For the May 13^th launch event at Mill Springs Academy the early morning began with overcast skies from lifting fog, but a high enough cloud deck to begin launching at the scheduled 9:00 event start time.  Field conditions were excellent for the launching area, but a bit challenging in the recovery area due to waist-high grass in many areas.  Within the first hour the launch pads became quite busy.  Keith Frazier arrived with doughnuts and drinks for those needing refreshments.  As the day progressed there were very light winds through mid-day which allowed for straight-up launch rods and many recoveries quite near the pads.  For this event there were forty-two total participants launching 156 rockets.

Of special interest were the launches with multiple engines (clusters) like John Lawrence’s Estes Thunderstar (X Prize) with two Quest A6s for power, which he launched twice.  Kevin Scholberg had a scratch-built Q-Jet Burner with two D16s and his scratch-built SIBHOD (SB) that was powered by a four cluster of two D12s and two C11s.  Otherwise there were a variety of scale and sport models, different modes of recovery, parasitic gliders, older models getting some dust knocked-off and many newer rockets going up for the first time like Jorge’s Super Mars Snooper powered by a C11 that had a wonderful flight and easy recovery.  And last but not least, well maybe the least was the mighty launch of Ray Lecture’s Mini Goblin on a micro motor (and yes… recovered).

Some picture from the event [here].

Motor ignition count:
Micro – 1
A – 54
B – 35
C – 43 plus two static tests
D – 27
E – 1
F – 1