Doesn't look like Chris had a good weekend... in fact, looks like he might need some heavy equipment to get all that prairie out of the airframe... hope you didn't sustain too much damage and you got an altitude out of it.

Warren: it shredded on the way up. Apparently, a PR 5 inch nosecone isn't terribly happy at mach 2.2.

(My fins stayed on though :D)

Warren: it shredded on the way up. Apparently, a PR 5 inch nosecone isn't terribly happy at mach 2.2.

(My fins stayed on though :D)

Any videos of the flight? It looks from one of those pictures that the forward end of the motor might have got messed up...was there any damage to the case?

Did you get data? I wouldn't have thought it possible for a nosecone to fail before a tube or coupler, but I guess anything is possible. Maybe we could see what altitude it was at, and look for wind shear in the balloon data?

My sympathies Chris... hope you do better next time. Such is what happens in the amatuer rocketry world when you push the limits.

Did you get data? I wouldn't have thought it possible for a nosecone to fail before a tube or coupler, but I guess anything is possible. Maybe we could see what altitude it was at, and look for wind shear in the balloon data?

If you can get data off of this, it would be pretty incredible:

As for the failure, I found enough pieces to be sure that the complete electronics bay and everything below it was intact on impact. The upper tube and nosecone were missing. I doubt the tube failed without the coupler (e-bay) failing as well, and the tube should be under less stress than the nose, hence my assumption that the nose failed. The failure happened, as best I can tell, at around mach 2.2 at around 4500 feet. I'm more sure of the speed than the altitude. The fins are still attached solidly though, and the booster is pretty much intact. The casing is toast though. I might talk to Jeroen, and see if it can be cut down - the damage is all to the front of the case, so maybe it could be cut, rethreaded, and I could have a usable 5 or 6 grain casing. It's definitely never going to be flown as a 6xl again though.

Dragons would be envious of the flame on that N5800, Wow, what a boost! Great daily pictures Mike, you sure have some neat rockets.
Had a great time flying and hanging out with you all.
Until we fly again!

Wow 😯 That musta been expensive. ➡ 😥

Did you get data? I wouldn't have thought it possible for a nosecone to fail before a tube or coupler, but I guess anything is possible. Maybe we could see what altitude it was at, and look for wind shear in the balloon data?

If you can get data off of this, it would be pretty incredible:

Looks like the data already came off of it 😥

So everything forward of the av-bay is missing? What about the chute? Was this in a standard configuration with nosecone/airframe&chute/av-bay/drogue/motor?

Did you get data? I wouldn't have thought it possible for a nosecone to fail before a tube or coupler, but I guess anything is possible. Maybe we could see what altitude it was at, and look for wind shear in the balloon data?

If you can get data off of this, it would be pretty incredible:

Looks like the data already came off of it 😥

So everything forward of the av-bay is missing? What about the chute? Was this in a standard configuration with nosecone/airframe&chute/av-bay/drogue/motor?

Yep, everything forward of the av-bay is missing. The main chute was seen floating towards cheyenne at about a mile. The rocket was basically a standard configuration, exactly as you described.

Warren: it shredded on the way up. Apparently, a PR 5 inch nosecone isn't terribly happy at mach 2.2.

(My fins stayed on though :D)

Is that a fiberglass nose cone? Renforced on the inside?

Fiberglass, yes, but no reinforcement. It was just a glass nosecone stock from PR. It's been up to ~M1.5 3 times before, and M1.8 once, and never had any issues. Apparently, 2.2 was too much though.

Fiberglass, yes, but no reinforcement. It was just a glass nosecone stock from PR. It's been up to ~M1.5 3 times before, and M1.8 once, and never had any issues. Apparently, 2.2 was too much though.

Well..........maybe it just fell off! 😉

Perhaps stress fractures from repeated Mach+ flights made it ready to fall apart.