John A. Wilke

"I'll bite"... That IS a good pun. Ha! There are two kits that are stellar for L3 - the Competitor 4 and Intimidator 4. They are $199 and $219 respectively. Both are 4" diameter and 75mm motor mou...

Ken, that is a very good point (about battery mounts). I don't trust them anymore. I use black tape and call it good, even on the most aggressive of boosts...

Gosh, that makes me want to let my certification lapse so I can do the L3 thing again! By the way, not to horn in here, but 3 Dogs has some killer kits that would fit this scenario nicely 🙂 Get an al...

I didn't have a drogue. None. Just shock cord. When you get into 250 knot winds, you have issues.... I can count on one hand the number of times I've used a drogue chute or streamer. I typically co...

I landed 7.28 miles from the flight line. Never once lost signal. It was about 2 inches from where the GPS said it was 8) I'd never have looked within 4 miles of where I landed had I been using a t...

Indeed, it was a real treat to have Jeroen visit us! As most Americans (me included) can't roll our R's, I suggested "Dr. J" and it stuck. By the way, the "doctor" has a PhD in physics, so "Dr. J" i...

Congrats to Edward Wranofsky, Chris Frazier, Steve Frazier, and Warren Musselman for going 4-for-4 on on their L3s on Saturday. I know there were a couple others who wanted to attempt as well, but th...

After relying solely (and successfully) on transmitters for many years, I used a DC20 on my minimum diameter M shot last year. I was back at the flight line in thirty minutes. I used it by itself, n...

Actually, it was indeed a Garmin "Doggie Collar" unit that Mike K. had issues with... I"m not sure if it was a DC20 or DC30? It was in very close proximity to his other electronics, and they were not...

75 GRAINS ?? What is that?! One of those Wimpy Girly Guns?! 😯We have always used 110 grains 8)And If there aint a big fog bank, after you fire, how do you get any protection from the enemy? Actual...

Curiousity got the best of me, so I looked up my muzzleloader info. I use 75 grains of 777 Pyrodex in my gun. "777" is considered to be the premium material as it has less smoke, less fouling, etc. ...

Surgical tubing works waaaaaaaaay higher than 25K. The Q project had surgical tubing charges that provided separation at over 59,000'. Unfortunately, the rocket was coming out of mach right about th...

This alphabet thing could get interesting... While this is not the official recap, I *think* I'm in the lead, having completed an L flight. I know Mark S. and Dennis B. are going to try to fly K, L,...

I don't do anything different under 20K. Above that, I use two zip ties at each end (4 ties total per charge) just in case one ruptures. I would worry a wee bit about a hose clamp cutting a tiny hol...

That is a GREAT number. I'm always proud of how low mine is (#6983) and then I remind myself that if I divided my number by ten, it'd still be higher than Doug G's....