Kevin Boyd’s Photos From Tifton Turkey Launch
While we’re still waiting for a report from November’s launch in Tifton, enjoy Kevin Boyd’s 470(!) photos from both Saturday and Sunday on Flickr!
And here are some more photos from Freddy Willems.
Bert Adams Launch Report
Two hundred and five rockets filled the skies at the Bert Adams Scout Reservation November 12th launch event where one hundred and ten participants and their families came out to enjoy a sunny and mild afternoon. A slow start quickly ramped up to a steady pace of launches where B6-4s and C6-5s ruled the day. Keith Frazier arrived to provide rocket supplies and refreshments. The spacious field helped ensure recoveries as did the high energy of those doing the retrieving. Joe Burley’s scratch built and innovative Laughing Cow (spool) saw its first flight on a C6-3 and Chris Frye flew a two-stage Quest UFO to a respectable altitude on a D12-0/C6-0 combination. Kevin Boyd brought out his Mega Mosquito boosted by a D12-3 and had an atypical CATO with his Solar Warrior with a C11-5. Ken Frye launched an interesting group of rockets with assorted cargos descending on their own parachutes. Even Jorge got in on the action with a couple of spools of different configurations and flight characteristics. A very busy but successful outing that brought a lot of excitement to many families.
Motor Ignition Counts:
- 1/4A – 2
- 1/2A – 5
- A – 44
- B – 82
- C – 63
- D – 9
- E – 2
October 22nd Dawsonville Launch Report
On a windy and cloudless blue sky October morning twenty participants gathered at Herb Belins field near Dawsonville to launch sixty-nine rockets, cones, spinning saucers, and a cat. Yes, a cat named Fray Dee Cat on a D12-3, which was just one of Kevin Scholberg’s (who else?) Halloween themed creations. Did it fly well? Did it land on its feet? Did it survive? Well, that’s subjective. Kevin’s Black Web on a D12-0 and a large Spider on a C6-0 looked awesome. Also less scary but quite remarkable was David Cain’s Honest John launched on a G76-7 with a tether release set for 300’. David also launched a Mega Der Red Max on a G76-4 with a tether release as did Kevin Boyd with his Mega Blue Max on a G64-4 also set for 300’ chute deployment. Those tether releases kept recoveries much closer for less walking in windy situations. Kevin B. also launched his Cricket on a G80-4 and his Saturn V on a E20-4 while Steve Bellio brought out his 9” Pyramid of Doom with a G71-4R for boost. There were many great flights, and yes, some had to take a long walk, but the day and the view from the field was spectacular.
Today’s motor ignition counts:
- A – 4
- B – 16
- C – 34
- D – 10
- E – 5
- F – 2
- G – 5
October Mill Springs Launch
We managed to eek out fifty flights Saturday at Mill Springs Academy, despite all the wind from the back-side of Hurricane Matthew.
A scout troop came out early before the winds really got started, and they provided the majority of the flights for the day, flying a lot of Estes CrossFires and Estes Comet Chasers on a variety of motors from A to C, and got most of them back, by jumping the trees to the south and using that field as the recovery area.
The launch was notable in that almost all flyers were newbies (to our launches, at least), though David Sleeman and son Michael stopped by to make a couple of flights. William Bercini drove up from Macon to help Roy out with running the launch. Lee Childers was one of the first timers, though he’s obviously got some building skills as he showed off a nice Mercury Redstone with detail wrap from Accur8.com (Understandably, Lee wasn’t willing to fly that beautiful model in yesterday’s wind!), and flew a couple of rockets decorated for his daughter including a Der Pink Max decorated with a Hello Kitty skull and crossbones!
Gabriel brought out a box of odd-rocs including a Sputnik, a Dare To Be Square, and a Vortico or two, and Lee Miller flew his Applewhite Priority Stealth. Just the types of rockets to fly in higher winds for assured recovery.
Here are the motor counts:
- 1/2A – 2
- A – 14
- B – 18
- C – 13
- D – 1
- E – 2
Join us in two weeks for a launch at the Ball Ground field, where hopefully the winds will be less and we’ll be able to get some high altitudes.
September Lilly Launch Report
(from William Bercini)
Mother Nature gave us a break from the oppressive heat just in time for the September Lilly launch. The weather conditions were nearly ideal for on Saturday, even the gnats gave us a bit of a break! Some thirty-one folks, young and old, posted flights that first day. Among the young folks participating was Login Davin. This was Login’s first visit to a SoAR launch. Assisted by his adult mentor, Lee Greenway, he spent most of the day working on “Project Hijinx”. Using a simple altitude tracking device, he collected data on the same rocket using three different nose cone shapes: conical, ogive, and elliptical. We wish him well on his science project.
The rest of us were not being quite so serious. And speaking of “not-so- serious”, our own Kevin Scholberg posted what was perhaps the most unusual flight of the day. He had flight-converted a $3 “flying disk” toy. But taking it to the next level, he CHAD-staged it with two C6-0 motors. In spite of some naysayers, the whirling disk put in beautiful flight. But Kevin was not alone when it came to creative designs. Chevis White had a small fleet of beautifully crafted original designs. Among them was his scratch bird, “The Squid”. It featured tube stabilizers and a canted cluster motor configuration (a la Fliskits Deuce). Its maiden flight on two E28 motors was a sight to behold. (more…)