Sunday 25th August 2002

HPR FLYING FIELD

Sean flew his big upscale Estes Thunderhawk again. This time if was loaded with a J350W. The Thunderhawk broke fin at launch and then got to 3559 feet. Not a bad altitude for a large single stage rocket.

I flew the upscale Estes Delta Clipper again. This time it was loaded with a K1100T and staging to a J570W. The rocket had been modified prior to flight so that the K1100T would fit in the booster. We also decided not to trust the Timer 2N to stage and by-passed the Timer 2N and used the staging capabilities of the Gwizz instead. This meant running a cable from the Gwizz down to the J570W on the outside of the body tube via the main power switch and through a coupler vent hole.

The flight was spectacular!! That K1100T gave the rocket a good boost off the pad. The rocket then seemed to coast for ages. Everybody was willing it to stage, and then it did….boomm. The J570W kicked in with a much louder noise than expected and the rocket was gone.

The booster again unfortunately did not deploy its chute. The Timer 2N had failed again. The back up motor ejection came too late but the chute still did not deploy. The booster came in hard but was found to be undamaged (apart from some scorching).

Pete Davy commented after the launch that the Sustainer had lost fins in flight!! This seemed to be confirmed when looking back at the ground launch video (it may also be another reason why the transmitted video was poor...vibration and spinning?) The ground video shows the rocket trail as a Helix just after second stage ignition, indicating an unstable flight??? You can see the booster falling away at the lower left of the image.

The upper stage deployed its drogue at apogee fine (looked way higher than 3863 feet that the Ghizz reported) and descended down in the adjacent field and deployed the main at 400 feet. Again some fin damage on landing (bloody rocks!!).

It was then noticed that the booster had been damaged during staging (again!…same as in IRW 2000) and the blast deflector that had been redesigned from a few years ago had been dislodged, therefore the ejection charge had bypassed the chutes!! Another redesign….

Andy flew his Mini BBX on an I170 using Pro38 reload staging to a G104T. The rocket went well under the power of the booster until around 1000 feet until the Altac set off both the main and drogue chutes at the same time. At about the same time the Ghwiz in the upper stage ignited the G104T, making the rocket spin all over the sky.

The Mini BBX got to 1159 feet before coming back under it's chutes. The booster continued on up and passed the upper stage to an altitude of 1312 feet. Interesting flight!!

Martin Sweeney got his level 1 on a mini Endeavor using an H110. Well done Martin.

He was lucky to get the rocket back. The farmer, adjacent to Les's farm, found the rocket and came complaining (with rocket in hand) to Sean who was recovering my Delta Clipper at the time.

Richard Parkin flew his Cirrus Dart (repaired) for it's second flight on G80-7T to around, 2,400 feet. The flight was, slightly into wind and was recovered in the next field down wind.

MODEL FLYING FIELD

Sunday was competition day. First up were the boost gliders. David flew his Estes Manta on a C6-5. This had flown earlier in the week for more than 3 minutes 30 seconds!! The flight duration for the competition was 115 seconds. Mike and others came close but David's flight was the longest of the day and he had won the boost glider competition.

I myself entered a Vaun Brothers Buzzard with a C6-5 (78 seconds). This model flies well and came second last year.

Sean, Flat Cat on a C6-5 (Twice) Crap in Sean's words, it dropped like a brick. The booster hit the ground after the glider! It needs a little more trimming and it will be fine. Sean again launched his small Thunderhawk on a C6-5.

Mark Robinson flew his Custom Razor (tube fins), B4-4 motor, great flight. Mark also flew his Vaun Brothers TFNC on a B6-4 motor. The elastic shock cord snapped from steel cable, so rocket came back in 2 parts, both recovered fine.

Another onne of Marks flights was with his Vaun Brothers EX-18 2-stage rocket with a B6-0 booster staging to a A8-5. The rocket boosted fine but failed to stage slight damage to fuselage/nosecone interface but otherwise ok.

Mark flew his Estes Seahawk D12-5 on a motor, superb flight. Only mod was to join both nose and "booster" shock cords together so that I either lose all the rocket or nothing. All she needs now is a motor retainer and some suitable RMS motors. This rocket was finished very well and would look great in upscale mode!

Goto report for Monday 26th August 2002