August 12th Mill Springs Launch Report
The August 12th launch event at Mill Springs had twenty-eight participants launch eighty-three rockets. Following a few days of scattered showers, the day turned out to be mostly calm with favorable winds and partly cloudy skies, although heat and humidity was a factor later in the afternoon.
Special spare part creations that were started at the Thursday SoAR meeting arrived at the field for flight testing. Competing for honors were Glenn’s Loopy Larry’s Aerobatic + Snake Oil, Jorge’s I Don’t Know, Bill’s Katie, and Jeff’s Lil’ Hoss. Glenn’s entry lived up to its name and failed flight qualification loopily as did Jeff’s Lil’ Hoss that remained perched and unrecoverable. Both Katie and I Don’t Know had successful qualifying flights and in the end the marvelously creative and striking rocket named Katie won the event.
Also of interest was Mike Nehez’s sleek looking scratch built IQSY Tomahawk flown on a B6-4 then a C6-5 and Russell Puryear’s LOC Onyx that streaked skyward on an E30-6. Tom Kinard flew his Estes Ventris on a E16-4 and an Estes Leviathan on a F27-4R. Linda took her Estes Big Daddy up on a C11-3, then higher on a D12-5, then higher on a F40 and I believe that was the end of that. Michael Shimer brought a couple of Space X Falcon 9s and had four successful flights on D12-5s. All-in-all much fun, action, and many successful flights. See these Event Photos
Motor Ignition counts:
- 1/2A – 4
- A – 14
- B – 28
- C – 14
- D – 17
- E – 6
- F – 2
On a typical midsummer day where relentless heat and humidity came early and spent the day at the July 8th Mill Springs Launch Event there were thirty-seven rocket enthusiasts ready to launch ninety-one rockets and saucers. We had many first-timers who braved the heat to come out and watch, learn, and participate in an exciting day of rocketry.
Light winds and summertime temperatures helped bring out thirty-six participants to launch 123 rockets at the SoAR June Launch event at Mill Springs. Activity at the pads was steady throughout the day. Jacob Schwartz filled the skies with rocket boosted gliders by launching his Estes Astron Skydart II with a C6-3 and a B6-2 as well as a simultaneous launch of his Fliskits Tri-Glide (three gliders) on a C6-5 and an Estes Shuttle Express (two gliders) on a C6-3. Steve Bellio got his LOC EZI-65 to roar off the pad with a G75-4M, got in two flights of his Estes Partizon with F44-4Ws, and sent his 9” Pyramid of Doom downfield on a G77-4R. Kevin Boyd flew his LOC Star Fighter on a E30-4 and his Estes QCC Explorer on a D12-5 – always beautiful going up.
The May 27th Dawsonville Launch Event had twenty-five participants launch sixty-two rockets. The field having received plentiful rain in the preceding weeks was in healthy growth mode, which although beautiful in a nature-loving way, made some recoveries search and rescue missions. Some of the highlights included Andrew Robinson’s heads-up Grits Blitz (scratch-built from round grits containers) which was attempted on a B6-4 (too long of a delay), a C6-3 (oops… unstable), and finally successful on a B6-2. For mid-power excitement, there was Lee Childers’ Estes Goblin going up on an E9-8, David Sleeman’s Estes Leviathan sent up on a G40-7W, and Jeff Eshbaugh’s Estes Argent powered by a G76-7G. We also enjoyed seeing some rare models such as Ken Frye’s Shrox Stiletto flown on a D12-5 and his Estes Exo-skell on a D12-3. 
Amazing. The April 22nd SoAR Launch Event at Dawsonville celebrating the club’s 20 years had fifty-five participants launching 157 rockets at a steady pace throughout the entire day. Gusting winds were a constant challenge, but that did not matter to those eager to load their rockets on the launch pads. Atlanta Classical Academy brought an excited group of young rocketeers with scores of Apogee Payloaders going up on B6-4s and a few more advanced Madcow Little John rockets blasting skyward on G77-4s. Kevin Reichert pulled off an amazing feat by launching an Estes Comanche on stages D12-0, C6-0, C6-7 and making recovery after a long walk.