Reports by John Van Norman, Steve Roberson, Rick O'Neil, Brad Wolff, Troy Monroe Stacey, and Greg Lawson
Report by John Van Norman TRA 6421 L2
(Author's note: This is a story of ROC members flights at Springfest 99. I hope I haven't left anyone or any of the great flights out, though I probably have and for this I apologize. There were many other awesome flights at Springfest, to many to document, so I have restricted this narrative to the exploits of the ROC members, leaving the reporters of LTR to tell their own story...)
Boy, are we sunburned (not to mention sandblasted)!! Just back from Springfest 99 at El Dorado - what a wild and crazy time. The fun started when Veni and I met up with my brother Dave and his son Chris at Barstow Station at 10:00 am Friday morning. This was to be their first rocket adventure (but definitely not the last). We were standing around thinking about breakfast when Kurt Gugisberg walks up... looks like we's got ourselves a convoy!! We arrived at the lake bed at 1:30. Steve Robertson and Kurk Whiting were already there as well and some of the Public Enemy group. We staked out what we thought would be a sizable chunk of ground for the late ROC arrivals. Contrary to the concerns of some, we weren't out to take over the launch (that was said all in fun!!!). Rick Magee from LTR gave us a really nice plot directly in front of pads 1 through 4. Thanks, Rick!! Even with all the room we had, it sure got crowded come Saturday. ROC made an impressive showing!! After watching the weather channel for 5 straight days, getting worried by what we saw, the weather looked promising, but breezy. We set up camp. The ROC die hards, Steve Roberson and son Chris, Kurt Gugisberg, Kirk Whiting and girlfriend Tammy, Bill Seiders, the Van Norman Clan, Greg Lawson and a couple of others, did the camping thing.
The wind finally died down about dusk and the fire pits lit (with the help of some old motor slugs). For those who didn't stay the night you missed a pretty out of control pre-launch party around the campfire! Lots of war stories, great company, though the entertainment sucked!! Who was that guitar player anyway?? Somebody from down the line started flying some Estes rockets, so we dug out my old Barracuda and stuffed a G40 in it. For tracking we put in the only thing we had - a Mini Mag Lite. The Vegas guys helped out with an ignitor and a launch control set, so up it went. The Mag-Lite separated and tumbled to a noble death, we didn't find the rocket till the next morning. Veni started building an I-211 for a test flight of her L2 rocket, the "Triple V" - with 6 of us standing over her shoulder offering advice. Next thing you know there's 6 guys scattering across the lake bed looking for cover upon being threatened with death by a blond swinging an empty 54mm motor case - now that's entertainment!! Saturday morning dawned beautifully, dead calm. It was prep time! Hulan Matthies drives in followed closely by Ron McGough, Rick O'Neil, and Brad Wolff. Chuck Lameyer, Troy Monroe, the whole Public Enemy Group, as well as Gary and Frances Bitterman. Ken Finwall pulls in only to be mobbed (what else is new)!! The ROC flag supplied by Priscilla and Carl Delzell is raised. I guess Veni wasn't feeling so good after the night before and chased Rick away with a knife she was using to fix breakfast! That made it official... ROC had come to Springfest!!
Things got off to a slow start just after 9:00 am with a breeze beginning to show itself - Greg Lawson sent up the second launch of the meet, a Minie-Magg to 2500' only to end up wishing the ignitor had failed. A perfect flight followed by a two mile walk. Volcanic rock does nasty things to great looking finishes!! Hulan Matthies (our new Kodson expert) sent a Minie-Magg up on a Kodson K600 for a great flight and another long walk. Kurt Gugisberg followed up with his beautifully done Bullpup on an I284 which suffered the same fate after drifting way down range then getting dragged across the rocks, again suffering finish damage. Bill Seiders opted for a H242 in his "Draino Dart Tall" for a successful flight. Hulan returned to the pads with a rocket he calls "Shaker" (but I call the Artillery Shell) using a Kodson J480. Veni Van Norman put that I211 to good use in her modified Tethys, named "Triple V", sending it to 2859'. With her test flight complete she was off to take her L2 test (after apologizing profusely to Rick O'Neil for the knife incident of earlier!!)
There was a 30 minute hold called on the range to allow some skydivers to do their thing. No sooner did the last one hit the ground when all hell broke loose!!! Carl Delzell likened it to the opening scenes of "Close Encounter of the Third Kind". It came out of the south and swallowed everything up. The rest of the day was spent trying to hold down the tents and EZ-ups. Unfortunately, the Evil "W" won this battle (but didn't win the war). By noon only a very few rockets had gotten off the pads, to be chased for miles across the lake bed with more than one never seen again. The "W" hit gale force with gusts up to 60 mph. We die hards huddled behind our vehicles in a raging dust storm for a couple of hours listening to Ky Michaelson tell us stories of his youth - we thought we were nuts as kids!! We finally retreated to the Casino for a great dinner with the ROC contingent. Steve Roberson showed us some of the great AVI and mapping stuff on his computer. Those guys at the next table (names deleted to protect the guilty) were apparently conspiring against poor Bill Seiders - something to do with getting him drunk and disorderly (for the record, Bill foiled their best laid plans). One highlight was when a guy from Sweden walked through the casino with a 14' long rocket slung over his shoulder. For a couple of minutes the place didn't make a dime!! The die hards returned to the lake bed around dusk to see what was left and to clean up the mess, while the rest stayed to give all the money they didn't spend on motors that day to the Casino. I hear Ken Finwall was the big exception!!
The "W" had died down some, our tent was out of the question having broke a few poles, so we moved into the back of our truck. I did manage to put the Barracuda up again, this time with a glow stick borrowed from Carl Delzell. We prepped for Sunday - and prayed. The wind blew all night, suddenly dying completely at 5:00 am. The Rocket Gods must have heard our prayers!! By 6:00 am everybody was up and getting ready to fly! And fly we did! Bill Seiders woke the place up, sending "Grungy Black Thing" off Pad 39A with a K650 Blue Thunder 98 onboard. These motors scream - sounding like a jet plane taking off!! The drogue and main fired at the same time, but the rocket came back unharmed. Hulan Matthies wasn't far behind with a Bruiser on a Kodson K800 "Dirty Harry" for a 4745' flight.
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Kurt Gugisberg launched the infamous "RocMonster" sporting a new Mosquito style nose cone. This flight won the "Air-start of the Day" award. A J570 got it started. After a 2 second coast his brand new Olsen Timer fired two H128's and after another coast of a second and a half fired two more H128's!! WOW!! Speaking of Kurt, there was a couple of guys from Playboy Germany there to do a story about us crazy American rocket people. They latched on to Kurt early in the morning, he spent a good part of the day posing with his rockets for the photographer-yes, with his clothes on!! - Kurt, my friend, you need an agent!! |
| Kurt Gugisberg with the RocMonster on Pad 39A - a final prayer to the rocket gods!! (David Van Norman) |
| Kirk Whiting put a newly certified Aerotect L1500 in his L-Boy just to shake the place up. I loaded a K185 into my "Y2K" and waited for the first altitude window. The Playboy photographer had set up a camera under one of the pads to get a shot of a liftoff. I lucked out (actually, I volunteered) and got that pad. He was face down on the ground pressing his remote about 30' away when the "Y2K" rose from the pad for a perfect flight to 8400+ feet. I can't wait to see those shots!! | 
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| John Van Norman gets a pre-flight interview from Ky Michaelson. (David Van Norman) |
Steve Robertson put his new, all fiberglass rocket called "Photon 2" on Pad 39A. Loaded with a L850 this monster screamed to 4500' and recovered nicely to the comment of "Did I make THAT??". Steve, we're looking forward to that "M" L3 flight! Rick O'Neil showed us how to fly a Scorpion on a K550. Troy Monroe showed us how he can spin his "Kiss My ASP" to death on a I284. Greg Lawson joined the fray with a Hi-Tech 45 on (what else) a H45 long burn. Later in the morning he put a J415 in his Performer which made the long trip down on drogue only, and hit harder than planned. Bill Seiders returned with "Draino Dart Tall", this time on a J350. It suffered early ejection, and partially zippered the ABS! Bill, how does one zipper ABS???
Kurt Gugisberg flew a new PML Lunar Express "retro-rocket" on a J350. These new kits turn in impressive flights - and this one was prefect. Chuck Lahmeyer flew a LOC Legacy on a G104 for a perfect shot - he later sent a PML Phobos up boosting with an I284 only to suffer a separation and some minor damage. That must of shaken him up because he came back with a toilet paper tube rocket (some t.p. still attached!!) called "Charmin Express" and sent it skyward on an... A8-3???
One of the most memorable experiences came when we were out helping Kurt Gugisberg get his V2 on the pad. Pad 39A was a short distance away with a huge bird loaded with an M2500 Blue Thunder (the same one carried through the casino the day before) on it. My brother, David and his Chris were out with us filming. Rick Magee was one pad over prepping for a staged flight. Suddenly we hear the LCO announcing the big flight!! No where to run!! We scrambled back a ways but were still only 50' away when the button was pushed. You can't put into words what being that close to that big of a motor is like when it goes. You feel it in your chest and your ears ring for a half hour afterwards. WOW!! As for my brother - what an introduction to HPR!! The V2 flight was prefect. Man, that thing is a sight to behold on a K700, that's K700... K... 700... K.... 700 (inside joke, wait till you see the video). It rolls very slowly as it rises, you think your looking at films of the full scale. Hulan Matthies was sending them up one after another, as usual, using all Kodson motors. His Magnum went 6272' on a K240 C-slot long burn. He followed this up with "Kriptor" on a 75mm K400 "Dirty Harry". The wind never got to more than a breeze - the day was turning out awesome - and we were in the middle of a flying frenzy. Royboy put up his "Royboys Therapy". It went up, it came down, leaving a hole in the playa, no questions asked.
Ken Finwall launched a BSR Optimal 150 on a new Aerotech 98mm K650, which separated but suffered no serious damage. He turned right around and put up a LOC Stovi (modified with a 38mm moter mount) on a H45. Ken had two other great flights, using a H70 in an EZI-65 and then wowed the crowd with a scratch built rocket called "Ace of Spades" on a K1100 (and I had heard roulette was his game!! )
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Veni Van Norman nailed her L2 cert with a J90 with her "Triple V" sending it to 4865'. She likes certing at big launches having achieved L1 at LDRS and now L2 at Springfest - what's next, L3 at ROCstock?? Greg Lawson did what he's been threatening to do for awhile - put a K1100 in his Ultra Fat Boy. It went mach, it scattered all over the sky - pieces are still coming down in Boulder!! We passed Ron, Rick and Greg headed out to the pad with Ron's gorgeous ASP. Then it happened - Veni, her cert under her belt, goes for a J135 in the "Triple V" Up it went... for about 30 feet. The forward closure lets go!! The CATO sends flaming rocket end over end, then to the ground. The long burn is still burning. And it's land sharking backwards across the ground, right towards Rick, Ron and Greg who are prepping the ASP on the next cell over!! Pandemonium breaks lose!! Flaming pieces are flying off, smoke and flame fills the air. Everyone is diving for cover... oh, the humanity!! When it's over all that's left is a pile of burning wreckage and a hole in the ground, with Greg and Veni kicking out the fire on what's left of the motor mount and casing. That was her first rocket failure and she did it in style!!! Rick came over later and tore up her L2 papers, sending her back to C6's!! Naw, just kidding!! But, boy, was that exciting!! She sent her "Fatboy Blue" up a little later on a H128 and redeemed herself. Ron and Rick's ASP flight was a heartstopper. The K390 Red-eye got this big rocket off the pad just fine, but a bad batch of ignitors failed to airstart the four H220's. As it rose the ROC chant began, "Lite, lite, lite, LITE!!... uhhhhh... DON'T LITE!!... DON'T LITE!!... DON'T LITE!!" as the rocket nosed over and was pointed straight at the ground. The altimeter finally deployed the chutes, earning Ron the "Save of the Day"!! Whew! |
| Veni Van Norman on her way to a Level 2 cert with the Triple V on a J90 - the ill-fated Triple V was latter destroyed by the cato of a J135 (David Van Norman) |
Brad "I'll never use that elastic @#* AGAIN!" Wolff brings up his new Magnum called "The Way She Really Likes It" with a K550 onboard. Brad, she must like it rough, because 4800' latter the elastic shock cord snaps and... well, you know the rest. Rick returned with the Scorpion, this time with a 75mm K560 (full K). Something weird happened and it went off at a 30 degree angle causing the ejection to hit hard. This separated the payload bay which streamered in on it's 1" tubular nylon strap. The rocket suffered only minor damage! Ya just got to love that fiberglass!! Jeff Murdoc flew his 4" Ultra Fat Boy twice - first on a J350 then on a J570 - it went mach both times with a resounding "BANG"! Hulan was at it again with a rocket called "K-What", this time getting 9118' out of a 75mm Kodson L630. Kurk Whiting returned to the pads with his L-Boy, this time on a L952 White Lighting for a 5500' flight. Bill Seiders, on the comeback trail after crashing "Draino Dart Grande" in January put a J800 in the "Reborn" version. It tangled a chute and core sampled!! Bummer!
My last flight of the day was the Y2K on a K550 - my most powerful motor to date. Now I know why this motor is so popular. That little rocket was gone with a capital "G". It came down across the highway 3 miles away, suffering ROC-rash after landing on a gravel pile!! - It hit 9270', my personal best so far. That does it - it's dual deploy time for that one!! The final highlight of the day was one of the Vegas guys trying out an experimental motor. Cuff, cuff, BOOM! Pad, rocket, everything gone! Pieces (and I mean nothing bigger than a quarter) went a 100 feet in every direction like he fired off a confetti cannon!! Springfest 99 was offically history. Author's personal note: We helped LTR clean up the area and headed out. The weekend was awesome!! Even Saturday's "blow out" was great because of the great people who make up this club. Veni and I haven't lost a bit of our enthusiasm for this stuff (as you can tell by this "book") and I hope we never do. To all the ROCers who where there we say thanks for the great company. Had we not gotten off a single flight, the trip would still have been worth it just for the pleasure of hanging with you folks!! Funny, I think we heard Gary Bitterman say the same thing!! To Rick, Veni says thanks for NOT tearing up her L2 papers. We owe Rick Magee, LTR, the good people of Tripoli Vegas and all the VENDORS a huge round of applause. On to ROCstock!!!
Report by Stephen Roberson
Well, the 1st launch of Photon 2 was a complete success. The L850 motor, while not nearly as large as the many M-class flights, was well received by the Springfest crowd. It did manage to make that particular 'jet plane' sound the big motors do.
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The flight was straight up with no rolling that could be seen, which will make it a good camera platform. The dual deployment, with 2 AltAcc's running 4 ejection charges, worked as planned. The main chute seemed to deploy a little low, and with the chute struggling to get out of the nomex bag, it was a bit hair raising, but it made it OK. |
| Photon2 Montage. (Chris Roberson)
[Click here for a larger version of the photo] |
Ky Michaelson, The Rocketman himself, was so concerned about my lack of confidence in his parachute bag system that he was standing right behind me during the launch, and walked out to help me retrive the rocket. My son Chris was on photography duty so maybe some photos will follow.
The biggest rush came after downloading the AltAcc data. My Winroc software predicted an altitude of about 4400 feet, using TMT test data for the thrust curve. The two AltAcc's recorded altitudes of 4300' and 4500' and so neatly bracketed my simulation. Now that's rocket science!
I definitly plan on my first M flight this summer, and I'll let you all know when.
Report by Rick O'Neil
I was personally glad to see all the ROC people at Springfest. It appeared to me that we had over 20 there, so we were well represented.
As Carl stated, Saturday had verified 40+ mph winds starting around 9:00am. Only the bold, no no, I mean really crazy rocketers put *anything* up in that wind. So most of the ROC poeple that were not buried from the pelting sand/dirt met for an early dinner at 3:30pm at the Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino. Steve Roberson entertained one table with some cool Laptop GPS maps, while Brad Wolff entertained the other table with ways to get Bill Seiders drunk and disorderly (this never happened, but we relished the thought). Thanks for being a sport Bill! :-) Later that afternoon I found myself gambling with a couple of the ROC guys (names intentionally left out) at the Black Jack table paying contractor rates to the casino :-). Ky Michaelson saw that the action was hot at our table, not, and quickly resigned to the Roulette table with Ken Finwall (Ken won $1000+ in just a couple hours work). Ken, quit your day job! :-) After reviewing the hourly wage I paid to play Black Jack, I resigned to the room to watch Insurrection with Ron McGough and Greg Lawson.
Sunday morning wake up call was at 5:30 am to absolutely calm conditions. Ron, Greg and I scrambled to get downstairs for breakfast and drove swiftly to the lakebed. The conditions were perfect! No wind, lot's of blue sky and a warm day coming. While Ron McGough prepped the Electronics for his beautiful R&D ASP, I prepped an APS K390 Red-eye and one of four H220 AT motors for the flight of the ASP. While Ron finished the prep, I flew my Dynacom Scorpion on a K550 for a beautiful straight up flight to 5910'. After returning with my Scorpion, Ron and I finished the prep on the ASP. This is the rocket and we spun to death two years ago with an L1400 Urinsco. This year, with spin tabs removed, we had a successful boost of the K390 Red-eye, but a new Timer IIB did not fire the 4-H220 airstarts. The flight was very cool looking with the bright red flame under the red and black ASP. Very cool! After the recovery of the ASP, I prepped my Scorpion with one of the new 3" motors, a K560. This is a full K that really kicks butt. I'm not sure why, but my Scorpion left the rod at a 30 degree angle south and was heading a little too horizontal, with too much speed, and the ejection hit really hard. After what appeared to be a perfect ejection, my payload/nosecone section separated with my Cambridge Unit and ALTS25 on board. I was glad to learn that it tumbled to a moderately soft landing and I very thankful for 1" tubular nylon strap. Only a 1/4" little zipper an everything else remained in tact. I only got 6053' according to the Cambridge, but with this high an angle of attack, I figure I lost a couple of thousand feet. If I haven't said it before, Dynacom makes the best kit for the money. Hey, you don't even need to fiberglass'em!
Many other good flights were made and I hope that enough of the attendees from ROC will write up something and e-mail it to everyone like I'm doing now. Maybe someone can copy, edit and publish this material on our web site. :-)
One last thing, I won the second best prize on the launch. A Raven all carbon/ceramic kit that comes complete with *all* materials for motors retention, assembly, etc. The only thing missing is that darn motor. A $230 kit that is one of only 30.
Report by Brad Wolff
I won't spend time writing about Saturday at the Playa. What I do want to say is that sitting down at a real table breaking bread over good (all you can eat) food and even better ROC buddies was simply great; truly memorable for me Saturday afternoon. I had never sat down and hung out with ROCers and laughed so much! And yes, Bill Seiders, be advised that high-level secret plans are currently in the works to get you drunk with us.
Sunday saw flight after flight of great rockets and I am personally concerned that I may be getting a bit *used* to seeing big 54mm engines light up. Is there hope for me, or do I just give up and buy the 3" stuff now?
As many may recall, I went Cert II on the 13th with my brand spanking new Magnum (The way she REALLY likes it!). Sunday, though, I was the one who got spanked as my elastic shock cord (read NEVER NEVER NEVER again will I use that stuff) sheared in two at the top of a 4800ft. K550 boost. :-( The good news is that now I have an excellent reason to attend Fiberglassing 101 ;-)
I think that one reason why we may have been sooo relaxed out there was that we were not getting in and getting out in one day. We left a bit of our day-to-day stuff at home/at work, no?
Thanks guys: Ron, Greg, Rick, for talking me into coming up and hanging out!
Report by Troy Monroe Stacey
Springfest was fun! I broke mine . . . did you break yours?
Got there about 2:45 p.m. on Friday, and just chatted with people. Then went on into Vegas and stayed with my folks. Arrived at the lake at 8 a.m. Saturday to beautiful weather that (as we all know) turn very ugly. Saturday was mostly for chatting too, and losing in the raffle. Got blown out by about 1 p.m. and went back to my folks and rested up for Sunday. As I rounded the corner of onto the 95 at 9 in the morning, I saw a giant smoke cloud visible from my distance of 5 miles. I knew I missed something big. Turned out to be a big orange rocket on an L. Sunday was great. I thought I'd try "Kiss My ASP" on an I-284 since I figured I had the bugs worked out of this spinning thing. But Saturday when a tornado blew my ASP over and slammed my ASP on the ground, it must've damaged my ASP. I looked at my ASP and thought the flaws in my ASP were only cosmetic. I was wrong. That "I" spun my ASP in two. But the kevlar held my ASP together. Now my ASP is all messed up, but I have big plans for my ASP. The next time you see my ASP, it'll be stronger than ever. It'll be a beautiful spinning ASP and everyone will love my ASP and will want to touch my ASP. I will be proud of my big ASP. Just wait.
The best part of the whole trip was the time I spent talking to all the ROCer's. I wish I had known about dinner at the Railroad Pass. That sounds like big fun. We should get together like that more often. I'm glad I got to know more of you better, and hopefully I can remember more of your names. Veni and I are both alumni of Yucca Valley High School. Brad and I like South Park. Joel, Brad and I hate elastic shock cords. Greg and I hate breaking our rockets. The stories and jokes were great and if we could do that more often outside of the hetic atmosphere of a launch just to talk about rockets would be great. Instead of having to try to hold a conversation while building a motor, getting distracted and forgeting the ejection charge (hi, Ron, how you doing) or something. When I picked up the tickets for October Sky from Rick O'Neil, we traded experiences for 5 hours before I finally left (Sorry Rick). I love to talk (Sorry Rick) and I think most of you guys do too.
My favorite flights of the day were:
I had a great time and can't wait 'til ROCstock IX! See you all in April (if taxes don't keep ya from flying)
- Troy Monroe ("I" broke my big ASP) Stacey
Report by Greg Lawson
My report from Springfest can't say much more then everyone else's. I got there Fri. about 5:30pm. Very nice night. We did have some very interesting entertainment from our own John "Rubber" Van Norman. I sure would like to have recorded that song so we could play it at our next launch for those who could not make it out. I slept in the bed of my truck under a beautiful sky (thought it was an omen). Saturday started out so good and then WHOOOOOOSSSHHH went the wind. I had the second flight of the day and wished the ignigtor had failed. My Minnie-Mag went straight up about 2500'. The chute came out perfect and it drifted about 2 Miles! Of course the Volcanic rock had its way with the nice finish. It looks bad. Oh well nothing lasts forever! No more flights that day.
Had a great dinner with the rest of the ROC'ers and since there were no rooms at the hotel to be had Rick and Ron kindly shared thier's. Thanks again guys! Dropped $40 bucks in 1hr. in the machines and went to rest. Sunday morning looked nice with just a tad of wind which pretty much went away early. I launched my LOC Hi-tech 45 on a H45 for a great long burn. Recovery about 1/4 mile away. Very nice! My second flight was my 4" performer on a J415. Great boost. The motor ejection fired first as there was a loud boom from the flashbulb about 2sec. after. The rocket came down on drogue to 500' where the low alt. charge would fire. It didn't! The rocket hit hard. The nose cone popped off and somehow zippered the tube on impact. The altimeter was not beeping alt. but it was acting like it had just been armed. Maybe the jolt reset it. I don't know. My last flight was one I had been threatening for a while. My P.E. Ultra FatBoy on a K1100. Well I now have a new respect for the pressure relief hole. Under thrust I think the hole got plugged with the nomex heat shield. Right at motor burn-out the nose cone popped off and the rocket went to pieces, literally! It was my level 2 rocket and the first Ultra FatBoy to fly on a K550. I will bury it with honours. S__t happens! Saw many great flights including the newly certified 98mm Blue Thunder reloads. L-boy was spectacular, Veni's J135 flight, or should we call that a rocket sled, the exploding motor (or should I call it a whoosh generator Troy?) all were memorable.
Thanks to LTR, Nevada and everyone else who entertained during the weekend.
See ya'll at Lucerne!
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