ROC September 2000 Launch

Report by Wedge Oldham

With BALLS only a couple of weeks away, flying at Lucerne Dry Lakebed was as strong as ever. Weather was a typical California day with near perfect conditions.

Rick Magee needed the high altitude wavier for his scratch built "Dragonfly" this 4" rocket weighed in a 10.5 lbs on the pad, was powered on a K185. He was expecting around 7500' for his flight, but the Adept ALTS2 showed 4164'. This was still a great flight despite Rick's hopes & expectations.

George Perez turned in a great flight on a K700 motor. These motors really kick butt, and this one was no exception. His Rocket R & D "Sky Raider" leaped off the pad, and just kept going. Would have been perfect flight if the chute hadn't tangled. Tough break George.

Bill Farr streaked into the high altitude wavier with his custom built rocket called Avatar. This rocket was powered with a J135, and resulted in very clean long burn flight. Ben Page also streaked in the high altitude wavier. Not once but twice today. For his LOC Super Norad flight, an I211 got it up, and his AltAcc brought it back. For his second entry to the upper regions, Ben used a Kosdon J275 in a PML kit. I wonder what we'll be seeing Ben do at ROCstock.

Congratulations to Craig Hardy who certified Level 1. Craig managed to do it in style with his PML Explorer on an I161. Also certifying on an I161 was Dennis Dinga. Dennis' LOC Vulcanite carried aboard a UHF beacon transmitter; there was no losing this one. Jim Stockwell certified Level 1, with his PML ¼ scale Patriot with an H180. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of this rocket. Jeff Mearham also certified Level 1 today. Jeff put his PML Explorer to the test with an I154, and nailed it. John Fedel got his NAR Level 1 with a PML D-Region Tomahawk on an Aerotech H128W. Congrats to all who certified and welcome to high power, you can open your wallets a little wider now.

In the records department Hyam Sosnow our resident "Cluster King" has unofficially broken the "Cluster Altitude" record in both the open and restricted class. His Price Viper III powered by three H125 motors hit an altitude of 1508 meters which when multiplied by a difficulty factor of 6 gives Hyam a point total of 9048, breaking the existing record of 6594 points. Way to go Hyam.

If you like upscale Estes kits then you would've loved this one. John Wahlquist brought out a beautifully finished 2X Mars Lander. This kit came from the people over at Papa Tango decals. This thing flew very straight and true, and came back on a 60" orange chute. He almost nailed the landing, coming down straight on the legs, but it took a little hop and fell over. This thing looked great in all phases of flight: on the pad, going up, and coming down. Nice job John. For a fun looking upscale Kelly Smith flew his upscale Estes Mosquito named "Moe Squito" for two good flights on D12s. Terry McKiernan also got in a few flights; most notably his upscale Estes SS Cassiopeia came down without injury, a somewhat rare occurrence for this upscale.

Hulan Matthies took his LOC kit into the HA wavier region on a Kosdon J250. This motor was a 75mm one grain reload. When everything was said & done, the ALT S1 altimeter reported back 6461 feet. Chuck Lahmeyer took advantage of some of his Cesaroni motors he purchased while at LDRS. Chuck took his PML Phobos out for a spin on an I170. That combination resulted in a great flight. With the ease of assembly and clean I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of these motors in the future.

Mike Vaughen brought out a real crowd pleaser with his scratch built rocket "Micro Spud" this thin looked like a downscale Sputnik and really flew great on a Micro Max motor. The real interesting thing about this flight was that it looked like the ejection charge had more total impulse that the motor itself. Another crowd pleaser was Mike's "Deltie Thunder", the flight was great even if the LCO couldn't pronounce it correctly.

Now there's something you don't see everyday. Or should I say something we haven't seen in a while. Rick Duvall brought out his scratch built rocket "Four of a kind". This rocket was powered by a total of four A10 motors. Two of the motors were lit electrically and the other two were airstarted with thermalite.

Jeff Gortatowsky brought out a number of rockets the most noteable and unique was his "Flying Mini Tortilla" this 1/2A power boost glider flew great and the tortilla glided back earth just in time for lunch.

Kurt Gugisberg wowed the crowd with his I435 powered flight of "Too Blue Two", what a screamer this one was. Kurt also achieved a new personal best with his flight of his PML Lunar Express Jr., this flight was unique in that the rocket didn't break any of the fin pods upon landing. Way to go Kurt.

Rick Dickinson got in a number of flights, including two crayon flights. A "Big Blue Crayon" flew on a H128, and a speedy flight of "Big Green Crayon" on a J350.

Testing the shelf life of Estes motors was David Reese with his rocket called "Conglomeration". This flight took place on a 25-year-old Estes C6-7, and worked like it was bought yesterday. Also testing the shelf life was Larry Taylor. Larry's Estes Der Red Max had been sitting in his mother's attic back east for the past 22 years. This rocket flew great despite the long sit. Bruce Pettus retired his 20-year-old Estes Scrambler; it's final flight on 3 C6-7s.

Today's launch saw rockets of all kinds. John Wahlquist flew an Aerotech J210 hybrid in his scratch built rocket "It's Green". In the two-stage arena Maren brought out her rocket named "The Mom" and successfully staged a C6-0 to a C6-7. Jack Johnson flew his Estes Mongoose twice both times with a C6-0 to C6-7 combination. But the award for the best two-stage flight of the day goes to Rick Duvall and his rocket "Day Glow". This rocket had to be the brightest rocket on the pads all day. The flight was a real crowd pleaser too. Rick had loaded up his rocket with an I284 in each stage, and had carefully set the Adept timer to ignite the second stage a 4.5 seconds after liftoff. That 4.5 seconds proved to be a little on the long side, because by the time the upper stage lit, the rocket had weathercock, and was now heading toward Barstow under full power. Somehow this rocket was recovered in a short time.

The September launch also saw a lot of family action too. The Wimmer's got in 9 flights, the Farr's got in 8, and the Silva's weighed in with 6. The most interesting flight to come out of the Silva family was Rich Silva's Estes Fatboy. This E15 motor sat on the pad for a good 10 seconds with a constant stream of chuffs, then suddenly whoosh it was gone. This was a real crowd pleaser. Not to be outdone in the "crowd pleasing" department Andrew Lyzenga took his scratch built "Pole Vault" and a D12. The result was the "Pole Vault" folded in the middle during flight. This was really one you had to see. Greg Lyzenga flew his Estes Goblin on a long burn D3 but we're still waiting for that one to burn out.

Mike Riss got in three flights, his "Purple Propellant Eater" had a hard time starting to eat, but once it did, there was no stopping it. I was able to get in a couple of flights with the same rocket I certified Level 1 with, a LOC Hi-Tech 45 now shortened to about 43'. The first flight was on a H123 my favorite motor for this rocket. For the second flight Jeff Gortatowsky loaned me a 29mm case, an adapter, and an H220 reload. All I have to say is WOW, what a combination that was. Really a great flight.

Jeff Gortatowsky wins not only the most fights per day award but also the most engines burned with 8. Hulan Matthies wins the coveted newton-second champ with a total Newton-second burn of 5827NS.

In the hall of shame department, Jack Johnson drew the honors for the most check marks on a single flight card. His scratch built "Friday the 13th" rocket scored a skywriter, a shred, a core sample, and finally a land shark. Not sure how all that was accomplished, but it sure must have been a crowd pleaser.

Motor Usage for September 2000

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