flights in order rockets: engines: -------------------------------- Vaughn Bros. Spudnik A3-4T Quest HL-20 B6-2 Estes Skywinder B6-2 Quest DC-Y C5-3 Estes CATO B6-0 Estes Skywinder C5-3 Vaughn Bros. Spudnik A10-3T Estes CATO B6-0 Quest DC-Y C5-3
The HL-20 was flying its fourth flight. I hoped I had finally trimmed it so it wouldn't "Steve Austin" into the ground again like it had on its first three flights. However, the boost portion of the flight was less than optimal... it took off almost due south at a forty-five degree angle... the engine ejected and it actually glided... right into the upper limbs of an oak tree. Argh! Now I'll have to build another one, as all recovery attempts failed. I think one of the problems with the boost phase is that the launch lug is not parallel to the thrust vector. I may try a through-the-shroud lug on the next one... I don't think that a lug-sized hole in the front will affect the glide characteristics all that much.
The Skywinder was pretty neat. Both times it nosed over and spun right down. By this time the spectators (my parents, brother, sisters and nephews) were saying, "Don't you have anything with a parachute in it?"
Enter the DC-Y: great flight on a C5-3 CATOmeister. This is now my w.g. of choice for this model (I like living on the edge...). Apparently I haven't learned to properly pack a parachute: the bottom chute was fused into a lump of plastic by the ejection charge (yes, I used wadding!) and tangled with the nose cone chute. Luckily, it returned to the primary landing sight and was retrieved by aerial capture before it smacked into the ground.
Next up was the CATO. Of course, for maximum effect I didn't say anything except, "Here's another rocket." Nice response from the 'crowd' when it fell apart in mid-air. It _is_ a pain to reassemble for reflight, though.
The final flight was the the DC-Y again. No fused chute, although the nose cone parachute got tangled with the shock cord and the whole mass came down on the main parachute. It landed outside of the primary recovery area with no damage. I'm going to quit packing the nose cone chute below the main chute. The kevlar cord on the main chute severed the shroud lines of the nose cose chute. The first few times I flew this rocket, I didn't have any problem with this arrangement...
Unfortunately, it was too overcast to fly the Astrocam. Maybe next time...
Sven Knudson, NAR#63297 sven@ninfinger.org