Tampa TTRA Launch, February 18, 2012

I almost didn't make the drive to the Tampa TTRA launch on Saturday.
Back in Orlando there was low cloud cover and a 50% chance of rain predicted for the afternoon. I had visions of my car stuck being stuck in the mud.
Arriving at the Plant City launch site, the cloud cover looked to be much higher.

The launch shots are a little fuzzy, overcast skies don't help much with automatic exposures.



One of the funnier and successful flights of the day was L.B.'s EVIL BERT knock-off with a D12-5.
When Bert turned over at Apogee it looked like his arms were flailing.
Beautiful work and a very stable flight!







The SCAVENGER had it's maiden flight on a D12-5.
This engine seems to be a perfect "low end" match with an estimated altitude of 650'.






Mike Nipper flew his big EASTER EGG with a Road Runner F45.
The plan was to load it with smaller prize filled eggs on streamers that would eject at apogee. The kids could hunt for eggs when the field was given the "all clear".

At 25 feet up it went unstable and landed with no damage.
Mike planned to add more nose weight and fly it again.




Lonnie had his ANGRY BIRD in the air with a C6-5.
This is a perfect subject for a GooneyBird, both topical and funny.
All the decor is printed paper, cut and glued in place. It's applied so well, you'd think they were water slide decals!





I rarely fly gliders, I've lost too many over the years.
Today the winds were low and the Sky CONDOR was prepped with an A8-3.
While an A6-4 is a recommended engine, that delay is too long.
I pulled a Raise Spring from my range box to hold the pod at the right height.

The Chinese tung wood model had a 31 second duration. It was a fast glide with a tighter circle than I would have liked. I'll take off a little clay from the right wing tip and it'll have a final trim.

My also flowns:
Dr. Zooch TITAN IIIC with a C6-5. Big altitude under flame fins.
Odd'l Rockets BREAKAWAY with a C6-5. Open Rocket gave it an estimated altitude of 972 feet. At ejection, the 135 lb. Kevlar broke between the two lowest sections! This was a prototype with many, many flights on it. As we've seen before, Kevlar isn't flame proof and can break after exposure to numerous ejection charges. No damage on recovery.
Custom NOMAD with an Estes C6-5. Very stable and surprisingly good height considering the blunt, draggy nose cone.
Downscale carded MMX CLOUD HOPPER. For the first time, this one went unstable! No damage after nose-blow recovery. I'll be checking the nose weight to see what went wrong, it's always flown straight before.