Cold and challenging winds were constant throughout the January 14th launch event at Mill Springs Academy, but sunny skies and some excellent flights made for a good start to a new year. There were sixty-nine total launches accomplished by eighteen bundled up participants. The strong winds made judging proper launch angles a bit of a lucky guess and recoveries sometimes difficult (either long walks or… well… sighs) but through it all there was much to enjoy on a winter day.
Grabbing everyone’s attention was a scratch-built pyramid style USPS rocket by Chris Lucas that was flown on an E16 and some Whirlybirds (Kevin Scholberg built) that were flown by Gavin Lucas on D12s. Three of these going up together made for a spectacular drag race. Jeff Fellman brought out some vintage models like his Estes Reliant, an Estes Tornado, and a Wac Corporal all flown on A8-3s. Terry Bliss got to fly his Estes Flutter-By which streaked skyward on a B6-2 but met with unfriendly winds at apogee where it separated (as designed) in to two pieces for a tumble recovery which drifted quickly into an adjacent field.
All in all, it was a fun afternoon of SoAR rocketry and a good start for the year’s launch events. Some pictures of the event [here].
Engine Ignition counts:
A – 36
B – 13
C – 11
D – 7
E – 2
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