Tampa Area T.T.R.A. Launch February 19, 2011

Here's just a few of the spectators that came out to watch the rockets fly yesterday at the T.T.R.A. Tampa launch.

I've never liked the term "rocketeer".
Terry Johnson hit the nail on the head by calling today's gathering a "Gaggle of geeks".

Manuel Mejia flew his CINEROC 21.
There's a video camera peeking out the other side of this scratch built booster.

Manuel was here to cover the launch for the Rocketry Planet website. His scratch builds were just that - true scratch builds. Great builds and great fliers.

Here's a few of Brian Urban's fleet.

His workmanship is beautiful, check out the new PERSHING. The nose cone is epoxy strengthened card stock. It flew with a F35.

Astron Mike knows gliders. He builds light and consistently gets competition worthy durations with his rear-eject pod gliders.

That's my Dyna Star LEXXJET next to one of Mike's gliders before it flew with a D12-3 engine.




Today we saw blue skies and calm winds. I don't think anybody lost a model. Most everything landed close, within walking distance.
Everything was great until about 2:30 p.m.

A fast wind gust raised a few tents and sent flight cards everywhere. A few fliers tried to hold down the central RSO but to no avail.

It was a scary thirty seconds. Nobody could believe how fast the wind came up. It quickly died down and flights resumed.

Lonnie Buchanon flew some of his 35 year old rockets. That original ALPHA is from the early 1970s. Even the parachutes were from that era. He also flew a vintage Estes Citation QUASAR.


To the left of Lonnie's Alpha is my JOLLY ROGER with the "planked" fin. It flew with two parallel clustered C6-5s.

Joe Lapore's WARHEAD rocket loomed over the site throughout the day.
Although I didn't see it fly, it was an impressive scratch build.







This last picture is another glider from Astron Mike, based on the old Estes Intruder.
The difference is, Mike's INTRUDER boosts straight and actually glides - smooth, flat and LONG!
He's simplified the Estes design and lengthened the boom for a vertical boost.

Also launched:
The Dr. Zooch SATURN V with a Estes C6-5. Good high boost, lost a fin on recovery.
The Sun CONDOR Boost Glider pulled a 25 second glide with a Quest A6-4.
The Odd'l Rockets CYCLONE helicoptered for a good 20 seconds with an Estes 1/2A3-2t engine.
My GOBLIN Clone kicked with a C6-5 and long streamer recovery.
And finally, a new UP! CUP went unstable with a Estes C6-3. I don't know what happened, it''s been a reliable flier in both 13mm and 18mm versions. This is a new, slightly revised build, I'll double check it against the original before flying it again.