The TSM October launch signified our 10th year of flying with a great turnout for the final launch of the 2009 season. The fields were a bit soggy, but 2009 was a good year for launches, only the first launch in April was canceled due to poor weather. Looking at the weather on Friday with lots of snow coming down, it seemed like the Saturday launch would be scrubbed, however, the reports in the morning looked conducive to pull of one last launch for 2009!

Mark tried in vain to certify level one with his great looking Loc Cyclotron. We caught just the tail of it flying on a sparky motor. It flew a total of 3 times on various H motors, but all attempts resulted in recovery issues from chute separation to body separation. Hopefully its not time to throw in the towel on the Cyclotron and we will see it in the Spring.

Paul had the Big Ezi flying on a Mojave Green J500 to match its color scheme. Armed with a rocket hunter onboard, Paul found the Ezi south of the range after a nice flight.

His and her rockets made it to the pads as Matt had his Pegasus II and Meagan had her Bat Crazy out for flights. Matt flew the Pegasus on a I255 and Meagan flew the Bat on a G64. Meagan's flight seemed to go very high and found its way in the corn. Even with a difficult recover in the corn, I think Meagan got the best of the flights since Matts parachute did not fully deploy - let’s see if Matt can take some pointers from Meagan :-)

Dennis had the litl Blue Nuke and his Arreaux out for October flights. Both rockets had nice flights with easy recoveries - good Job!

Scott had Cally's Star back to the range, flying on a K135 to 5,400ft. Scott claims it was held together with tape and we might have to take his word since the airframe separated and both halves came in towards the east of the range. Recovery showed only 1 fin damaged, that looked to be repaired - lets hope to see Cally's Star back again!

Gary had a Russian looking rocket called the V-75 Dvina/Sa2 Guideline, a neat looking bird with tons of fins. The Dvina had a little wiggle off the pad, but came in nice towards the east.

Tom had the Crayon of Death out to the fields of Maple Island. Strangely the crayon went out to the pad with a simulated Carbon Fiber paint scheme, but, by time it was launched it somehow did a crayola box shift and was pink! The new crayon flew on a G76 and found itself with an easy recovery west of the range with a snappy streamer.

Buster McThunderstick had a very cool LOC IV that had been lost over 2 years in the corn. Remarkably, it made it back to the range to fly on a I300 blue thunder. The flight was awesome with a great landing east of the range.

Craig K. had the Mantis out for one last flight this season, flying a J350 to an expected altitude of 3000 feet. The Mantis looked good in flight but had a slightly late deployment. Craig's comments: 'Great colors for juicy black dirt!' Craig flew Packer Graphics again with a telltale knippelerian angle for a good flight up to 1500ft on a G64.

Criag N. had an 'Executioner' at the launch weighting in at a mere 7oz flying on a G77 redline for its inaugural launch. Its a testament to low weight as it went very very high and landed to the east.

Andy, Alex, and Scott had a Performance Gizmo out to the range, flying a I215 redline. It was slow off the pad (caught in this blurry picture) but it wound up being a very nice flight.

Arjay tried valiantly to certify level 1 on his Caliber flying on an H-128. The Caliber found its way into the corn and required a posse of searchers to recover it late in the day, inspection found that the Caliber was damaged and we hope to see a successful certification in the spring.

Bill took home the maximum altitude as we barely got his Extreme Wildman off on a L850 before our high altitude waiver ended. The rocket was expected to reach 11,000 feet eventually was found via the onboard tracker.

Jerry had a nice flight with his Sandhawk on a G64 white lightning. The chute got torn but everything looks like she'll fly again.

Willie flew his Blue Thunder on a F42 after some igniter issues; everything went fine once she got into the skies.

Larry took home a level 1 certification flying a great looking bird that appeared to be mostly carbon fiber. His black rocket had camouflage for the wet dirt in the fields at Maple Island, but by days end the papers were signed on a successful certification. Good Job and thanks for everyone's help with the October Launch!