WOOSH Launch at Consolidated Sod Farm
Scott Goebel
You really missed it
Paul! We conducted an impromptu snitch
drag race and all in attendance had a great time putting up seven snitches at
once! I recall the Roth/Stehlik snitch team doing two E-15 snitch flights with
Mark's modified snitch. Wow is all I can
say, an E15 flight over shadows the venerable D21 by far!
Enough snitch stories,
I had put out the challenge for a Venus Probe drag race and had thought I had a
taker in Scott Hanson . Alas, poor Scott
had a fin break off his VP that morning and I flew by myself on a C6-3. As normal, the VP barely made it into the
sky. Doom was barely averted as ejection
occurred about 10-20' AGL.
I had also stated that
it would be a Star Wars day and pulled out my R2D2, Death Star, And X-wing
fighter. The death star went first on a
C6-3. Perhaps it was rod whip that sent
it off cruise missile fashion. It
normally flies fine, ejection did occur prior to landing and those who were watching
caught a brief glimpse of the four pieces of the DS on streamers and booster
under parachute for about five feet AGL.
The R2D2 flew very well on a C6-3, rear ejection parachute and all. My X-wing was finally dusted off for its
first flight. Loaded with a C6-3 (I had
my doubts that a B6-2 would even get it to clear the rod) I sent it off to a
nominally successful trajectory. At ejection,
I could tell something had come apart but the parachute opened and it landed
well. Upon inspection, the entire rear
end of the fuselage had blown backwards out of the model. Now I have something else to send to Estes
along with my Skywinder hinges.
Brent Lillesand flew
his new Menace, modified to use 24mm motors, several times on a multitude of
motors. We've all read of Scott Hanson's
Phoenix Cato already but I just have to say, wow! That's my first D12 Cato,
thanks Scott! Later in the day, Mark Stehlik flew his Holverson glider on a 1/4A;
it didn't quite pull out of its dive though.
I flew my Estes ARV condor twice both times on B6-4 motors. The gliders separated nicely and glided
well. I appreciate the help finding the
parts on the field. Thanks Dave, Adam, and
Brent.
This was a well-attended
launch with kids from the church group and all the regulars having fun
launching everything from Alpha's to Venus Probes. I'm happy to say my son had fun. He enjoys our WOOSH launches and will be
coming more often. Looking forward to
Lamoille next weekend, anyone else planning to make that trip?
Fred Jarosch:
Launch report, I think
you missed a good one. The wind wasn't
perfect, but not to bad. Mostly from the
east.
There was a large turn out, to many to remember. Let's have a show of hands on who was
there. We had a large group of visitors,
some flying and some watching. The main
theme of the day was, WHAT CAN YOU FLY IN A SNITCH DAY. It was topped off with a (7) Snitch drag
race, yes SEVEN. I think I won. There also were some MRIA's. (Missing Rockets in Action)
Dean Roth:
Due to the wind direction,
parking was on the east side of the field, mostly along the road. I parked in the nearby office lot, as I
didn't like the trucks blasting by. The
normal parking area on the west side wasn't used. The gate to the sod farmland was open and I
could see a truck in the back. I was
tempted to park there and walk to the eastside of the field, but was concerned
that a truck would need to get through.
Rain threatened to spoil the fun, but nothing more than a few isolated
sprinkles fell.
One group of launch pads was set up on the east side of the field. The scouts were slightly to the west. After a couple of rockets flew and landed
near the scouts I asked if they'd mind moving to be with the WOOSH group to
avoid dented heads and legal troubles.
They moved.
Brent flew a rocket on a D12. Too
little thrust. It arced badly into the
wind. I suggested a D21, which produced
a far better flight profile - straight up.
The Estes Snitch ruled the day.
They flew on C6, D12, D12/C6, D21, E15 and E30 motors. Mark Stehlik had modified his Snitch to hold
24mm motors. It cruised straight up on
an E15. After a flight on an E30 (Blue
Thunder) we decided we liked the E15 (White Lightening) more so we flew it
again. The E motors didn't seem to push
it much, if any, higher than a C or D motor.
A 7 Snitch launch filled the sky with the yellow-green plastic saucers.
A bunch of rockets flew. One of
Dave Holberg's landed in a pond somewhere on the west side of the trucking
company. I don't know if it was
recovered. Some gliders glided. Some didn't.
Fred and I had a concurrent launch.
The motors, both D12's I think, ignited nearly simultaneously. The rockets flew side-by-side. For a moment, I thought they were going to
collide.
Three hours after starting everyone was chilled and ready to depart even
though we still had unburned motors.
Dave Holberg:
All I'm going to say about snitches is this, if you don't have one get
one!
In case anyone was
wondering, the water in pond to the west of the field has the same consistency
as the rest of the unfrozen water on the planet. I did get my Bertha back but it floated to
the very west side of the pond. I was
able to punch out the engine mount and not damage the main tube. It will fly again, this rocket has had the
following mishaps, and it came screaming in ballistic in February and lawn
darted because the chute fouled exiting the tube. It hung for a night last weekend on the phone
lines across the street from my house, had to prove to myself that I really
can't fly C's in the backyard, when the wind did finally blow it down the
neighbor that picked it up didn't know what it was so she put it on her burning
pile. It was rescued as she was lighting
the pile to burn up some yard waste. And
finally, for its 18th flight, it landed in the pond I didn't know was
there. It's starting to develop the same
characteristics as that Initiator someone else owns.
Kurt and I were recovering his Iris, which also landed in the pond when
Scott's Phoenix CATO'd. At least I'm
assuming that's what that big bang was.
I think the only thing not recovered from the pond was one of the church
group's Alpha’s; we looked for it while Kurt's Iris drifted into shore but
didn't find it.
I flew my Mean Machine twice on D12-3's, the Bertha once on a B6-4 and
finally on a C6-5. Also flew my Patriot
clone on B6-4's twice and once on an A8-3.
It does a nice tail slide on that motor.
Hmmm maybe I'll try spot landing at 14AL 2001. I also flew my Quest Quasar two or three times
with streamer recovery on C6-5's, and of course, the snitch flew four times.
Scott Hansen:
For those of you that
left before I did today, you missed a cool CATO. I was launching a new Estes Phoenix on a
D12-3 with a V date code. I hit the
button and it went BOOOOM! Pretty cool
site.
The rocket went to the top of the rod and hung there since one of the two
launch lugs had gone past the end of the rod.
The nose cone/parachute/shock cord was blown clean off. A HUGE fireball went up about 20-25
feet. The motor casing flew up through
the rocket itself. It blew out the
thrust ring and blew apart the motor mount tube. We found the motor with a huge dent in an end
where it blasted through the thrust ring and smacked the bottom of the nose
cone. The nozzle was blown clean out as
well.
The rocket itself still looks fine for display, it won't fly again
though. I'm going to fill out a NAR MESS
form, then send the motor to Estes along with some pictures of the