LAUNCH! N.E.F.A.R., Bunnell, FL, March 24, 2018

WOW! What great weather.
This was a re-schedule for the postponed March 10 launch. Not many fliers today, probably one third of the normal crowd. They missed out on the best weather of the year. Clear skies and very little wind.


My first launch of the Estes CURVILINEAR was with a Chinese made Quest B6-4. Very fast off the launcher and better than normal altitude. Some were curious what engine was used.

Everything went well today, I launched the Curvilinear a second time with an Estes B6-4. The speed and altitude was not as good as the earlier Quest B6-4!




Here's the second launch of the New Way FIRECAT 4 with an Estes C6-5.
Great textbook launch to about 600 feet. There's another New Way model, the Demon N20 on the adjacent pad.







Chris Hubbard didn't get a full open parachute on his Estes Orange Crush recovery. He found out why when it was picked up.
At ejection the rocket punched right through the parachute. That's something you don't see everyday!






I really like the Quest STILETTO with 24mm engines.
An Estes D12-5 took it to 500'. At ejection the nose cone and body separated. Both ends landed close together. The 1/4" elastic shock cord was crunchy and broke at the Kevlar tie. The body fell flat with no damage.






I hadn't launched my upscale Estes TEROS in a while. This build used the plastic champagne glass nose cones from the Dollar Tree store.
I was lucky with the E9-4 launch, there were two other E9 CATOs today. That's probably why Estes is discontinuing the engine production.
This model reached an estimated 750 feet.






It's always great to see stable fights of your kits!
Left: Jim's first flight of his Odd'l F-104 with an A8-3.
Right: Chris flew her Pigasus with a C6-5.








That's Jimmy Yawn. Jimmy shoots the great videos and stills you see on the NEFAR website.
He followed this one through the entire flight right up until it landed at his feet!







My best launch of the day was the Estes SKY DART with an Estes C6-3.
At 100 feet up it went 45 degrees to the north east. After ejection it stabilized and gave me my best boost glide to date. I would guess it got to 250 feet, the fast wide circular glide lasted about 30 seconds.
Six up, six down with just a shock cord break. A great day!