the west. I had just started to set up my Shelter when
Wedge Oldham and Melinda Catalano showed up. A
brief burst of activity had three Shelters up in tandem before it got
too dark to see. (There was also a brief moment of group awe at a truly
inspiring sunset!) A fire was lit,
Jim Garrett and the Silvas
showed up, and an expedition was organized to meet Jeff Stai in town for chinese food. By nine more folks had wandered in, including groups
of high school students taking part in the Team
America Rocket Challenge. Others
continued to trickle in as the night progressed, including Dok and Vickie Hanson in
their RV, pulling the brand new “Team Final Jeopardy” rocket trailer.
As Wedge
put it, “After dinner we all settled about the campfire for peanuts, nut
bread, and a whole lotta laughing. Temperatures were dropping, but the
night was crystal clear, and ZERO WIND!!! “The next morning we all awakened to 12 degree temperatures,
and Greg Lawson blasting some
sort of jungle music in his truck. We're gonna have to make that man park
in the second row next launch. Rolling out of our sleeping bags the first
thing we noticed was the same thing we had all noticed during the night.
IT WAS COLD!!! Temps that morning varied by who was doing the measuring,
but the low was 12 and the high was 15. So let me say it again IT WAS
COLD!!! But more important than the temperature we were greeted with absolute
DEAD CALM and crystal clear skies. Almost made you forget IT WAS COLD.”
And on top of that, Wedge
forgot his coffee pot. The sun crept over the horizon at The pace was slow at first due primarily to the low temperatures.
Greg Lawson acting as both
RSO and LCO was able to keep up, and among the first to poke a hole in
the sky was Bill Kitch with
an Aerotech ‘ARCAS’ lofted by a G64. Bill
went on to be among the most prolific fliers of the day, launching 6 different
rockets. Nathan Kitch was right behind him with
five flights, all using G38’s in his Aerotech ‘Mirage’. Other prolific fliers were Kim Caldwell, Eric Hanson,
Phil Laisure, and the family
teams of Joe and Kevin Danjou, Chris and
Derrell Heinrich, Bernie and BJ Koehling, Brian and
Michael Sutton, Steve and Morgan Trammell
and the Andrew Fullers, Junior
and Senior. Many of these participants forwarded
descriptions of their exploits which are cited below. Yours truly got in a flight shortly after the range opened
and before the air column heated up. At about As noted above, Brian
Sutton and his son, Michael,
both ROC regulars, were among the throng clamoring for pads. Brian observed later, “All I can say is
I'd forgotten how much fun it is to fly Estes motors. Instead of the usual
two or three flights, I got in 8. ‘Orbital Transport’ got in three flights,
the last on a C5 that I really enjoyed. ‘Deltie Airshow’ had two flights,
the first has to go under the ‘OOPS!’ category. ‘Executioner’ did well
on an E9. LOC ‘Starburst’ flew on two E9s and my son's scratch built ‘Dominator’
flew on two C6s and was ready to go again when we ran out of time.” A similar theme was echoed by the father/son team of
Steve
and Morgan Trammell. “Wonderful
day for flying rockets, no wind, crystal clear skies and comfortable temps”,
remarked the senior Trammell. “We flew nothing over G power so were
able to get off 8 flights without having to rush anything. I started
off with a Quest ‘Nike Smoke’ on an F39 to about 3,000 ft at nearly 600
MPH. The rocket was visible the entire flight which tells you how
clear the skies were. I followed with a Yank 2" ‘Iris’ on a
G35 (one of my favorite motors) and finished up with a 2 stage version
of an Estes ‘SkyWriter’ on a D12 to C6. I've flown this exact same
rocket/motor combo twice before with no problems. However, this
time the rocket lived up to it's name and started to pinwheel right off
the rod. The booster burned out and separated, and the sustainer (chute
already out) fell right in front of the range head where it finally lit.
The sustainer fin shape kept it from becoming a land shark and there was,
miraculously, absolutely no damage to the rocket! “My son Morgan flew his LOC ‘Aura’ on a G35 for a very
high flight and followed with 2 flights of a shortened PML ‘Io’ on the
same motor. He finished up the day with two flights of an Estes
‘ "Lots of wonderful flights by others and more cert
flights than I expected. The most entertaining flight for me was what
I believe was a ‘Nike Smoke’ that did a perfect loop off the rod and ended
up straightening out and flying straight up!!” So far, no one’s owned up to flying the loopy rocket. Many other father/son teams were busy. Joe
and Kevin Danjou put up 7 rockets
between them, including a drag race between a rocket christened ‘Ken’
and a Lil Nuke named ‘Barbie’. No
word on who won. David and
Daniel Wilsey flew some interesting birds.
“Only got a few flights in”, commented David. “‘O.
G. Snitch’ on a G35 flew once again. I've been flying it for over a year
now and it's still a blast to see a ‘Snitch’ go that high. “My son, Daniel,
flew an Estes Redi-Roc ‘Invader’ on an E9 for a nice long slow flight. “My last flight was a large scratch built flying saucer named
‘B.F.S.’. The ‘S’ is for ‘Snitch’ which is where I got the inspiration
for this creation. ‘B.F.S.’ was built out of two snow saucers. It flew
(despite many doubts about it's stability) on a Hypertek J170. Unfortunately
it did not fly high enough for the CoPilot altimeter to trigger the
apogee deployment and ‘B.F.S.’ came down for a close encounter of
the worst kind with the playa. I guess I should have gone with a
timer instead of the altimeter.” With some work the “Uber Snitch” may fly again. Allen and Bryce Farrington also had their share of ‘interesting’ flights. “Bryce had a couple of good flights with his ‘Banshee’”, wrote the elder Farrington. “Seems like it lost some nose weight over the past few months and was squirrelly on a C6-7. The A8-3 proved stable so that'll get fixed up shortly. “My Magnum, ‘Yet Another Magnum’, [flying on a K700] won't be repaired as quickly. I did, however, discover why its flight was so brief...in short, operator error. When setting up the timer (via a correct checklist!) I just didn't get one of the DIP switches set to ‘On’. This caused my backup timer system hooked into the Main charge to go off at 5 seconds instead of the intended 20s. So, everything deployed at about 500 MPH just a second or so after burn-out. “The chute was shredded, but during the post-mortem I noticed that not one seam had failed (way to go Rage!). Enough of the chute fabric did survive the deployment to slow down the fin-can enough to prevent most landing damage. “The payload section separated from the main airframe by literally ripping the anchoring coupler out of the payload section. The mounting hardware, the nylon tubing, and the centering rings were all intact! “Anyhow, the damage is fairly minor, a 14” zipper on
the main airframe. The electronics bay will need a little retrofit to
replace the coupler and the cosmetic fillets popped off the fins. I'm
sure that she'll be back in the air by April!” The father/daughter team of John and Amanda Wahlquist
were more successful. Amanda
had a good flight of a Binder Designs ‘Thug’ on an F22. She also was a
participant in the Team America
Challenge from the Bishop Amat Memorial High School (see
below). Later John weighed
in with a rare Aerotech J210H hybrid flight. Added John,
“‘It's Green’ is my scratch rebuild of a Binder Design 'Stealth'
the way it should have been designed in the first place (cost me almost
$200 in parts for what was a $90 kit before my ‘improvements’ – but it
now does dual deployment and can handle any 54mm motor – including hybrids).
It was another flawless performance for both the motor and the rocket.
The J210H, being a ‘paper’ reload was essentially smokeless and, true
to the Aerotech design, did not make any obnoxious noises.
In fact, the burn was so clean that the rocket appeared to be levitating.
Recovery was of the two stage variety with a Missileworks RRC2X performing
the honors of deploying the black drogue and main chutes. The flight went
to 1932' (not bad for an 11-1/2 pound rocket on a small J) and recovered
a few hundred yards down range.” Among the most attention-getting flights of the day was
by Fred Sanford. He has flown ‘Seismic II’
before, but this time it became an exercise in aerial devastation. Something
went awry shortly after liftoff. The stubby QuikTube-based rocket became
a cloud of yellow potato chips from which emerged the fin can, deployed
parachute in tow, powered groundward by a bewildered HyperTek L575. Hybrids
don’t function well inverted, and the remnants of ‘Seismic II’ smoked
and sputtered its way down to the surface, ending in a pile of flaming
wreckage – a real crowd pleaser! Thanks Fred. As noted above, this launch played host to a Team America Challenge competition event.
The Team America Challenge
is a national contest sponsored jointly by the NAR and the AIA (American
Institute of Aeronautics). The contest has over 850 high schools from
across the country participating. “We had two Team America Challenge high
school teams show up - San Pedro High School and Bishop Amat High School,” noted John Wahlquist.
“Their approaches were quite different to the challenge of taking two
eggs and an Adept A1 altimeter as close as possible to exactly 1500'.
San Pedro was using clusters
of black powder motors (D's and E's) and 'simulated eggs' (small sandbags).
Their construction materials were unique, ranging from a Morton salt container
to cups from Taco Bell. One test flight (had to be test flights
as they weren't using real eggs) reached 1465' and the other hit about
1200' and was damaged in landing (this altitude was heard in passing and
could be in error - the first is accurate as I was invited to listen to
the altimeter chirp). Quite an improvement over their first functional
check flight where the rocket didn't stage and they lost it due to a ballistic
recovery. Bishop Amat took
a different route choosing to build a more conventional 2-stage design
based around composite F and G motors. Their major problem has been
motor availability and it showed in their launch. They intended
to fly an F40 (the most aggressive F they could get their hands on) staged
to an F22. ROCSim said it should have been a good flight to about
1200'. Not bad for a functional checkout - their last attempt at
a functional checkout terminated with the CATO of their only F62 Darkstar
motor. This time the motor lit and lifted the rocket into the air
- slowly! Much too slowly!!! (Those of us who have been around the block
a time or two know that simulations LIE!!!) As it started to arc
everyone hoped it would light the second stage - didn't happen.
The delay on the F40 ejected the booster parachute, knocking the sustainer
free. The booster recovery was great. Unfortunately, the sustainer
once free arced over and came in for a slow ballistic recovery.
Very dramatic. AND IT STUCK THE LANDING!!! The rocket itself
was undamaged (except for a little paint on the nosecone) however the
‘egg’stronauts met their demise (yes, real eggs - yes, real mess!) and
their altimeters were both damaged. Back to the drawing board.” The highlight of many flier’s day was the achievement
of new level certifications. If my notes are correct, Bill Dreyling, Andrew Fuller, Sr., Ken Mannatt and Eric Wilkins all entered the ranks of high power rocketeers by gaining
their Level 1 certifications. Bruce
Wollard, along with both the Avandano
brothers, Al and “Freddy”, reached level 2. Then there were three Level 3 attempts. Two were by the
father/son team of Ted and Scott Sobieralski. As described by their
TAP member, Ron McGough, “The Sobieralski Father and
Son Team finally got a chance to try their L3 attempts. The Dad got a
nice straight up flight with perfect recovery in his PML ‘Patriot’ flying
on a M1315 and the son got a real nice flight with his R&D ‘Sandhawk’
[also with an M1315]. Unfortunately the fin can coupler was not
reinforced internally and being of the R&D type was not up to the
job of turning the fin can around when the chute deployed and collapsed
under the strain. The rocket will fly again with minimal repairs
because everything else on the rocket was glassed and didn't get any damage
at all.” The third L3 cert attempt was the long awaited return
of Dok Hanson and his M1315-powered Ultimate Endeavor ‘Final Jeopardy’ (guess
where Dok earns his motor money
{in the form of a question, please - ed}).
Having been repaired after an unsuccessful launch last summer (the
mains deployed at engine burnout - ouch), ‘Final Jeopardy’ took to the
sky about Good job Dok! Dok was not
the only flier feeling redeemed. Jim
Garrett sent up his ‘Orion II’ on a HyperTek K240. As he described
simply, “I launched ‘Orion II’ in the afternoon. With conditions as good as they were, you didn’t have
to certify Level 3 to enjoy yourself. Terry
McKiernan filed this report: “I have to agree with everyone that it
was A GREAT DAY!!! I arrived at the lake bed just in time to watch Dok's ‘Final Jeopardy’ go up on 39A.
What a fantastic way to start. Then to watch two more M rockets go up! This was a February launch with motors still
in short supply and we had three M flights!!
Incredible. Lots of hybrids,
lots of Estes and lots of Rick
O'Neil on the microphone! Gotta
love it!!" “I had two launches.
My little ‘JupiterC’ launched for the first time since I rebuilt
the fin can to take 54mm instead of 38, and I launched it on an I357 with
an adaptor. It went to 3,580 ft. Quick burn, long coast. “My next flight was my ‘SS Cassiopeia’ on a J415. As I was walking it up to the flight line, everyone
was asking ‘is it going to whistle?’ Well
it did not disappoint. Whistled
the whole way up. But, sad to report,
this was the last flight of the 14ft ‘Cassiopeia’. The chute tangled and it came down hard! Snapped
all three G10 fins and bent the body tub (quantum tubing). Also lost my Olson M2 on impact. When I turn it on it powers up and powers down
on its own. I was able to download
the data, it went to 2539 ft. “So, to replace the ‘SS Cassiopeia’, I am planning on
building an up scaled ‘Sprite’ or another ring rocket that I can launch
on a J415 or K550. I am also working on another up scaled colonial
‘Viper’. My current one is based
on 2.56 tubing. My new one will
be 3.9. Should be fun. So much fiberglassing, so little time until
Springfest!” Others were equally enthusiastic despite less than ideal
flights. Kurt Gugisberg observed,
“What a great day for launching, especially after all the bad days we've
had.... I was able to get two flights in before I had to leave at Bruce Pettus’
noted a similar fate for his 4" upscale ‘Big Dawg’ which went up
on a HyperTek J270 but came down a bit fast. “The Big Dawg suffered minor
damage,” he noted, “due to an inadequate parachute and can be repaired
easily.” However, his LOC Magnum, nee ‘Smaug’s Breath’, did fly successfully
on an Aerotech J415. Bill Seiders,
proprietor of pad 39A, successfully sent up his ‘Drano Dart’ and ‘Drano
Dart Grande’ on a H123 and K1100, respectively. He also sponsored a flight
by our local Battle Bots warrior, David
Roy. “In case anyone was curious,” observed Dave,
“my [scratch built] ‘Vertigo’ rocket flew to 10,643 feet [barometric –
true inertial was lower] and reached a maximum velocity of 705.69 mph.
Not quite mach but it was a helluva flight!” All on a K1100. Conditions were so good that John and Veni Van Norman
decided to show up mid-afternoon in the correct belief that there were
still rockets going up. Consequently,
they were on hand to see the last (and I mean last – there was almost
no one out on the playa) flight of the day by Ron
McGough, who found himself unexpectedly very busy for so late in the
afternoon. “I
…was attempting to finish up prepping my ‘Firestar’ 5 fin 2.6” hybrid
with a new dual deploy system in it, while at the same time helping David
Roy get the information from
his AltAcc 2C with my new laptop on which the battery went dead right
in the middle of the download, which wasn't working anyway due to the
fact that David had lost the 2 pin jumper which powers up the unit.
I think that I spent more time trying to download David's AltAcc than I did prepping
my rocket. We did finally find
another jumper and get his data downloaded though. I was able to
complete the prep of my rocket after most had left and the range was completely
torn down except for my Hybrid pad. My son and his friend helped
me carry it out to the pad where Wayne [Mrazek] and Eric Pyne also helped out getting
it on the pad. With Rick O’Neil telling me to hurry up and
get it launched before he closed the waiver I manned the fill and launch
control and proceeded with the nitrous fill which in the COLD weather
took only a couple of seconds, at which point Wayne and Eric who had been visually watching
the fill moved away from the pad and gave me the go ahead to launch.
I pushed the button and off she went to an altitude of 7767 ft. with perfect
deployment of the drogue at apogee and the main firing at 1200 ft.
using a Adept Alts 25. I recovered the rocket about a 1/4 mile south
of the now non-existent flight line in perfect shape.” In all, 217 rockets were sent aloft by 99 rocketeers
(sorry I couldn’t mention everybody) on 290 rocket motors with a total
impulse of 64,198 N-s. Of these, 154 were AP, 129 were BP, and 7 were
hybrids. The smallest was a 1/2A6 and the largest were the M1315s. We were grateful for the participation of RocketSilo2.0 and RocketMotion who were on hand to pander to our insatiable need for
parts and MO’ POWER. To quote Mr. McGough, “All this added up for a GREAT DAY!
See you all next month!” |
Copyright © 1998-2003 Rocketry Organization of California.