Scott,

That's a real bummer. That fin can with it's perfect fillets was gorgeous. Shame to lose one like that.

One of the club members' common motto about charges.... "Blow it
apart, or blow it up"

Oh I still have the fin can!!! Crushed right up to it!! Joe said build the next one just like that! I think it Popped the casing right out the back.
Ill clean up the casing tomorrow and check it out.

That J350 ran--- well it was cool!!!

se

Oh and PS--- Joe acutally seamed to relish the fact that I missed one on the test!!! I thought the question was more of opinoin than fact any way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So there!!!!

Scotte

Oh please Bruce tell me how many times, it will make me feel better!!!!

Crap, if it makes you feel better... 🙄 Just don't tell anybody. It took me three rockets and got my L1 on the FIFTH attempt. Used the same rocket, GLR's Vertical Assault, on both L1 and L2. L2 took two attempts. L1: 1) The nosecone popped off, used nylon screws after that (not as shear pins in this case) just to keep the nose cone from popping off, 2) I shot the motor casing out (AND have always used positive retention since, good lesson!), 3) Broke a nylon harness, always use Kevlar now (though the Event Horizon used a 2" nylon harness, I think), 4) I zippered, and had never done that before, 5) First flight with the Vertical Assault nailed it. If I had used a LOC IV and a 29mm casing that I had on hand, I most likely would have gotten L1 the first time. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. 😉 But I did get my L3 on the first attempt. Had I not learned from all those failures, I definitely wouldn't have. Wouldn't change what's happened to me. Period. Great journey!

OK

I feel a lot better.

scotte

"I personally love the Rocket Rage chutes as they are (((small packing))), higher performance chutes that are tough and will get your bird back home nice and soft."

So Conway I think these will be in the next one!

Scott e

Hey

I just thought of somthing! I still have the Booster section and some extra quntum tubing! Im damn ready to go for a single deployment. 🙂

Scotte

If it's any consolation, while I got my L1 first try, it took me 5 tries to get my L2. Along the way I lost one rocket (probable successful cert, but it never has been found), core sampled another so hard the paint jumped off, lost another dual deploy that turned up 16 months later, CATO'd the J350 on yet another due to rushing myself and pinching an o-ring at the forward closure, and finally cert'd perfectly on the maiden flight of my first carbon fiber rocket. It also took me three tries to pass the test. I was in a rush, hadn't studied sufficiently and also got a tad nervous. By the way, I failed on the same question all three times.

Warren

"I personally love the Rocket Rage chutes as they are (((small packing))), higher performance chutes that are tough and will get your bird back home nice and soft."

So Conway I think these will be in the next one!

Scott e

Good choice - they're wonderful chutes 🙂

My first L2 failure was that stuck chute. I was in a hurry, too, and just jammed it in and figured I ground tested, so it'll be good. Wasn't. Why? Because when I ground tested, I didn't jam it in. NEVER CHANGE ANYTHING! Now, I won't fly anything until I'm damn sure I've done everything humanly possible to ensure a safe flight. There's that 95% "in your control" rule that people discuss. Short version: you can only do so much, 95%, the other 5% is "luck" or "good fortune," because things can and do happen that you couldn't possibly plan on. A motor casing that has always been on target CATO's, you couldn't plan on that sudden gust of wind, and chute doesn't always happen. 😉 Scott, I know there are more, but the ones I know who aced their L1 and L2 first time are JW and Ken Plattner. And, Art Hoag who aced all three on his 18th birthday! All different journeys and experiences. I really enjoyed Ken Plattner's L2. It was a perfect flight, dual deploy, and it was coming in close. So Ken heads out after it, a natural instinctual thing to do. Joe Hinton and I were certifying him and yelled out, "Don't catch it!" He didn't, and he maybe he wasn't going to. But he was running awfully fast. 🙂 Remember that, if you catch your cert flight, you're DQ'd. Catching a high power rocket, regardless of size, is never a good idea. 8) I think the thing to remember is what Joe Hinton says, "Have fun!"

An aside, Scott, Dennis Billings zippered his L2 Quantum tube bird at Oktoberfest this year. Go with carbon fibered phenolic. Your choice though.

😀 All 3 but not on the same day. So did James..

All 3 but not on the same day. So did James..

Not surprised. I was there for your L3. Sweet!

I'm intrigued with certifying all three levels in the same day on the same rocket. Art, are you going to try that again? I know a couple of others who have done it... I'd say maybe an I600, a J-something, and a ittsy bittsy M 🙂

Another deal that interests me is doing 100K in a day on the same rocket by myself. That would be *tough* and it would take a lot of luck. I think the only way to do it would be a perfect day at Black Rock with 3 or 4 boosts of a minimum diameter M. It would be a serious dent in the old checking account, too 😯

I'm intrigued with certifying all three levels in the same day on the same rocket. Art, are you going to try that again?

JW, I'm wondering about that, too. One, mostly for Art; the other for selfish reasons. I just received a PR Intimidator 5. I wonder about the integrity of Curtis' G-10 tubes. Never had a problem, and the ones I received today (FedEx... evidently, delivers on Sundays, hope my wife didn't see that when she went to work this morning... note to self: florist...) look sound, even more so than the ones I used before. Art, it's obvious you didn't zipper and that the tubing split, I "think," when the main charge ignited. Did you ground test with no difficulty?

100k in a day. JW, only you could do that. How about just one humongus rocket? Or, use that O minimum diameter you just had a very successful flight with? 8)

100K in a day has already been done - by an NCR team. A single 38mm rocket, a group of NCR folks, and free 38mm motors from Cesaroni made it happen... There is a photo gallery about it in the Photo Album.

Warren