October Dawsonville Launch Event Report

Oct 26, 2024

The October 26^th Southern Area Rocketry launch event in Dawsonville had excellent weather conditions with clear blue skies, warm temperatures, and light to moderate winds; all of this with colorful Fall foliage as a backdrop.  No wonder then that the event was well attended and for the day there were 129 total launches accomplished.  Mid-power rockets were steadily being placed on the launch pads with excellent flights and generally good recoveries (always a few mishaps).

Jorge Blanco got in a successful flight of his Apogee TTV “timer test vehicle” with an E30-4/B6-4 two stage combination and with a new altimeter that solved earlier problems.  Kevin Scholberg brought out his scratch-built Halloween Hellraiser flown on a cluster of two D12-5s and recovered in two parts with entrails spewed out – quite a sight.

For G-power there was Dion’s Estes Der Big Red Max powered by a G77 as was the LOC/scratch-built The Raven which was also flown on a G80.  Herb Howe launched his Sunward King Tut pyramid with a G35-4 which was impressive and unique.  Ryan Campbell had two flights (powered by G64 and G76) of his LOC Alien with dual deployment on recovery.  Well done.  These were just a small sample of the highlights.

Some event photos [here]

Motor ignition counts:
A – 16
B – 28
C – 22
D – 26
E – 28
F – 15
G – 8

October Mill Springs Academy Launch Event Report

Oct 12, 2024

On a perfect (especially for rocketry) Fall day, SoAR’s October 12^th launch event at Mill Springs Academy, there were 127 launches accomplished.  The early morning participants included cub scout members who were very enthusiastic about getting their rockets into the blue sky, and this kept the launch pads very busy.  As the day progressed, there was still steady activity and many interesting rockets being launched.

Steven sent up his handsome Mad Cow Patriot on a F67-6 which did make it off the field to the other side of Little River but ultimately recovered successfully and with just some scuff marks as it came through the trees.  Very fortunate.  Other remarkable flights included Sean’s Estes two stage Solar Flare that was launched on an A8-0 booster with an A3-4T for a sustainer to a good altitude and then successful recovery on the field.  Jorge flew his FlisKits Tres on a cluster of three A8-3s for a short but successful flight.  There was also an attempted drag race of nine Baby Berthas on B6-4s (ended-up six initially launching then three to follow) which was quite a sight.  One of these Baby Berthas by Dennis Walker took up an Astrocam [video here].  A great flight was achieved by Rick Young with an Apogee Mini-Copter lifted by a 1/2A3-4T and successful recovery with a slow helicopter descent.  Fun to watch!  Another Rick and his family accomplished three Estes Payload flights on D12-5s with an Eggbert (hard boiled) going along for the ride.  Eggbert was only a tad anxious the whole time.

Event photos by Kevin Boyd [here]. Some additional event pictures [here]

Motor ignition count:
A – 32
B – 63
C – 22
D – 9
E – 4
F – 1