The June launch was a very cozy day at the friendly fields of Maple Island. The winds were kind and the sky was a pleasing mix of clouds and sun. The perfect weather conditions at the missile range brought out the rocketeers, who loaded up the pads with their quarry of rockets to skim the atmosphere and get a first hand look at the conditions.
Here are just a few of the highlights from the June TSM Launch:• Carl's Little Pegasus sampled the skies on five I284W's in fine form; however, recovery included plank deployment to bring his horse back to the stable. Once home, dual altimeters read 3,561 and 3,572 feet galloped.
• Craig had something that looked like a "B" sci-fi movie spacecraft. It was scratch built and somehow passed the RSO table with a pad assignment. The LCO called a heads up to the spectators before unleashing Craigs Don’t burst my bubble to the skies. Remarkably, the bubble had one of the best flights of the day. Craig looked very nonchalant after the flight, tactfully hiding the thoughts of "Whew! Wow, It actually does fly!"
• Kaitlyn and Tyler sent a Saber and an Alpha against one another in a drag race. After some low power pad technical difficulties, the drag race commenced. The Saber’s flight card say it all, "Crunch." The Alpha went on to make a couple more flights on the low power pads with a little swagger over the Saber’s misfortune. Hopefully Kaitlyn will even the score at the July launch.
• Dennis, somewhat new the to crew at Maple Island, showed off his Green Arrow with an awesome paint job and a great maiden flight to a projected altitude of 2269 feet on a G40W. Lets see a Level One certification in July!
• Warren had a scratch built bird called the Dart out for a maiden flight, which looked great on a H242T with a projected attitude of 1730 feet. Abbey and Craig joined the scratch built H motor flights with a Viking 11 on a H165R.
• Paul certified Level One in a fine flight with his Phantom 4000, sporting an interesting paint job. In order to get the rocket to the launch, it only had a base coat on, to be taken back to the paint booth after the certification flight. You gotta love folks that have their priorities straight - just like the line from the movie, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, “Paint? Paint? We don't need no stinkin' paint!” Congratulations to Paul, and good luck to a possible certification for Level Two at LDRS!
• The June launch did have its share of flights that did not return to earth under the gentle billowing comfort of parachutes. Pete is probably going to make the "Don’t do this at home" list with his Big Little John, strapped with onboard video and a projected altitude of 4400 feet. I believe the Litl' John did make it to 4400 feet, but a parachute tied to the bulk head not the nose cone left a streamer waving out of the airframe as the Litl' John was reunited with the earth at a velocity higher than desired. Let it be noted that Pete did have a successful flight later on his scratch built Mini Magg Clone.
• Carl tried to make Pete look good by launching his "4G-shorty" on four G64's. The Shorty dropped from about 2750 feet with no deployment and a subsequent shovel recovery - Carl was able to extract about 1/2 of the airframe from the ground.
• Craig tried to obtain a Level Two certification flight on his Iris powered by a J350W. However, deployment was not obtained and the Iris tumbled to the ground in horizontal fashion. Damage was limited and I think we will see the "Iris" again, hopefully in July for a successful certification.
• Jeff had his fair share of misfortune at the launch, His great looking Blasty the Rhubard Rocket came in hot after the chute ripped away. Let’s say a prayer in the vegetable isle for the Rhubarbs return. Jeff also flew his Black Brant and we all prayed the motor would take hold as it chuffed off the pad and veered off course before the motor CATO'ed. It landed close to the flight line smoldering until the fire extinguisher tried to save as much as possible of the "Black Brant." Later inspection showed that the reload burned through the case wall. Let’s hope Jeff shakes off the misfortune and gets back in the flight line soon. Jessica did balance the Hartman flights with a successful flight of a Big Betty.
• Carl tossed a couple more birds up into the air, including his "AT Arreaux" and his 1/4 scale Patriot. Paul closed down the June launch with a flight of his Phantom 4000 on a G motor. Sadly after arching over, the chute finally deployed but resulted in a zippered airframe. As all good rocketeers will attest, this makes for a perfect craft project on the way down to LRDS. Glue, Gas, and G10 fiberglass - what more do you need for the LRDS roadtrip?
Many thanks to Tom, who provided everyone with a terrific taco lunch! Thanks also to everyone that helped at the June launch, it was a great outing and looking forward to seeing everyone flying in July!
