| May 25, 2001 NMSU athletic\soccer fields ROCKET: Yellow Jacket LAUNCH: 11 MOTOR USED: A8-3 SUMMARY: Normally I don't do this many A8-3 motors, but I'm just excited about sending YJ up for the 11th time. Excellent flight; went straight up and came down about 30 feet from the launch pad. Textbook flight. ROCKET: Yellow Jacket LAUNCH: 12 MOTOR USED: A8-3 SUMMARY: Another ho-hum, uneventful textbook launch. Again a short walk to the landing area. ROCKET: Yellow Jacket LAUNCH: 13 MOTOR USED: B4-4 SUMMARY: Well, it's not an A8-3 anymore. The extra power of this motor put an extra 250 feet on to it. Recovered nicely, landing into my open arms. ROCKET: Yellow Jacket LAUNCH: 14 MOTOR USED: B6-4 SUMMARY: Defective motor!! Mild midair disaster ensues; at ejection, shock cord snaps in half. Assembly of body tube, fins, and motor mount come crashing to the ground but, miraculously, sustain no damage! Nose cone and parachute are recovered, but the parachute is tangled and destroyed. Another $4.66 down the drain. Will require light repair, for which I have the parts. Needless to say, I stopped launching at this point. ROCKET: Maniac II (belonging to John) LAUNCH: 1 MOTOR USED: C6-3 SUMMARY: This was a model I helped my friend John build after my Maniac was scrapped for parts several years ago. With the same fin unit and nose cone, it's 24" tall and flies on regular Estes motors. First flight is textbook; construction methods as of late are excellent. Rocket flew to estimated altitude of 800 feet. ROCKET: Maniac II LAUNCH: 2 MOTOR USED: C6-3 SUMMARY: Another great launch; this is definitely a promising model. ROCKET: Maniac II LAUNCH: 3 MOTOR USED: C6-5 SUMMARY: Good flight with longer delay, but a heinous parachute tangle sent this one screaming to the ground. It bounced three feet and didn't even crumple. The parachute shroud lines, however, were cut due to the fact that they were untanglable. John intends to fix them this weekend. ROCKET: Maniac II LAUNCH: 4 MOTOR USED: C6-3 SUMMARY: After replacing the damaged 12" parachute with a new 18" one, we launched the same rocket again. Excellent flight, and with the faint wind and larger parachute, the model took an estimated 90 seconds to touch down, possibly longer. Very interesting; John thought he could have gone to the bathroom, eaten dinner, and gone to the bathroom again before it hit the ground. ROCKET: Maniac II LAUNCH: 5 MOTOR USED: C6-5 SUMMARY: Our last launch of the day was another good one. Almost like the previous flight, but due to the longer delay, had a shortened decent time. DAMAGE REPORT: One parachute destroyed due to rips and tangles; shroud lines of John's parachute cut off due to horrible tangling; snapped shock cord. |