Shredder,

I launched from the red pad right next to the tower at the away cell at about 9:30 Sunday morning and went to 16K. Here is the track log from the DC-20:

Shredder,
I had a flight at about 9:50 am on Sunday that went to 33,000 AGL, ended up about 2 miles NNE about 1/2 mile past the ATV draw area. I was out there again on Thursday doing some shovel recovery and didn't see anything in that immediate area though. Hope you find it. -Sean

I had the forward section of my Little Dog (booster separated...) with my GPS in it (luckily) head east over the windmill. I drove around and parked at the windmill and headed east on foot across the valley due east, bit north, almost across the little valley there.

I ran into another rocket person walking back along the same line with a big rocket over his shoulder and two children in tow. I believe his name was Doug Krohn ??

I picked my bird up about 1.9 miles out from the windmill. Unlimbered by the booster's absence, it was air born for at least 8 minutes. It suffered a premature main deployment at 10,500 feet. It may not simulate the higher winds, but it went pretty much due east and slightly north from the launch area.

It appears to have landed due east of Kens landing spot. So it appears to be a trend.

Hope this helps. It went up around 1:00 PM I think.

Wondering if anyone knows what the wind direction was sunday at MHM from 10:00 to 11:00 from 10,000 feet AGL to 20,000 AGL. I lost GPS tracking of my rocket at about 21,000 feet AGL and have no idea which direction I should start looking for it. Any tips would be great!

What kind of a tracker was it? Where was the last fix?

My J shot that went to 22,328 at about 3:00 had a little launch angle to the SE, and landed 2 miles ESE of the pad, a couple hundred yards North of the road.

Ken, is the blue line you're showing a 3-D view, or the ground track? North of the site, the boundary between the Pawnee National Grassland and Bob Wagner's private property is the road just north of where the Google Earth picture changes from purplish to greenish. Somewhere to the East the boundary jogs North a mile. Joe Hinton and I have Bob Wagner's phone number in case we need to retrieve a rocket from his property. His response to a retrieval request has ranged from intrigued and "thanks for asking" to irritated and "three rockets in 2 days is too many." Everyone, let's minimize the rockets that land off of the grassland (including angling the launch rods as appropriate) and always ask before going onto his property.

Adrian: that's a 3d view. It's a bit easier to see when you're actually in google earth.

I used the Dog Collar GPS that some club members are in on. My last fix was 1.5 miles WSW of the launch site at 21,600 feet AGL. I’m not quite sure if my main deployed or drogue only. The last three readings from the 3D track have the rocket actually increases in altitude by about 100 hundred feet, which makes me believe my main was out.

I used the Dog Collar GPS that some club members are in on. My last fix was 1.5 miles WSW of the launch site at 21,600 feet AGL. I’m not quite sure if my main deployed or drogue only. The last three readings from the 3D track have the rocket actually increases in altitude by about 100 hundred feet, which makes me believe my main was out.

Interesting. That's the first I've heard of a tracking problem with the dog collar. Was this a Kestrel?

Does the last fix make sense based on where the rocket was heading from the pads and the rest of the data from the flight? If so, that's a good Western boundary for your search considering the winds. I have found that the plateau to the SW of the pads requires a lot of walking across it in order to rule it out, since there isn't a good vantage point to see the whole thing at once. Make sure it's not tucked into one of the subtle folds up there.

Considering that nobody turned it in on Sunday or Monday, it's not likely to be in the main valley that the launch site is in, unless your rocket and chute is grass-colored. What color are they, by the way?

Chad showed a site once that had the wind forecast map; maybe we can pull up some historical model data. But I do remember the upper level winds being mostly West to East, with the lower level winds mostly from the South. My dual-deploy bird that went to 22k on Sunday afternoon landed about 1.5 miles E from apogee. It was only on the main chute for 15 seconds. So a lot depends on whether you think the main came out at apogee. If it didn't, it could be on the plateau W of the pads. If it did, it could be miles further East, in the area where I was looking for my rocket before I picked up the signal again.

Here is a website for the Denver winds that day:

http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=naconf&TYPE=TEXT%3ALIST&YEAR=2010&MONTH=05&FROM=3012&TO=3100&STNM=72469

Adrian and I put together a spreadsheet to calculate wind drift. I can help you get a search area, but first— was the boost straight or do you have an estimated lean (direction and angle)? Second, what is the decent rate under drogue? What is it under main?

Chad Moore

Interesting. That's the first I've heard of a tracking problem with the dog collar. Was this a Kestrel?

This was a custom, 3" min-dia rocket (not a KestreL)

Okay so we went over the data again and this is what I have found out.

First Leg of Tracking: After lift off I didnt get another reading for 30 seconds. Its distance was 1.3miles going 245 degrees true at a speed of 159mph (Horizontal speed)

Second Leg: Second reading was 5 seconds later at 27011 feet (At Sea Level) the leg was 475 feet long going 247 Degrees true at 65 Mph

Third leg: Third reading was 5 seconds later at 27115 feet (Minor increase in altitude) the leg was 441 feet long going 312 degrees true at 60 mph

Fourth leg: Incomplete

I lost signal between 1-4 seconds after the third leg. From the GPS turning off which is extremely odd because of how I secured the GPS.

It obviously slowed down at the second leg but oddly changed direction. No parachute could be out and still moving 60MPH horizontally.

Do you have lat longs for any of those legs or do you have a simmed decent rate under drogue and main?

I have longitude and latitude for all

posting the raw data in KML (or whatever you can) might help some of these guys help you.