ROC August 1999 Launch

Report by Jeffrey D. Gortatowsky

ROC once again gathered on the dry lake bed on the second Saturday in August for the August 1999 regular monthly ROC launch. Attendance was lower than normal as many were recovering both physically and financially from LDRS! Also many of us were looking forward with both our rockets and our rocket budgets, to the big three day joint LTR and ROC hosted launch coming at the end of the month. Nonetheless some people had to get their fix of rockets, and who could blame them? Conditions were quite good with the evil "W" only showing up in the afternoon. For Lucerne in the summer this is not unexpected!

Tom Emerson seemed determined to launch the most flights with the least impulse using the 200 milli N/S Quest MicroMaxx motors in 5 separate flights for a total of 1 Newton/Second of impulse! Two of his five MM flights were less than perfect but all were crowd pleasers!

Let's head to the other end of the August impulse range shall we? Here Steve Trainor launched his scratch built "Reacher 4" on a K185 for a nice boost. Steve used a BlackSky AltAcc to bring the bird home successfully. Not quite with the same good luck was Jacob Cohen and Gary Wicenski. Jacob's "Phingus II" separated on a K550 while Gary's LOC Brusier had a tangled chute also on a K550. Brian Sutton certified NAR Level II taking advantage of the club's Hypertek setup. He used a J205 in his scratch built "Clear and Present Danger" which reached an altitude of 1680 feet as recorded by the Olsen FCP-M2. The Olsen also did the recovery duties backed up by a Transolve timer. Congratulations Brian! Not letting Brian have all the laughing gas, Wayne "Pass the Gas" Mrazek launched his scratch built "Gas Attack" and his scratch built "Beta 1" on Hypertek J300 and J100 motors respectively. Both were successful flights using Adept electronics for recovery. Joining the J impulse club for August was Frances Bitterman with her "It's Not Green" on a J180 using a Adept ALTS2 for recovery.

Rick O'Neil successfully launched his PML Quasar on an I284 using a ALTS2-50k with dual deployment. Paul Sheffield had a nice flight on an I161 in his 3 inch Public Enemy Performer as did Rick Kempiak using an I195 in his scratch built "Light My Blue Dart". Domingo Duran and Mark Britton had a drag race. Domingo used an I154 in his scratch built "Fire Department" while Mark used an I211 in his LOC EZ-I he named "TeleTubbie Killer". Both were good flights but the LCO did not mark who won. Dave Ramsperger flew his LOC IV on an I161 for a nice flight.

Jeff Dyer used an H128 to successfully fly his scratch built "V-Max 29", while Ken Finwall and Fred Whittington teamed up for a nice flight with a LOC Onyx on a H238. Ken teamed up again, this time with Sean Burwell, to have a great flight on a H220 powered Rocket R&D Army Corporal. Terry McKiernan did not quite have as good luck, as his H242 powered "Colonial Viper" Fantasy Scale suffered an early ejection. However Terry did not have all bad luck this day as his "SS Cassiopeia" upscale flew very well indeed on a H112. Steve Szczuks flew a scratch built rocket he called "(Name of Your Choice)" on a H97. Steve's flight was successful though the rocket had a tangled chute. Art Adler had a bit of a problem with his P.E. Performer named "Space Buddy II" as it separated after a H55 boost.

Certfying level 1 this day were Allen Farrington with a VB Javelin on a H55. This is the same type rocket your reporter used on an H124 to do his Level 1 some two years ago. Good choice Allen and congratulations! Also certifying Level 1 was Mark Fergus using a Rocketman D.R. Hero on a H123. Congratulations Mark and welcome to high power!

Carl Delzell using a parachute by Priscilla's Parachutes (of course!) shot a well fortified Estes Prowler on a G55 for great outta sight flight. Paul Sheffield flew his U.S. Rockets Dream Machine on a cluster of three G40's for a great crowd pleasing flight. Mike Kerch used a G64 to power his Aerotech Cheetah for a excellent flight as well. William Bodner had a nice flight using an Aerotech Initiator on a G40, as did Danne Kessel using a Aerotech Mustang on a F20.

Jacob Cohn powered his scratch built mosquito upscale with a F25 for great flight while Tom Dittman chose a F50 to power his scratch built "Green Viper". Jim Correl used that same type motor to power his LOC Forte while Barry Forrest used a F24 for a great flight of his Launch Pad Hawk MIM-23A missile.

Both Steve Roos and Kevin Britton had a good flights with thier Estes Maniacs on D12s while Greg Lawson used three of those D12s in his scratch built "Jolly Green Giant" for and excellent cluster flight. Allen Baylis hauled out and oldie but goodie when he used a cluster of three D12s successfully in his Estes Maxi Force. Andrew Cohn had a great flight of his D12 to C6 to C6 powered three stage Commanche 3. Kristina Roos used three C6s all at once in her rocket named "Tweety". Unfortunately Tweety was a bit tail heavy and tried to write it's name across the sky. However not all went that poorly for our intrepid heroine as her C6 power "Snitch" flew just fine. Speaking of intrepid, Jordan Soto a brand new rocketeer joined us and proudly launched his Star Wars rocket twice on C6's for good flights. Welcome Jordan!

Well thats a wrap. The number of flights as shown below was greatly reduced from our normal tally as everyone looked forward in two weeks to the first annual LeT'R ROC launch co-hosted by LTR and ROC.

Motor Usage for August 1999

     5  Micro Maxx
     6  A
    11  B
    12  C
    13  D
     1  E
     7  F
    21  G
    17  H
    11  I
     6  J
     4  K
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    114