Nov 10, 2018
The November 10th Mill Springs launch event was held under sunny skies with a cool breeze from the northwest. Twelve participants came out to enjoy the outdoors and launch forty-five rockets while many other family members came to provide encouragement and recovery support.
We had a good range of rockets powered by 1/4A (Estes 220 Swift) to Roy Green’s Estes Prowler launched with a E16. Joseph flew his Estes Rubicon on an E11 to impressive altitude, but upper-level winds did not favor a recovery – ouch. Kevin Scholberg had a scratch-built SNXL (likened to a shortened Super Neon) which flew on E9s and flew a baseball bat shaped Estes Pop Fly that had a baseball nosecone that released at near apogee for a freefall recovery. Amilia and Mike Huggins duked it out drag race style with a couple of Estes Mini Max rockets which are always fun to watch. [Event Photos]
Motor Ignition counts:
- 1/4A – 1
- 1/2A – 8
- A – 5
- B – 13
- C – 10
- D – 4
- E – 5
Oct 27, 2018
At the October 27th (Halloween) launch event at Dawsonville, the dreary grey skies and bone chilling winds frightened away all but our most ardent participants. Nonetheless, these determined few got to achieve some important required flights for Civil Air Patrol and school science projects with the help of our dedicated launch crew (well, mostly Jorge). As the weather situation persisted, and once all highly anticipated flights were successfully accomplished, the event wrapped up early to allow wet feet and cold hands to recover while enjoying the colorful Fall foliage on the drive home.
[Event Photos] and [Photos by Kevin Boyd]
Important reminder – Launch events at Mill Springs and Dawsonville during the upcoming months will revert to our Winter schedule (12:00 to 5:00). However, this does not apply to GRITS.
Motor ignition counts:
B – 13
D – 4
E – 2
Sep 22, 2018
At the September 22nd launch event in Dawsonville we had nineteen participants launch sixty-one rockets. Light southerly winds, a few puffy clouds, and summertime temperatures made for ideal conditions that encouraged many to reach for the higher altitudes at SoAR’s mid-power field. Taking a few risks set the stage for some fun rocketry, but there were some launches that didn’t go quite as planned, so it is with a degree of empathy to those who lost a prized rocket that we must still mention how exciting the day turned out to be.
The Jolly Logic chute releases are becoming more common on the mid-powered rockets and this proved to be both thrilling to watch (as many selected their chute release to occur at 200 feet) and very advantageous for those who were retrieving their rockets. There were numerous outstanding launches like Allen Isdell’s LOC IV launched on a G67 Redline and Kevin Scholberg’s majestic Silver Surfer that went up on a G74. Joseph Barrett launched his North Coast Rocketry Archer XL on a G64 and Jim Cain launched an Estes Nike Smoke powered with a G64. There was also this thing called Decaffeinator (FlisKits) that Leaor Schwartz boldly sent up on a D12-3 with great success, and then reloaded another D12-3 and attached a parasitic glider for another wild ride, but very successful. Great stuff!
[Event Photos] [Photos by Kevin Boyd]
Motor ignition counts:
A – 2
B – 6
C – 13
D – 12
E – 13
F – 12
G – 6
Sep 8, 2018
At the September Mill Springs Launch event we had twenty-two participants launch a total of ninety-five rockets, saucers, and boost gliders. Although hot and humid the mild winds and partly cloudy skies provided an excellent day for rocketry.
Josh Finn of J&H Aerospace demonstrated numerous boost gliders. Some of these were guided by R/C and performed very well with long duration glides around the field before landing. Each boost glider exhibited remarkable engineering in the way the wing deployments were designed and in many details that kept each glider light and graceful in flight. [J&H Aerospace]
Other standouts were Leaor Schwartz’s Estes Juno-I Explorer I that was flown with a C6 with excellent results and Paul Doreika’s Super Big Bertha with a payload of three cameras looking out each 120 degrees and flown on an E20 (two times). David Cain used a Jolly Logic parachute tether set to release at 100 feet on his SpaceX Falcon 9 with a D13 for a very impressive flight and exciting recovery. [Event Photos] [Photos by Kevin Boyd]
Motor Ignition Counts:
- 1/4A – 1
- 1/2A – 3
- A – 15
- B – 28
- C – 34
- D – 11
- E – 3
Aug 11, 2018
Typical summertime temperatures and partly cloudy skies greeted thirty-two participants at the August 11th Mill Springs launch event. For the day we had a total of ninety-two launches. A mild cross-wind made recoveries after reaching higher altitudes a bit challenging at times.
Chris began the day’s action with his Fliskits “Nell” launched on a C6 with impressive results. Kevin filled his Estes “Dude” with air and launched it on a D12 to the delight of all spectators. More impressive flights by Kevin included his scratch-built saucers (DT-08, Black Web, and Safety Disk) on E6 and E7 motors with 7 and 6 second burn times – very fun to watch. Joseph launched his Madcow Phoenix on an E39 which streaked over the adjacent field with authority and David used a parachute tether (set to release at 100’) to get his Space X Falcon 9, launched on a E13, back to the field safely. Allen brought out his LOC IV and flew it with a G54 for very impressive flight.
Chris also made an outstanding presentation under the rocket prep tent of the OSIRIS-REx NASA mission that will travel to a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study. He demonstrated how the sample will be acquired. Fascinating! The mission launched Sept. 8, 2016. The spacecraft will reach Bennu in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023. [NASA Link]
[See Event Photos] [Lost & Found]
Motor ignition counts:
- 1/4A – 1
- 1/2A – 4
- A – 28
- B – 19
- C – 21
- D – 13
- E – 9
- G – 1
