07/08/2020
It sounds like the Independence Day launch was very successful. For those of you such as myself who missed it, the following launch report was posted by Wolf.
Seventeen fliers, some with their families, flew rockets all day long at the Harmon Field. The day was sunny and hot, with a deceptive north breeze that seemed to be stronger than it was. Your author started off the day with a clone of an Estes Goblin on a D12-7 to test the winds. The rocket landed in the short grass next to the parking lot. That flight sort of set the benchmark for the rest of the day as the winds aloft proved to be very light compared to surface conditions. We enjoyed excellent flying conditions all day.
Gary and John E. got started at 10:00 sharp and kept at it until closing time. Gary demonstrated a device that he created to make hooking up clusters easier and checking each motor for continuity separately. I have never seen such a device. He should consider building more of them and selling. By 11:00, more people started arriving. Jeff K. stopped by to drop off MTMA membership cards. These are very nice, and if you want yours see me at the next launch. Jim and Cornelius were there making some recordings for the Rocketry Show. Corny needed to capture model rocketry sounds for the new The Model Rocket Show. Jim was beta testing a new version of the FlightSketch Mini altimeter and recording his observations for the show. Nico flew a lot of rockets out of a big box of rockets that his grandfather found at a garage sale. Talk about winning the jackpot! Nico was joined by his friends, Owen and Elijah, who were visiting an MTMA launch for the first time with their family. We hope to see them again at our next launch. New MTMA members Michael, Oliver, and Kathryn flew a lot of rockets. The BAR force seemed strong with Michael. Their enthusiasm was catching. Chris P. of NOTRA fame joined us for a few hours of great flying. John U. flew a bunch of E and F powered rockets. I flew an old Estes Rattler rocket on a D21-7 and got it back. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Benjamin and Nathan H. made many flights on the same two rockets. One of was flown so much that it suffered a separation, but we managed to find all the pieces. It will fly again. Casey flew a Star Orbiter on an F67 that was too easily recovered for such a high flight. Casey also flew a Mach 1 kit (not sure of the name) on an F39 reload. In the “who flew the G” department, Jon G. flew an NCR Archer on a G78-7. The motor made a curious sound as it came up to pressure before blasting skyward with green flame. Jon came close to losing this large rocket because the grass was so tall. The other G flight was a venerable NCR Big Brute flown by your venerable author on a G80-7. The high flight was easily recovered not far from the pads.
By 5:30 we had had enough and packed up. We lost a few small rockets in the tall grass and had only two or three rockets drift across the street. Even the far drifters were recovered. It was a great day for flying.
Flight totals for those of you who like lists of numbers were as follows:
1/4A - 0
1/2A - 3
A - 4
B - 25
C - 14
D - 11
E - 4
F - 8
G - 2
TOTAL - 71
