2000

(When and If I ever get a chance to fly!)

January 22, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Cool, 40-45F, 10 MPH wind from the west, broken clouds.

Flights in order

Details - 

This was a make-up launch from Jan. 8, as that launch got blown out.  This was my cert 1 flight, and I spent a long time building the motor and prepping the rocket.  At launch, the Vulcnaite screamed off of the pad, and I soon lost it as it blended into the gray cloud cover.  But the RSO, Bill Beggs, had sight of it, and soon called out that it was under chute.  I spotted the rocket about 800 feet above the ground, and followed it down.  Tommy and I headed out, and thanks to the loud beeper on board, soon found it.  The Vulcanite was in great shape, with hardly a ding on it.  A great flight, and I had my Level One!  

June 10, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Warm to Hot, 70 - 85F, 10 MPH wind from the west, very light clouds.

Flights in order

Details - 

Picture perfect flight!  I used one of my new Igniterman igniters, and the motor roared to life without a delay.  The rocket was soon out of sight, except for a thin smoke trail.  At apogee, the chute popped out, and the rocket drifted to the east.  I found it about 500 yds. from the pad, in great shape.

Details - 

This was the maiden flight of the largest bird in my fleet.  I built the motor, and loaded it into the rocket.  I again used an Igniterman igniter.  When It was time for the "Bug Guts" to go, nothing happened. I went back out to the pad, pulled the igniter, and found it to be ok.  I re-set all of the connections, and headed back to the LSO area.  This time, the motor lit instantly, and the hot green bird rose into the sky.  As this was planned to be a low flight, I could see that the ejection charge blew RIGHT at apogee!  The red and white 54" chute lowered the rocket down to a soft landing at the far edge of the field.  A really nice flight, and I can't wait to see how it flies on an I or J engine! 

July 8, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Warm to Hot, 70 - 85F, 5 MPH wind from the west, clear skies.

Flights in order

Details - 

I built the motor (sans the black powder) the night before, as I had a tight schedule on Saturday.  After arriving at the field, I prepped the rocket, and added the sonic locator by taping it to the shock cord about 15 inches below the payload bay.  Then I loaded the black powder into the motor,  and headed to the RSO to turn in my flight card.  WRASP had showed that the Endeavour should reach 1260 feet AGL, and that the short delay would be best.  At T-0, the rocket lifted quickly into the clear blue sky, and the ejection charge blew just before apogee.  Then the trouble started.  The chute came out, but was tangled around the sonic locator.   The rocket came down rather quickly, and landed about 100 yds from the pad., hitting first on one of the fins.  Upon inspection, one of the lower fins was bent over about 20 degrees, and the payload section had a 6 inch crack in the airframe at the top of the tube.  Quite a bit of paint had come off the airframe and nose cone, too.  Not the best flight, but it could have been much worse.  I'll repair / replace the broken parts, get a new paint job, and hopefully be ready for "Thrust in the Dust 2000" Labor Day Weekend.

August 12, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Warm to Hot, 70 - 85F, 5-10 MPH wind from the east, clear skies.

Flights in order

Details - 

Excellent flight! Earl Barnes and I arrived at the launch site at 9:15, and helped set up the low and high power pads.  I then prepped my Initiator with a G-64 that I'd put together the night before.  I loaded the ejection charge into the motor, adjusted the nosecone, and headed to the LCO table with the rocket.  Then I hear, "no 1/4 inch launch rod"!  So I went back to the truck, and prepped my Vulcanite.  Finally, at 10 AM. Bill C. came back with the 1/4 and 3/8 rods.  By this time there were several flyers ready to go.  When it was my turn to fly, Earl and I loaded the Initiator onto the pad, hooked up the Igniterman igniter to the system, and waited for the launch.  At T-0, the motor fired up and the rocket roared into the sky.  at about 2500 feet, right at apogee, the charge blew, and the Initiator drifted down to land on the field, only 50 feet from the pad.  Another great flight of this rocket, again without a scratch!     

Details -   

I'd built this motor the night before, so I was ready to go as soon as I retrieved the Initiator from the previous flight.  Earl and I loaded the bird on pad 1, and headed back to the LCO table.  after a flock of rockets went up from the low-power pad, the countdown began for the 'Dream.  Again, the Igniterman igniter fired up the H73 without any delay, and the orange rocket rose skyward on a black column of smoke and flame.  Just after apogee the hot pink chute came out, and the rocket drifted to a nice soft landing about 100 yards from the field.  Not a scratch, and ready for "Thrust in the Dust", our next club launch.

September 3, 2000
ARS "Thrust in the Dust 2000" - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Warm to Hot, 70 - 85F, 5-20 MPH wind from the east, clear skies.

Flights in order

Details - 

This was my first launch of "TITD 2000", as on Saturday, Sept 2, I'd worked in the registration tent in the morning, and them our family had attended "The Phantom of the Opera" that afternoon.  I'd spent most of the morning building two motors, and prepping my rockets.  But at about 11:30, I went to the LCO table with the Barracuda.  I loaded it on a mid-power pad, and after a short wait, the yellow and orange rocket streaked into the clear blue sky.  The 'chute popped out right at apogee,  and started drifting to the North, landing just off the field.  Another great flight for this bird!

Details - 

After re-building and re-painting "Bug Gutzz", I knew I'd have to give it a new name!  It was now bright yellow, with red graphics on the body and fins.  Except for getting the wrong size fin from PML the first time, the re--build went well.  Sanding off the old florescent green paint was a real pain, though, and I'm not sure if I will ever get the green dust off of everything in my shop.  

After lunch, I loaded the I-211 in the rocket, and headed off to the pads.  On the way there, I got some last-minute advice from Steve, our Prefect, and drilled a vent hole in the main body. I loaded the rocket on one of the hi-power pads, and after a quick 5 count, the rocket streaked skyward.  At about 1950 feet, again right at apogee, the rocketman R-7C chute popped out,  and "Bug Gutzz" drifted down to a soft landing just off of the field.  A great flight, and the largest motor yet for me!

Details - 

I'd asked David Johnson at ODI if he had a G-64-W reload for my Initiator flight.  I was informed that this was a "consumer" product, and ODI did not carry anything as lowly as this.  Well, excuse me!  So I went to see Mark Dombrowski, who had just started a new company called Mad Rockets ( http://www.madrockets.com/ ) and purchased a North Coast F-62-6.  This single use motor is a bit shorter than the g-64 reload, so I cut down one of the Areotech SU adaptors and loaded the motor into the Initiator.  Then, it was off to the pads again.

After loading the rocket onto a mid-power pad, I had a bit of a wait before it was my turn.  Then 5,4,3,2,1 - and off it roared, with thick black smoke trailing behind.  Just after apogee, the yellow chute popped out, and the rocket drifted to the North, landing about 100 feet off of the field.  This was the 12th flight of this rocket, and I haven't had a bad one yet!

Details - 

 This Was the fourth flight of the day for me, and the third flight of the 'Dream.  I decided to use the H-123 reload, as I'd had such a great cert. flight with this motor.  It was getting quite windy this late in the day (about 4 PM) so I aimed the high power pad a bit to the South.  My flight was the first in this set, and the 'Dream arched over to the South, soon becoming just a dot in the sky.  Again at apogee, the hot pink chute came out, and the rocket started drifting off to the northeast.  I had my beeper in it, and I could hear it as it came back over the field, and landed way off to the northeast.  As it touched down, Stanley Stanzyk's rocket drifted overhead, landing on the far side of a hill past mine.

I started hiking towards it, and soon Stan and Joe Atencio passed me in Stan's truck.  I'd asked Joe to keep an ear peeled for the sound of the beeper, and soon Stan stopped the truck, and about 15 feet off of the road was the 'Dream!  Stan got back to his truck as I walked up, and after turning off the beeper, we headed out to find his rocket.  The fourth of four great flights, and except for the hike, another great one for the Tangerine Dream!

October 14, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Cool to Warm, 60 - 75F, 5-10 MPH wind from the north, partly cloudy to clear skies.

Flights in order

Details -    PHOTO

I'd built this motor a couple of weeks early, but had not been able to fly it, so I was ready to go as soon as I got to the field.  I first met with a group of Boy Scots that I'd helped with their "Space Exploration" Merit Badge.  Soon, I had the rocket on the pad, and set the rod for a flight into the 5-10 MPH wind.  At t-zero, the motor fired up, and the orange rocket jumped into the sky on a plumb of thick, black smoke.  At apogee, the parachute came out, and the rocket drifted down to a soft landing on the field, only about 75 feet from the pad.  A really good flight!

Details -    PHOTO

I worked as LSO between 11-12 this day.  at about 11:15, Dave Johnson from ODI announced that he had a J-350 for free if anyone had a rocket to fly it on.  I told him that I'd offer my Endeavour, if someone could supply the motor case and sign on the flight, as I'm still only Level 1.  Dennis Floyd offered his casing, and said he'd sign off on the flight.  So Dennis built the motor, with the load supplied by Dave from ODI (Thanks, Dave!), and I got Stan to take over for me so I could prep the rocket.  At about this time, the generator that supplies all of the power for our launch system ran out of gas.  Stan headed to his house to get more gas, and we waited for him to return.  I prepped the rocket, and made sure that I had the beeper in it.  The RASP simulation I had run showed that the "Bug Gutzz" should do about 3550 ft on a J-350.  

Soon, Stan returned with the gas, and Dennis gave a quick count down.  The motor lit up, and the rocket leapt off of the pad, with a bright yellow flame behind.  It soon reached apogee, and the Rocketman chute came out.  The rocket landed about 1/2 mile east of the field.  When I got to the landing area, I noticed that the piston had not come out of the airframe.  A quick check when I got home showed a lot of dirt and sand jamming the piston in the tube.  I was real lucky that the piston did move enough to push the upper section of the rocket off, thereby pulling the chute from the airframe.  There was someone that wanted to "sample" how smooth the piston slid inside the airframe, and did slide the piston up and down before the motor was loaded, and that sucked the dirt and sand into the airframe through the motor mount tube.  I won't let that happen again!  But the rocket flew great, landed without a scratch, and after I clean it up, will be ready to fly again!

Details -    PHOTO

While we were waiting for Stan to return with the gas, a group of balloonists parked nearby, and one of the gentlemen, Larry Welland, came up and asked if he could fly an Initiator that he had just built.  We told him that  he was welcome to fly, and several folks helped him build the motor.  I asked him if he was interested in doing a drag race with my Initiator.  He agreed, and I prepped my rocket with a North Coast motor that I'd bought from MAD Rockets.  We loaded the two Initiator's on the pads, and at T-zero, my rocket screamed into the sky.  Larry's rocket took about two seconds to light, and flew slowly into the sky on a long-burn F motor.  Both rockets popped their chutes, and drifted down to soft landings!  Another nice flight on the old reliable Initiator! 

November 11, 2000
ARS Club Launch - Rio Rancho Balloon Park

Weather
Cold - 35 - 40F, calm to 20 MPH wind from the south, partly cloudy to cloudy skies.

Flights in order

Details -      

Only one flight today, as we had about 50 Cub Scouts from my Pack flying with us.  I'd built the G-64 the night before, so prep was a breeze.  At T-0, the Initiator rose off of the pad, with a bright white flame behind.  It went up almost out of sight, with the ejection blowing at apogee.  Then the wind kicked in, and the rocket drifted down to a landing about 1/4 mile north of the field.  It took a while to find it, but when I came up to it, there was no damage, and it's ready for flight 15!

Dave's Rocketry Pages
Copyright © 2001. All rights reserved.
Revised: March 24, 2007.