Many thanks to everyone who helped - and especially John Bixler. I'm going to rename him John 'Bloodhound' Bixler. We walked nearly 19 miles yesterday and once he found the faintest signal were able to walk to it. The signal was 3 miles from where it was first picked up.
The coordinates were N40* 57.024', W104* 37.174'
A map of our journey is at:
www.alphahybrids.com/Media/L3Find.pdf
A note about the terrain we walked. If you do not have an active transmitter the canyons they will eat your rocket. The phrase yesterday was 'Just over the next hill' and when we would top the hill it would be a box canyon that was 30'-50' deep, narrow and not a place you'd want to land your rocket. The canyons over there will eat your rocket They have many narrow fingers filled with scrub brush where you cannot see into. We were very fortunate to get signal - the box canyon was facing north and about 50' wide, 40' deep and the rocket was strewn down one side. It would have been very hard to see from above because tumbleweeds had already tangled the parachute and started to devour it.
Walking the canyons I can still believe that Bdale's rocket is still out there...somewhere.
The plus of the canyons is the view is stunning. If I were to go back I would definitely bring my camera...and more water 🙂
As for completing my L3 cert the rocket isn't flyable. I have about a 2" zipper in the drogue compartment and bent a fin (.125 aluminum) on landing. Both chutes were out so all events happened. I didn't get the altitude I was expecting (19940') but the speed was faster than I anticpated (Mach 1.7).
Again, thanks to all who helped.
Edward
Congratulations! And I thought I went for a long hike. You and John must be beat.
Wow, that heading is a lot farther North than was thinking. This puts a new spin on things for where I think I should look tomorrow. Was your boost dead vertical, or did it have some direction to it that you remember? Do you have recorded altitude vs. time that I could use to refine my estimate? Thanks for any additional info.
-Adrian
The RRC2 Mini records altitude, time to apogee, and velocity in fps. I do not know anything else. Those canyons north are quicksand for rockets.
The rocket had a slight S x SW boost on it. Not a lot, maybe 2-3 degrees.
Edward
Wow.
Congrats on finding it, Ed! Sorry to hear it was banged up enough to negate a cert, but at least you got the pieces back to try again with!
That's certainly farther north than I ever looked for YikStik.
Bdale
Ed
I walked throught the 1st gulch that you did to retrieve a rocket. It ended up being about 1 mile north of the rifle range that was out there on Sunday. I was equally impressed with the rugged landscape and the narrow arroyos. I am glad you found the rocket. Sorry it was not in better shape to get your L3.
Thanks again for your help on the hybrid pad!
D Krohn
How did that flight go? What motor did you use?
Edward
My hybrid went 7500' on a Contrail L1428. It landed 300 yds from the launch.
The hike I went on was for a 2" carbon bird built by Sean Serell. It launched on a CTI L990 and went an altitude that was just under the waiver.. Thank you GPS or it would never have been found.
D Krohn
My hybrid went 7500' on a Contrail L1428. It landed 300 yds from the launch.
The hike I went on was for a 2" carbon bird built by Sean Serell. It launched on a CTI L990 and went an altitude that was just under the waiver.. Thank you GPS or it would never have been found.
D Krohn
Did that one have a yellow-green chute also? When I was out looking on Sunday we saw one on the ground in the distance but it was too big to be mine.
Still, a tremendous boost and I'm thrilled you recoverd the bird. Looking forward to seeing it fly again in July.
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