Launch Report

Date:

08/28/99 18:00

Filed by:

Mike Pearson, vice-president, SeaNAR

Well, the Growler (converted Estes Prowler) bit the big one!

SeaNAR held our monthly launch at Redmond's 60 Acres Park. The weather was absolutely perfect, temp about 75, sunny, winds light and variable. Several people who had heard about us were waiting at the field when we arrived, and we got the (informal) range up and running after some idle chat.

Some really nice flights, and some real bummers....

One of the new folks was having quite a bit of trouble with his launch system; he tried about 4 times before finally getting an igniter to work, but then everything fell into place and the rest of his flights were real nice.

We got to see what happens to an Alpha when flown an a C5-3....the body zippered badly, and the nosecone and parachute may still be en route to Mexico.

Saw some really nice flights of some Big Berthas. Lots of scratch-built designs, too. Don didn't fly anything (he only had one thing in flyable condition), but we used his pad and van's battery .

I prepped my Growler (24mm conversion of an Estes Prowler) and had another absolutely bueatiful flight. It arched gracefully through the sky to apogee, then started down. We saw a *slight* puff of smoke when the ejection charge went off. The rocket continued straight down, flying just as beautifully as it had on the way up. When it encountered the transition zone to the high-drag region we call earth it collapsed onto itself. The front two body sections are completely shredded, one fin is broken, and there is a crimp in the rear body section. Growler is now a Groundhog.... The D12-5 had just a very small (about 1/8") opening at the edge of the clay cap on the ejection charge. The force of impact after the rocket streamlined in from 800' wasn't enough to knock the rest of the clay out! Estes will be called on Monday. Lot number was 4B4.

I flew my Edmonds Dee-Cee on a D12-3. That one also had a (very) partial ejection, but it was *just* enough to deploy the recovery system of the pod and let the glider fall free. The glider turned in a real nice flight and everything was recovered intact. Motor was a D12-3, lot code 3B2. I'll mention this one to Estes, too.

Oh, yeah...the MESS forms have already been filed at the NAR web site for both of these.

Abby got in 3 flights with her Edmonds Ecee and one with the Deltie-C. The deltie was, as usual, a great flight. The Ecee had a nice flight on a 1/2A3-2T, but had some problems with the A10 and A3 flights. We finally got it figured out, though, and her last flight (on an A3-4T) was great. On the others the glider would arc pretty badly under boost and coast, and be real close to the ground when the ejection went off...one flight had *just* enough altitude to pull into flight configuration before landing, a real heart-stopper. The model was intact and undamaged, though, and went on to get in a 40-second flight on the A3. All in all, not a bad day of flying. The Growler will rise again, as soon as I talk to Estes. (Actually, the flight was great...it was the sudden stop at the end that did it in.)