Launch! Orlando R.O.C.K., June 4, 2016

Wow, it was HOT!
Winds were low and the forecast of rain never happened. A good turnout with lots of tents for quick shade.

After adding 1/10th ounce more of clay I was hoping for a more level glide from the Centuri X-24 BUG.
Launched with an Estes B6-2 engine it had a good straight boost and a loud shotgun ejection. Apogee was estimated at 100'.
After a couple of tight flips it settled into its glide phase. There was a few stalls so half of the new clay will be trimmed off.
Enough of a glide to be a success. The C6-3 will be used on the next flight.

Zachery and Paul Rogers joined us today.
Their Estes Star Trooper was fast and high off the pad with an A3-4t engine.
They got it back and played if safe on the next launch with a 1/2A.





My Odd'l BREAKAWAY had a straight high boost with an Estes B6-4.
Apogee was an estimated 450 feet. At ejection we could see the fins were falling separate from the segmented body parts.
The 150 lb. Kevlar broke through above the fin can! This prototype has been through more than a dozen flights, I've never had this thickness of Kevlar burn through before.






Tom Tweit flew a favorite, The Estes Dude.
As goofy as this flying balloon is, everybody stops to watch it fly.
When the wind was calm we saw a nice slow boost with a D12-3 to 150 feet.
The small 12" parachute kept it mostly horizontal on recovery.






The old Quest X-30 SPACE PLANE was boosted with an Estes C6-3, my biggest engine and best launch of the day.
Apogee was a staggering 450 feet.
The recovery is rigged so it should have recovered in a horizontal fall but the string broke and it came down under parachute like any other rocket.






This picture might make Carl Cambell's day.
Alex Irizarry's flew three RSR rockets, two Deltas and an Atlas.
All had flawless flights with 24mm engines.





This time I remembered to glue in the nose cone on my Centuri FLUTTER-BY.
It got plenty high with just an A8-3, hard to follow as it flew directly into the sun.
Ejection separated both halves by a few hundred feet. I picked up the nose and walked downrange to find the rear red section.
We were joking about "watching our steps" in the high grass, not to crush the small back end. I ended up stepping on my own rocket, cracking a fin at the root edge!

A funny finish to a hot day. Four launched, four recovered and a little repair work to do.