My Flights -
Friday June 9th, 2023
Launch #1
Wildman Punisher (3 inch diameter) first flight on an Aerotech I357 Blue Thunder EX built motor - I cut and drilled the grains and the delay element and assembled the motor using an EMK360 kit.
The altimeter was an Eggtimer Quantum configured for auto-arm, and mains deployment at 500 feet.
Three m2 shear pins were installed on the nose cone. No shear pins were used on the airframe.
The rocket was setup with a main black powder charge of 1.8g, and an apogee charge of 1.5g
Boost was perfect with a recoded apogee of 1923 feet. Apogee charge fired as expected at 1911 feet.
Descent rate on the drogue was 60 ft/second and then the main charge fired at about 411 feet with a descent rate on the main chute of 22 feet/second.
No tracker onboard and rocket was visible through the boost and recovery phases.
Saturday June 10th, 2023
Launch #1
Loc Wolverine on a CTI J354 configured for 12 second delay. Estimated Altitude was 3780 feet using open rocket.
Rocket had a runcam 2 4k onboard and a jolly logic chute release set for 600 feet.
Boost was good, deployment occurred at apogee. Chute release performed as expected.
Rocket was visible through the entire boost and recovery phase.
Included a eggfinder mini GPS tracker and used my new Eggfinder LCD receiver as well as the Eggfinder BT receiver. Neither worked correctly, all indicated the completely wrong direction to recover the rocket.
Launch #2
First flight of the Loc Big Nuke 3E (Children of Atom edition) on a Aerotech J415. RSO weighed the rocket at 14 lbs and 15 oz - which is much heavier than the simulation weight.
Simulated altitude was 3600 feet but the actual recorded altitude was 2780 feet (848 m).
The rocket was configured with a Eggtimer classic as the primary flight controller, and an Altus Metrum easy-mini as the backup flight controller.
I incorrectly configured the Eggtimer classic so while it did record the flight data, it did not fire any recovery charges.
I also incorrectly configured the Easy-mini - I thought I set the main charge altitude to 500 feet but I actually set it to 500 meters. The mains were deployed at a high altitude and it was windy so I had to walk a couple of miles to retrieve the rocket.
Sunday June 11th, 2023
Loc Wolverine on a CTI J335 Red with an estimated altitude of 3300 feet. Chute release was set to 600 feet but for some reason the main chute came out at apogee. Winds were low so this had minimal effect on the recovery.
Chip's Flights -
URRF 2023 - Potter NY - June 9-11
Friday June 9
Peacock - F37 6 sec delay was perfect. Open rocket called for 4 sec.
Parachute did not hang up inside this time.
LOC Stovi H128 HEADS UP! That thing was gone quickly. Need better glasses. Good recovery. Finally saw it coming down when it was nearly all the way down.
Saturday June 10
Bull Pup - I245G-10 Jollylogic Chute Release at 500’ Boost and recovery, did not see it for most of the flight.
Cherokee 3XE - J330 - RRC2+ set to 500’ - No main Again! No altitude reported. Drogue charge fired, main charge did not, chute did not deploy. Nose cone was off but not due to black powder charge. Chute could not pull itself from the deployment bag - far too tight. Recovery harnesses were a tangled mess! Upon inspection, discovered that wires on altimeter were loose. Failure likely due to power interruption during flight. Altimeter later tested with LED’s and Shop Vac and found to be functional. Going to add another altimeter and go again. Used 2 grams on drogue and 2.5 on main.
Sunday June 11
Slugbuster - J330 motor - reached an altitude of 1644’. Without sufficient eyewear, no sense in sending this higher than 2000 ft. At least I saw it for the entire duration. Open Rocket simmed to just over 2000’ - need to double check the weight.
