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Launch Reports
September 9, 2009

Rage at the Gage

Bob and I are back from the Rage at the Gage annual launch at CFB Gagetown, NB.  This was my first trip away from home (Orangeville) and I was not disappointed. Two days of clear, sunny skies and awesome flights.  We watched a flurry of model, mid-power, H, I, and J launches but the highlights for me were the complex and higher power rockets from K to L and even an N Skidmark on Sunday afternoon!

We flew all day both days from about 10am to 7pm. Bob flew his SunSeeker twice, the second time to over 10,500ft on an L Red Lightning main motor with 2 J airstarts followed by two I's. Recovery was well over a kilometer away! I flew my 3" Arielx on an I470 White Thunder, a neck-snapping flight to an estimated 3200ft. I was using motor deployment but it failed and came in ballistic. We did not find the remains. I recovered my dignity somewhat the next morning with a perfect launch and return of my Mustang Mach1 on an I287 Smoky Sam. Bob went and recovered it while I spotted with the radio from the flight line!

Some memorable moments included the launch of an L-powered screamer first thing Saturday morning; the awesome Dragon Farts flight later that afternoon; the double L4 certification attempt, a ½ scale Patriot on an M that was launched and recovered intact except for a damaged deployment piston and launched again 3 hours later and successfully recovered; Bob's SunSeeker with a big, bright red flame (the altitude record for the weekend, I think) and much more.

The Dream Weaver's much anticipated N flight was cut short, however. Seconds into the boost, just before the motor burn terminated, the forward airframe failed, probably as it went Mach. The pieces rained down like confetti as the booster punched through it and continued to climb to over 9000ft. In the aftermath, we tracked most of the recoverable sections back down, with the electronics, booster and motor sustaining only minor damage. We also had to run to put out several fires by the launch trailer that went unnoticed for a few minutes!

Coming home, I reflected on my losses and they're not so bad - a motor casing, an altimeter, a nice chute and all last winter's work. Damn, she flew like an arrow, fast and straight. Guess I'll have to rebuild it.

Rose Lisle
July 26, 2009

Club Launch

Those who risked the bad weather enjoyed a very successful launch with close to 30 rockets being launched through the day.

Despite ominous clouds all around us, weather on the field was mostly mixed sun and cloud, with a single thundershower which lasted about 20 minutes around midday.

It was a big day for saucers. Bob Pouliot and Rose Lisle each brought brand new carbon fibre saucers which they drag raced, first on CTI red thunder motors then on CTI sparkies. Rose later flew her saucer again on a green 3-grain pro-38. Kris C. also kept the crowd entertained with a series of flights with successively larger motors in various Qubits, ending on a G83 blue streak.

Congratulations go to Dan Stienhaur and new member Joe Suskin, each of whom attained their level one certifications today. Way to go guys!

Brian Brodersen
July 7, 2009

LDRS 28

LDRS 28 was a lot of fun, despite the shaky start. A number of NAPAS members made it down, including myself, Jim, Kathy, Lawrence, Len, Brian, Jeff, Kevin, Dave and Julian. I believe Angelo was going down Sunday afternoon, too, but the rest of us left by 4pm Sunday, and I didn't see Angelo before I left.

We set up a six-tent, 20 ft x 30 ft NAPAS compound, complete with our big NAPAS banner and a Canadian Flag wind sock. Other Canadian flyers we ran into on the field included Bill Wagstaff, Glenn Mitchell, Greg Parent and others from the Ottawa Rocketry Group. Former NAPAS member John Glac showed up, too, and we also met a potential new NAPAS member from Toronto, who spent most of the weekend hanging around with us (I was told by different people his name was either Joe or John).

We also got a chance to hang out with our Jackson friends, whom we've come to know from the Michigan Team-1 launches, a most friendly and generous bunch of rocketeers. In addition to catching up with other old friends, finally putting faces to names we've only seen in emails, and meeting some new people for the first time, it was a great event both socially and in terms of the rocketry.

Thursday

Most of us arrived on Thursday, to an unexpectedly messy field. With all the recent rains, the fields were soft and muddy, but the mile-long dirt road into the farmer's field was the big problem. They were letting only people with four-wheel drive vehicles into the field that day, so we all either walked in or caught a ride with Kathy or Lawrence, the only NAPAS members who brought 4x4's.  A small fleet of tractors were kept busy pulling people's trailers down to the field, and getting vehicles unstuck.

Some of us spent a few hours on the field, picking up motors and supplies from the few vendors who had made it down there. We scoped out our tent and parking sites, and setting up a few of our shade canopies, on a site that ended up being only a few "doors" down from the famous Gates Brothers and their huge rockets.  It turns out there had been a mistake made in getting the waiver approved, and
for Thursday at least there was an 8000' altitude limit, so most of us couldn't have flown our big rockets even if the weather had been better.

After doing some shopping, hanging out in the mud and rain for a few hours, and after Brian's car had been extracted from the mud by a friendly tractor driver he'd befriended named Bubba, we headed into town to check into our hotels and go to "Sticky Fingers", a local BBQ joint, for a late lunch. Then we came back and held a prep party in my and Jim's room, and later joined a tailgate party in the parking lot. When it started to rain we moved the party into the hotel lobby and ordered a sheet of pizza for a very late dinner.

Friday

Friday dawned much like Thursday, with low, dense clouds as far as the eye could see. Most of us skipped the sunscreen, and I even left my big rockets and most of my range gear in the hotel room. After breakfast at Denny's, we headed down to the field to see what was going on, and we were glad we did. Kathy and Lawrence brought their cars to the field, but Jim and Brian and I decided to take the hay wagon shuttle instead, loading all our tents, chairs, tarps and rockets onto a hay wagon for a ride to the field. Jeff and Len arrived later that day, and by then the field was dry enough for their front wheel drive vehicles to make it down to the field.

By noon the clouds were receding, giving us ample blue spots to aim for, and there was a fair bit of flying. The crowd was growing, more vendors had arrived, and it was shaping up to look like a rocket launch. The waiver situation had been approved, and the expected 15,000-foot standing waiver was
finally in place for Friday, but there would be no extended-altitude windows that day, so it was just as well I'd left my Bad Attitude back at the hotel.

Lawrence put a few big flights into the air, including his beautifully finished Talon 4" rocket on a K695, which was followed by a long muddy walk for recovery. Kathy and I flew some small stuff, including a nice flight of her shiny silver Spaceman rocket, and a nice shred and confetti recovery of my stock Estes Maniac on an Aerotech Mohave Green G78 motor.

Late in the day, shortly before the range was to close, Lawrence decided to get his biggest flight of the weekend out of the way, and he prepped CATO's Revenge for a beautiful Loki M2550 flight to just over 10,000 feet, hitting about Mach 1.1 along the way. After swearing up and down that there was no way his nose cone was coming off at apogee, Lawrence's nose appears to have worked its way loose and deployed the main at about 3000 feet, and his rocket and nose cone floated far off into the distance to end a very nice flight.

Lawrence and I then spent almost two hours using the club's low-power and high-power receivers to track down his rocket. I located the nose cone caught up in a bunch of trees, but luckily we were able to shake the trees and the nose cone and chute fell to the ground. Lawrence also tracked down his high-power transmitter, which appeared to be broadcasting from high up in a tree, but with no sign of his rocket. After looking around in the trees and on the ground, and after Lawrence spied a freshly broken branch high in the tree, we guessed that someone had found the rocket already, and pulled it out of the tree, breaking the branch and stripping the receiver from the shock cord where it had been taped.

We later managed to find the "guy in a jeep" who we had been told had found a big white rocket, and he confirmed that he had Lawrence's rocket, and that our guess as to the recovery scenario was bang on. So Lawrence got his rocket back, but lost a high-power transmitter. Looking on Google maps, it appears
Lawrence's rocket landed about 1.25 miles from the launch pad, which spawned the phrase "I should have used sheer pins" that was oft-repeated for the rest of the weekend.

We returned to the hotel, cleaned up, and went to Appleby's for a nice dinner, and then we held another prep party, this time in the lobby of the hotel, thus ending Day 2 of LDRS 28. After staying up too late, most of us went to bed nursing unexpected sunburns and looking forward to Day 3.

Saturday

Saturday dawned with cooler temperatures and only partly-cloudy skies, but with a stiff breeze from the west once again. Some of us went to Denny's, and the rest of us skipped the big breakfast and opted for the Tim Horton's drive-through. Then we all met up on the field for a fun day of flying.

Len and I prepped for our big flights, he his Zoinks! with on-board video cameras flying on an M motor, and my Bad Attitude 4" fiberglass Competitor-4 kit ready to rock on a 75mm AMW M2500 Green Gorilla motor, hoping for 17,000 feet and Mach 1.3. After checking through the RSO and LCO / Pad Manager, I went out with Jim Livingston, one of the TAP advisors who’d certified me to Level 3, to rack my rocket. Julian and Len came out a few minutes later and racked Len's rocket.

After having the LCO phone in my high-altitude waiver request, starting a 15-minute countdown to my flight, Len's rocket was launched. It had a very nice boost, but it arched over the tree line at the south end of the field, and when his recovery system didn't deploy as planned the rocket fell fast under what looked like a tangled chute to land beyond the nearest line of trees. Len spent many hours looking for and recovering his rocket, with some help from a couple of the other NAPAS guys, but when he got it back there was only minor cosmetic damage and an easily-mended broken fin tip. And the video cameras had also captured some good in-flight video, which he would process and edit later that night.

After the waiver countdown expired, we waited a few minutes for a blue patch of sky and then put my Bad Attitude into the air. Scott Miller's thermite igniter went off with a bang and a puff of dark smoke, and then a second or two later the big motor roared to life. The rocket took off fast and straight on a long green flame, did a little wiggle at about 1000 feet or so, and then screamed straight up into the big blue patch. The generous smoke charge in the AMW motors let us see her coast all the way to apogee, and then Jeff spotted the ejection event that signalled separation for a drogueless descent.

Jim and I tracked my low-power and high-power transmitter signals during the descent, all signs indicating a leisurely, tumbling fall towards the main deployment altitude of 1000 feet. Unfortunately, at the same time both our signals cut out completely, before anyone saw the main chutes in the distance. It looked like I'd come down beyond the high ridge that was a mile and a half east of the field, cutting off the line-of sight signals from my transmitters.

With the help of a local farmer who worked on the farm we were flying from, Jim and I hopped in the car and headed east. From the top of the ridge we were unable to get a signal from the west side. We then went around and could not get a signal from the top of the ridge to the east, either. We proceeded even
further from the field, into the valley east of the big ridge, and eventually picked up a faint signal.

Armed with our receivers, the farmer and I took off into a field, across a road, up into a small forest, across a small river, and popped out in his friend Pat's back yard. We were getting close, because I was able to switch the receiver to medium range at that point. We emerged from the trees to find Jim walking along the nearby road with the other receiver, and it was obvious we were converging on the same point, a reassuring sign.

Then Jim yelled that he could see it, and we found it spread out on someone's front yard, sitting in the grass amid a whole bunch of trees. The rocket was in perfect condition, and all indications are that it had a nominal flight and recovery. The RDAS was indicating about 17,000 feet, and a top speed of about Mach 1.33. The PerfectFlight was beeping out about 16,500 feet. So she went three miles up and floated about 3 miles away. I was stoked! Good thing I used sheer pins, it would have floated all the way to Penn Yan if I'd deployed the mains at apogee.

Funny enough, it turned out that this was the front yard of the house that belonged to the man who owns the farm that we'd launched the rocket from. So technically, I'm putting it down as the rocket never left the property, even though we found the rocket almost 3.4 miles from the launch pads. Also funny, the two farmers involved in this recovery were named Rick, who owns the two properties I launched from and then landed on, and Jim, the farmer who helped me and Jim track down my rocket. So there we were, back at the field, Rick and Jim from Canada talking with Rick and Jim from New York about the flight and
recovery.

Later that afternoon, when the winds started to die down, Jeff decided to put his Black Mamba Level 3 certification attempt on the pad. If you recall, a motor CATO had thwarted his first attempt back at Three Oaks in the spring, and the repaired Black Mamba was ready to try again. Jeff had an awesome boost to 15,400 feet, hitting Mach 1.27 along the way. He didn't quite "blow my doors off", as he’d boasted he’d be doing at this launch, thanks to the new altitude and speed records I’d set earlier that day, but he did make one heck of an attempt and had one heck of a good flight.

We tracked the falling rocket down from apogee, and it appeared to be falling slowly enough that we were confident it was falling drogueless, as expected, and that it hadn't come in ballistic. And, as we’d seen with my flight earlier, at one point near the horizon the signal just stopped all of a sudden. Since we hadn't seen any main chute deployed, we figured that he too had dropped his rocket on the other side of the big ridge.

Since the wind was blowing the same direction it had been earlier, and since his rocket went almost as high as Bad Attitude did, we hopped in our cars and headed out to where we'd found mine, to start the search from there. However, after picking up what turned out to be a rogue signal generated from some unknown source, we were unable to get a signal from his tracker from our starting point. We decided to head slowly back towards the field, along the line we'd taken as it fell from apogee, stopping along the way every now and then to take a reading.

When we got back to the top of the ridge where we'd first picked up the signal from Lawrence's rocket the night before, we started to get a bead on Jeff's rocket. Ahh, what a glorious sound the beep from the trackers can be when you finally pick it up. It seemed to be coming from a field near the Mennonite farmhouse owned by the same farmer we'd talked to when we recovered Lawrence's rocket the previous evening. After Jim talked with the lady of the house, Jeff and Brian were given permission to recover the rocket, which was lying in a hollow that explained the loss of signal from the field.

After a quick inspection, it turned out the bungees holding the main chute in a burrito-style package had become caught up when the tether fired, and the main chute remained tightly bundled all the way to the ground, explaining why we'd never seen the main chute and had assumed he'd landed on the other side of the ridge. The Black Mamba was built tough, though, so there's only some minor damage, and it will be repaired to fly again.

For dinner on Saturday we'd been invited by Tim Sapp, a rocket photography vendor, to his tent for some chili and cold drinks. Those of us who were not out recovering Jeff's rocket took Tim up on his offer, and spent a little while meeting Tim and his family, and having a nice bowl of chili with cheddar cheese and corn chips. The Three Oaks Chili Man has nothing to worry about, but it was still darned good. We then headed down to the Jackson club's tent, as they'd invited us for barbequed steak and potatoes, and we ate some more with these fine folks.

After leaving the field, we all met up in the hotel lobby in anticipation of a nice fireworks display for the 4th of July. And we weren't disappointed. As it got dark, we moved out to the parking lot in front of the hotel and had a great view of a professional fireworks show being put on at the nearby lake, while we waited for Pizano's to deliver us another tasty sheet pizza. Then we sat around the lobby gabbing, eating pizza and drinking until we were all tired enough to head off for bed before the big NAPAS drag race the next morning.

Sunday

Sunday morning we all checked out of the hotel and made our way to the field for Day 4 of LDRS. The weather was awesome, warm and sunny and not a cloud in the sky, the kind of weather we'd have killed for just a few days ago. What a nice way to end an already incredible weekend.

This morning was when we were planning to fly our five-way CTI L730 drag race in our similarly-styled and painted NAPAS EV-3 rockets. People had been asking us about this drag race throughout the weekend, and what a sight the five of us (Len, Brian, Jeff, Lawrence and I) were as we descended on the RSO tent and then proceeded to the LCO table.

We managed to secure a set of 5 adjacent high-power pads on the same bank, and quickly racked, erected, armed and hooked up our igniters. The LCO almost started firing off our rockets one at a time, but luckily we'd decided to hang around the LCO table to make sure that exact thing did not happen. After
clearing things up, we headed back to our NAPAS compound to sit and watch the show with the rest of the crowd.

No one was disappointed. The motors lit quickly, and with Jeff's rocket leading the way, we were all off and carving smoke trails through the clear blue sky. Jeff's rocket, though first off the pad, suffered a flight anomaly on the way up, and even though I had my eyes glued to my rocket, I could see the disastrous
sky writing coming from Jeff's smoke trail. The rest of us climbed to apogee and separated for drogueless descent, and then we all watched and tracked our rockets as they fell.

Len’s was the only rocket to properly deploy its main chute, while Brian and Lawrence and I all suffered different deployment failures and landed hard, so Len won this drag race hands down. Brian and I spent over an hour tracking his rocket through fields, across a creek and through a forest only to pop out of the forest at the end of the flight line to realize someone (Jeff!) had already found the rocket and returned it to Brian’s tent. Len and Lawrence eventually found their rockets using the club receivers. Mine landed hard a few hundred feet from our NAPAS compound, right in front of us, suffering only a single crushed tube fin and a dented booster section airframe.

Jeff’s post-mortem revealed a motor failure, which is what caused the destruction of his rocket. It looks like the wrong liners may have been shipped with four of our five motors, and that three of us were just lucky that we didn’t suffer the same fate as Jeff. The issue has been taken up with CTI, who had a representative on the field.

We’d known we were all going to come close to Mach speed with these flights, but Brian's little 3-inch rocket was surely going to blast right through it. Even with the hard landing, his altimeter was beeping out an altitude of over 15,000 feet, and later revealed a top speed of Mach 1.37, giving him first place in the Mach Madness contest and bumping me and Jeff into second and third places, respectively.

The last big NAPAS flight of the weekend was Brian flying his 1000 Corpses rocket on a home-made, EX hybrid motor of his own design. This was expected to be an L-class motor, and it did not disappoint. After the usual pre-launch period of fighting with the hybrid ground support equipment, the LCO announced Brian's launch and we all waited for the nitrous fill to complete. Then a short count down and ignition! What a flight, a nice long burn for a straight, high boost, trailing first a gorgeous flame and then a smoke trail (yep, a smoke trail on a hybrid motor) all the way to apogee.

The crowd loved it, even the hard-core EX'ers in attendance, and Brian was rewarded with a big cheer from the field. His rocket deployed and fell drogueless, and then released its burrito-packed main for a landing on the field. Brian, as giddy as a little kid at Christmas, was justifiably pleased, and rushed out to recover his rocket, which his home-brew motor had carried to 10,300 feet.

By this time it was almost 4pm on Sunday, time for us to start packing up and heading home. What an amazing weekend: good times with good friends, including some new ones we had made on the field over these four days; great flights, not all of them perfect, but all of them a whole lot of fun; remarkably nice weather after a very shaky start; a well-organized launch hosted by the good folks from PYRO, MARS and MDRA; and plenty of other people’s rockets to watch fly, with a few crashes and CATO’s sprinkled in for good measure. It just doesn't get any better than this.

One thing is for sure, though: we need to seriously start looking for a bigger field with a higher maximum altitude. It's apparent that many in the club are advancing towards the very high-power end of the spectrum, with L and M and N motor flights going higher and faster than ever before. Of the small group of NAPAS flyers at LDRS, at least four of us had Mach-busting flights to over 10,000 feet. It sure looks like NAPAS is all grown up, and is ready and able to fly the Big Dawgs with the Big Boys.

Black Rock, anyone?

Rick Dunseith
April 20, 2009

Spring Three Oaks 2009

Those of you who didn't join us for the Spring Three Oaks launch missed another good one. There were some cool, big projects flown, and more M and N motors than usual were flown this weekend - probably because the fall Three Oaks launch had been a three-day shutout due to weather, so everyone had some catching up to do.

Friday and Saturday were very nice days, jeans and T-shirt weather with lots of blue sky to fly into, and with quite reasonable wind speeds and an absolutely perfect wind direction for that field. Sunday the wind speed was just a little higher, and the direction was right back at the flight line, and there was an on-and-off light rain --- but the cloud ceiling was way up there, so there were still things flying in the spitting rain on Sunday too.

NAPAS was represented by Kathy Miller, Len Lekx, Jeff Mensch, Brian Brodersen, Lawrence Engel, and me. We set up a four-canopy NAPAS compound, erected our banner and our Canadian Flag windsock, and set about prepping and flying all weekend.

On Friday, Lawrence and his rocket CATO's Revenge got their revenge indeed. After a motor failure blew his first L3 rocket to bits, Lawrence re-built his project and gave it another go this past weekend, on a Loki M1882, for a picture-perfect flight and recovery. Congratulations Lawrence, on becoming the newest Level 3 NAPAS member. Lawrence was on cloud 9, and did his best to find another M motor so he could do it again on Saturday (but, unable to find another M motor, he flew his X-Caliber on an CTI H motor for a nice flight, though it kicked hit motor and motor retainer at apogee.

Kathy Miller had a few flights this weekend. Among them, she brought out a new rocket, a beautifully-finished yellow and red screamer that had a great flight. She also pulled off a nice odd-roc flight with a big, draggy silver robot-shaped rocket that had an awesome boost on a smoky motor, for its second successful flight. I don't remember exactly what motors those flights used, but I do remember how nice both those flights were. Kathy always puts on a good show at these launches - it's too bad she can't join us for local club launches anymore since we lost the Cayuga field, because now we only get to fly with her a couple of times a year.

Len Lekx brought out Zoinks! (I think) to fly on a Loki M 2550, with a three-camera payload. Unfortunately, two of the cameras would not arm at the pad, so it had to fly with only one operating camera (correct me if I'm off a little there, Len). Anyway, after an awesome boost and a text-book flight profile, his big new Fruity Chute popped out at the pre-set main deployment altitude, stopping the descending rocket in its tracks and lowering it very, very gentle to the ground. Unfortunately, the ground at the point of impact lay beneath the surface of a large and rather muddy puddle, of pond-like proportions, giving the rocket and the electronics a rather thorough soaking. Hopefully most of it can be salvaged and/or repaired, but it was an unfortunate end to an otherwise gorgeous flight..

Like Lawrence, Jeff also headed to Three Oaks this spring for a Level 3 attempt, with his new fiberglass rocket, Black Mamba. After arriving on Friday, Jeff prepped and flew a test flight on a little bitty Aerotech J415, for a neck-snapping flight. The main chute, being used in a burrito-style tether-based recovery design, unfortunately managed to work itself loose during the descent from apogee, deploying somewhat earlier than expected. After a post-flight analysis and brain-storming session with his TAP advisors, Jeff made a slight modification to his chute-packing strategy, which we all felt would ensure the perfect and as-expected deployment of his main for his L3 shot on Saturday. Unfortunately, whatever Lawrence has must be contagious, and as if following Lawrence's path to Level 3, Jeff's rocket too suffered a motor failure at ignition, blowing up and thwarting his Level 3 attempt before it got 10 feet off the ground. Remarkably, though, the nature of this motor failure was such that most of Jeff's rocket and components are relatively intact, and the repairs will be pretty straight-forward, so he'll be ready to give it another try at LDRS later this summer.

I brought only one rocket to fly, my 4" fiberglass Competitor 4 that I'd named Bad Attitude. Having given me my highest and fastest flight to date at last spring's Three Oaks launch, hitting about 14,150 feet and reaching Mach 1.1 on an AMW M1850 Green Gorilla motor. I prepped it Friday night at the hotel, and on Saturday morning I stuck a Loki M1882 motor in it for another high and fast flight. With perfect weather, little wind and a nice big blue patch in the sky, we let 'er rip for an awesome, straight boost until it was out of sight. After someone on the field confirmed it had separated at apogee for a drogueless descent (this guy had binoculars that would give the Hubble Telescope a run for its money) Jeff and I tracked it all the way down using the club's low-power and high-power radio receivers. With everyone looking in the direction that we were pointing the receivers, my rocket was eventually spotted deploying its dual main chutes at 1000 feet, landing gently in a nearby corn field about 30 feet from a convenient access road. Back at the hotel that night we analyzed the flight data, learning that this was now my highest and fastest flight, topping out at about 15,250 feet and having hit Mach 1.215 along the way.

Finally, Brian Brodersen got a chance to fly. After starting to feel that the rocket gods were doing their best to dissuade him from flying this weekend, he got a great flight in on Sunday, racking and flying in the rain but delivering a great show nonetheless. Brian had brought a home-built hybrid L motor to fly on EX day (Friday), and a HyperTEK M hybrid motor to fly on Saturday, but was disappointed at every turn by an uncooperative launch host who refused to set up hybrid launch support equipment and, even worse, refused to let Brian set up their club's equipment even though Brian offered to do all the work and all the trouble-shooting to get it going.

Then on Saturday Brian tried to get a flight in using a regular AP solid rocket motor, but again, those rocket gods were working against him. We had multiple M motor casings with us, and the vendor had additional L and M motor casings Brian could have used, but Scott Miller was short on liners and despite their being enough propellant grains available, we were unable to find a way to put together a Loki L or M motor that Brian could fly.

So then Brian decided to fly a CTI M 1400 motor, though he would have to wait for someone else to fly their rocket so Brian could borrow the vendor's case that the first flyer was already borrowing. And guess what? The other guy's rocket suffered a CATO, blowing up the rocket and motor casing (and yes, that's at least three commercial M motor CATO's in one weekend). So Brian wouldn't be able to borrow the casing, and even if he could find someone who had one, Scott decided he was going to send the whole batch of propellant back to CTI because he didn't trust it, and so he refused to sell it to Brian. Alas, we got to the end of Saturday and still Brian had been unable, despite his best efforts, to find a motor that he'd be able to fly.

But, on Sunday morning, despite being overcast and rainy, we all headed back to the field so see if we could scrounge up something to fly Brian's rocket on, and find something we did, a CTI L730. So there we were, Sunday morning, four guys prepping a rocket and motor out in the spitting rain (we'd already done the teardown of the NAPAS compound the night before, in anticipation of the forecast rain shutting down Sunday's launch activities). As crazy as it felt, we were all in good spirits and enjoying the opportunity for another NAPAS flight before we had to start the long drive back home. We helped Brian prep and rack the rocket, and then we all stood back and watched a beautiful flight. There was, as Lawrence put it, an "element of drama" to the flight when the apogee deployment event didn't happen, and the rocket started screaming back down from 4368 feet, ominously close to the flight line. But then, at about 1200 feet up, she came apart and deployed the main chute for a nice, close recovery a few hundred feet from where we'd been standing. Despite deploying the recovery system during its high-speed ballistic descent, he rocket was in perfect shape, not a scratch on her, and we quickly recovered it, cleaned it and the motor up, and had the car packed up and ready for the trip home. We had prepped, racked, flown, recovered and cleaned up after that flight in record time, kind of like the way the pit crew works at a car race.

So there you have it, fun and excitement and good times with good friends. A three-day NAPAS road trip, where we all managed to get some good flights in, and which left us all feeling pretty stoked about the 2009 rocketry season. Sorry most of you weren't able to have joined us, you missed a good time.

Rick Dunseith
July 28, 2008

NYPower 13

NYPower 13 was a great launch, very well attended with rockets flying all day, all three days, and a lot of very big away-cell projects, including our own Freaky Flyer. While it was mainly overcast on Saturday, we got only a single, short sprinkling of rain, and the cloud ceiling was high enough to permit pretty much full use of the waiver. On Friday and Sunday, it was mostly sunny, and all three days we enjoyed "shorts and T-shirt" temperatures.

The club rocket flight was awesome. A textbook perfect flight, from ignition to touchdown. Thanks to all who provided gear for and/or helped prep, rack and recover the Freaky Flyer, re-branded in NAPAS colours, including: Len, Brian, Lawrence, Kathy, Jeff, Julian, and Rick. Our flight definitely appeared to be one of the highlights of the launch. A lot of people were intrigued by our rocket during the prep at our tent, and lots more dropped by after the flight to tell us how much they enjoyed it. Even while standing a long way off at the away cell, we could hear the applause from the flight line when the dual mains blossomed open. It was a great day.

In addition to my participation in the club rocket flight, I flew my new all-fiberglass Competitor 4 (Bad Attitude) on an AMW L777-WW motor, my first ever L motor flight. The flight profile went exactly as planned, except that the rocket landed in a gully that had become a 3-foot deep pond with all the recent rains. I ended up wading into the pond, getting wet up to the pockets on my shorts, in order to retrieve the rocket. But being all-fiberglass, the rocket is fine, and once I rinse out the pond scum and dry the altimeters, they'll be fine, too, I expect. Heck, the RDAS, even while completely immersed in scummy water, was beeping out an altitude of 7368 feet.

On Sunday, Jeff and I drag-raced our NAPAS EV-3's, his on an AT K550-W and mine on an AT K700-W. Given the difference in drag and weight of our rockets, those motors were picked to provide similar flame and smoke effects, while delivering similar flight performance as well. It was a nice flight, but we flew so high that in the slightly hazy conditions, we lost sight of our rockets at apogee. We were able to use our high-power transmitters, though, to track them both down, though the recovery process still took more than two-hours. Jeff's landed very far away, and we trekked through a hay field, a bean field, a corn field, and a small forest, finally wading through a small creek and cresting a big hill to find his rocket in a planted field at the far edge of the property. Come back was no less arduous, requiring us to cross a larger creek with very steep banks, and getting us all soaked when we walked through water and mud that was deeper than our rubber boots could accommodate. In the end, while returning from recovering Jeff's rocket, we found my rocket not far from the prep area, laying in the mowed hay field. It was reporting an altitude of 5448 feet, which seems reasonable given the launch angles we were required to use to deal with the slightly breezier conditions on Sunday.

All in all, NYPower 13 was awesome, and if you missed it, you missed a great weekend of flying at an amazing field with a good group of people.

Rick Dunseith
August 26, 2007

Flyers: 10
Flights: 23
Motors: 25
1/2A:1 A:2 B:1 C:4 D:3
E:1 G:1
H:4 I:4 J:4

Erik Derohanian - 3 flights
Rick Dunseith - 3 flights
Lawrence Engel - 2 flights
Rose Lisle - her first NAPAS launch - 6 flights
Jeff Mensch - 1 flight
Eric Pearson - re-joined - 1 flight
Bob Pouliot - 2 flights
Martin Racine - 1 flight
Jim Smith - 2 flights
Chris Thomas - re-joined - 2 flights
August 13, 2007

Those of us from NAPAS who attended BuffRoc '07 had a great time. Overall attendance was significantly lower than usual, but the weather was spectacular for three straight days, and those of us who were there took full advantage of it. With the light turnout, the launch was held with a very casual, local club launch feel, which was nice. The three NAPAS members alone had 15 flights over the course of the weekend. It's too bad the "usual suspects" from NAPAS weren't able to make it, because if we'd all turned up I think the Canadians on the field would have out-numbered the Americans.

EX day had no EX flights, unfortunately, which are usually a lot of fun to watch. But now that L2's can fly commercial motors on EX day, Lawrence and I got a number of our flights in on Friday. Speaking of L2 and Lawrence, he obtained his TRA L2 certification on Friday morning (congrats, Lawrence!), and by the end of the weekend he'd made his inaugural L2 flight in his Kid Canuck on an AMW J440, and a perfect flight it was.

Despite our best efforts, we were unable to lose any of our rockets. Landing in corn fields (in one field, the corn was at least 8 feet high), in bean fields, on the other side of the airport, and even draped over power lines, we still managed to bring all our birds home. We have the radio and location transmitters to thank for a lot of that - there are some rockets we probably would not have been able to find at all without the use of the club tracking system. It's probably time to put in another club order for transmitters - believe me, for only about $75 each, for many of us those transmitters have already paid for themselves many times over.

Some notable flights include a couple of PML X-Calibur drag races between me and Lawrence, first on AT H123s, and then on AT G77 Redlines. Brian's neck-snapping flight on an AMW I315 sparky motor was absolutely awesome, and was quickly out of sight on its way to 6450 feet. No one on the field managed to follow it visually all the way down, but using the radio we easily found it undamaged beside the horse barn on the other side of the hangar. Lawrence's J440 flight was picture-perfect, and Brian's AT G339 Warp 9 flight in his new all-fiberglass rocket was a very entertaining crowd-pleaser.

We all had a great time, spent too much time in the sun, spent too much money at Ken Allen's trailer, and all in all loved every minute of it. Sorry the rest of you missed it.

Rick Dunseith
July 22, 2007

Flyers: 4
Flights: 7
Motors: 8
G:3
H:1 I:2 J:2

 It was a great day for rockets despite the smallest turnout for a launch in recent memory. No matter - the weather was ideal, and for the four registered flyers, there were no lineups at the pad.

Congratulations to Lawrence Engel, who successfully completed his Level 2 flight, flying his scratch built Little Canuck on a J400 to 3800 feet. Once he completes his written test he will officially be granted level 2 status. Lawrence gets the nod for the highest flight of the day. Nice flight, Lawrence!

Marty Racine flew his Level One, Take Two rocket twice, first on an I205 and later on a CTI five grain, full I motor ... just shy of a J. Do I see another Level 2 attempt coming up?

Bob Pouliot flew Double Trouble - a two stager with a video cam on board - to 3000 feet using a G75 in each stage.That rocket's always a crowd pleaser. He later fired a Super Big Bertha to 2000 feet on another G75.

The only dark spot of the day was a blow-by on my Weenie Roast, may it rest in peace, shortly after take off. It was loaded with a J350 that had been in my basement for, oh, five or six years, anyway. I guess old motors just aren't that reliable. It sure was a spectacular flight, though. I redeemed myself later in the day with an arrow-straight boost to 2200 feet for Sweet Asp on an Aerotech H180.

Welcome to Victor Gandza and family, who finally made it out to a launch to spectate. Victor promised to bring some rockets along next time so show us what he's all about.

Brian Brodersen
February 24, 2007

Flyers: 10
Flights: 12
Motors: 12
A:1 D:1
G:1
H:5 J:1
L:1 M:2

 Wow! The launch was amazing! Clear blue skies, with just a little wind in the morning dropping to almost nothing in the afternoon. And trudging through the deep snow helped keep us all warm. It was easily the best launch weather we'd had in almost a year.

After having coffee with the landowners, we headed out to the field and had the range set up by about 10:30 or so, complete with the really big pad from LDRS 23 and our new PA system. With a 6400ft AGL window until noon, we took advantage with some great high-altitude flights by Robert Jones (J570), Brian Brodersen (L800) and Julian Wood (M1060). The rest of the day was filled with nine other great flights, including three L1 certification attempts.

* Lawrence Engel certified L1 on a PML X-Calibur using an H motor - the rocket was successfully recovered from high up in a tree on a neighbouring property, thanks to the loan of an extension ladder by our very generous landowner.
* Phil Balgobin certified L1 on a LOC 4 using an H motor, with a nominal recovery.
* Martin Racine's L1 cert attempt on an ARG EV-3 using an H motor didn't work out, unfortunately, but the simultaneous 3-fin shred and accompanying "POP" made it one of the coolest flights of the day.

We had a great turnout, with a flight line about 15 cars long stretching along 8th line. We had 10 registered flyers, along with other NAPAS members who just came to watch, and a few non-members who also came to spectate. We logged a dozen flights on everything from A to M motors. The deep snow looked like it would be a huge problem for recovery, but luckily everything landed fairly close to either the range or a road, so recovery was a lot smoother than expected.

A special thanks to the landowners on the north-east corner of the field, who found and stored my IRIS and Brian's GasPipe rockets, both MIA for about a year, until we could retrieve them.

Rick Dunseith
November 19, 2006

Flyers: 7
Flights: 12
Motors: 12
C:1
E:1 F:3 G:5
H:1 I:1

 At the launch following our successful History Channel event, conditions were not ideal. The low-lying areas of the field were very wet from recent rains, and the overcast provided a perpetual ceiling at about 3500 feet. But the temperature was comfortable, and the winds were low.

We had a good turnout, with another long flight line and lot of new faces. We managed a number of entertaining model- and mid-power flights, and even a couple of high-power flights. In addition to a good number of spectators, we had seven registered flyers, who put up a dozen flights.

A lot of the flights came down in the long grass in the swampy area adjacent to the range, which made for some long recovery searches and more than a few soakers. Still, everyone seemed to be having fun, which is what it's all about. Good people, good field, good flights - what more can one ask?

Rick Dunseith
October 1, 2006

Flyers: 12
Flights: 21
Motors: 28
D:2
F:1 G:4
H:3 I:11 J:4 K:1
L:1 M:1

 Range setup began at 8:00am, under a nice blue sky and little wind. It took about 90 minutes to fully set up the pads, and wiring, the LCO and registration tables, caution tape, etc. But by 9:30 or so the range was ready to go, and, of course, the clouds had rolled in.

The film crew showed up at about 10:00, before our first flight, and got their bearings. By then we had a pretty good turnout of flyers and spectators, and one of the most respectable flight lines we've ever had at this field. With a registration table, the NAPAS banner, and an LCO table set up, it certainly looked like a rocket launch.

We had four banks of pads, one for models, one for F-H, one for I-K, and one for L-M. It was nice to finally make use of the huge pad (freshly painted by Julian) that we picked up from the BRS back when we helped them host LDRS 23, along with Gary's new extended-range launch system add-on. And the new nitrous valve Bob Q. picked up, combined with Brian's new hybrid firing system, made for the smoothest hybrid support we've ever had.

It was a cloudy and sometimes breezy day, but we managed to stay under the clouds and on the field with all our flights. We had a couple go into the trees on the south-east corner of the field, but that's as errant as we got. All in all, it was a great day, and one of the most successful NAPAS launches in a long time. Thanks to everyone - the flyers, the spectators, the people who helped transport and set up and tear down the gear, the people who helped run the range, the people who dealt with the TV crew - who helped make this such a good launch.

This weekend also marked our first L and M-motor flights at that field. It was also our most elaborate range setup, which made good use of all our launch gear, plus some additional, borrowed gear provided by members and other clubs. It was a real team effort this time, and a whole lot of fun.

Rick Dunseith
August 14, 2006
 If you missed BuffRoc this year, you missed a great launch. The weather was phenomenal, both days. Lots of sunshine, a very light but pleasantly cooling breeze, and a scattering of intermittent, high-altitude clouds. It was some of the best weather I'd ever encountered at a Geneseo launch.

NAPAS was represented by Len Lekx, Kathy Miller and me. John Glac, a former NAPAS member, was there on Saturday, as were fellow Canadian flyers Bill Wagstaff and Glenn Mitchell from the Ottawa Rocketry Group (ORG). As is often the case, both days the first people on the field were the NAPAS folks, and we all pitched in on Saturday to help set up the range once the BRS guys finally arrived. The turnout was good, and the rocket flying was steady enough to be interesting, right through both days. Sunday was pretty much as active as Saturday, flight-wise.

Len and I ran the away cell. Len put on a good show, with a fantastic camera-rocket flight on an AMW Blue Babboon L motor on Saturday, and got some great photos. He also put his recent L3 certification to good use with a textbook-perfect flight on Sunday of his L3 rocket, this time on an AMW White Wolf M motor with flawless recovery via CO2 deployment of the drogue at apogee with a Defy Gravity tether releasing the main right on cue. BRS member John Elliot (you may remember the crash of his huge yellow rocket on an AT N2000 a few years ago) flew a 2-motor cluster of K550's off the away cell as well, for a nice flight and flawless recovery.

I flew my repaired EV-3 on an AMW K650 Red Rhino motor for a great flight to 4566 ft. Kathy flew her big saucer on an AT J180 with a drilled-out delay element, and the crowd-pleasing flight was perfect, popping the chute immediately after the saucer flipped over at apogee - that's a perfect motor for that rocket, and the flight earned Kathy a round of applause. Kathy and I had an assortment of other model, mid-power and high-power flights.

John Glac had two good flights on CTI motors, one on an I motor and one on a K motor, successfully using his un-patented thermalite delay technique to perform dual-deployment recovery. He also brought his all-aluminum rocket to Geneseo for the third time, and for the third time the BRS refused to allow it to be flown.

NAPAS cleaned up at the raffle, too. I won a model rocket, and Kathy won two LOC kits. Len won two model rockets, which he was able to trade up with Ken for a mid-power kit.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and well worth the trip despite it being only two weeks after the enormously successful and satisfying NYHiPower launch at the same field.

Rick Dunseith
July 31, 2006

The NYHiPower launch in Geneseo this past weekend was great. We had three days of awesome flying weather, and Sunday seemed to be almost as busy as Saturday, and definitely busier than I've ever seen a Sunday in Geneseo. We had a number of Canadian flyers down there, with NAPAS represented by Bob Quance and Pat, Bob Pouliot, Brian Brodersen, Jeff Mensch, Robert Jones and myself. As well, three or more of the folks from the Ottawa rocketry club were in attendance as well.

Friday's EX day was the best EX day I've attended there, with many more flights than usual, and no CATOs that I recall. The EX folks really seem to have their stuff together these days. I even got a chance to fly an EX load, a nifty blue propellant. And the neon purple propellant Deb Koloms flew was pretty impressive.

The radio transmitters and the receiver we purchased for club use proved to be invaluable, as many, many flights on Saturday were landing in the potato field to the east of the launch area. Although the radio allowed us to navigate our way right to the rocket each time, it always amazed us how, until you were within about 5 feet of the rocket, it was virtually invisible in the thick crop. We'd have wasted plenty of time searching the old-fashioned way, and no doubt we'd have ended up leaving a rocket or two behind if we hadn't been using the transmitters.

Rick Dunseith
May 6th, 2006

Flyers: 10
Flights: 19
Motors: 23
D:4
E:1 F:4 G:2
H:2 I:3 J:4 K:3

 Thanks to everyone who came out today. We're three for three now, with respect to getting especially good flying weather for our launches. It was a little windy at times, especially early in the day when it was also quite cool, but as the afternoon progressed it kept getting better and better. We had a lot of successful flights, and they all landed within our primary launch and recovery area, even with apogee deployments.

Here are some of the numbers, in no particular order:

* 1 new member
* 9 member flyers
* 1 non-member flyer
* $127 raised from membership / launch fees
* 1 drag race
* 1 cluster
* 1 multi-staged rocket

Thanks again, everyone. Today was a lot of fun.

Rick Dunseith
April 23rd, 2006
 This weekend at the Three Oaks launch in Michigan, three NAPAS members achieved their Tripoli Level 3 certifications:

* Len Lekx certified on his D'Oh rocket, flying on a CTI 75mm M1400
* Kathy Miller certified on her Pink Ice rocket, flying on a Loki 75mm M1882
* Brian Brodersen certified on his No Surrender rocket, flying on a Loki 75mm M1882

Congratulations to our new Level 3 members - way to go, guys!

Altogether the NAPAS contingent at Three Oaks flew 6 M motors over the weekend, as well as a number of other model, mid-power and high-power flights. We were flying from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, under blue skies and sunshine, and we had a great time of rocketry and camaraderie.

Rick Dunseith
March 11th, 2006

Flyers: 10
Flights: 24
Motors: 34
C:1 D:8
F:2 G:7
H:4 I:5 J:4 K:3

 Wow! I thought the last launch was amazing. This one was even better. Once again we were able to drive right out to the launch area, instead of having to haul gear into the field from the roadside. Many of us were wearing sweatshirts or spring jackets, it was that mild. The winds were incredibly low, ranging from 0 to about 10 km/h all day long. The sky was cloudless for the most part, and when there were clouds, they were way above our altitude limit. We made use of the extended altitude limit between noon and 2:00pm, with a number of flights to over 5000 feet. In all we had 10 flyers put up two dozen flights. Some additional stats:

* 1 new NAPAS member (welcome, Mark)
* 24 flights
* 2 pleasant surprises (see below)
* 1 lost rocket
* 2 hybrid flights
* $130 in flight/parking/membership fees
* 1 rocket recovered by radio tracking beacon
* too many planes still ignoring the NOTAM

Surprise # 1 - Robert Jones came to fly, and had a couple of great flights. It was good so see you again, Robert. Surprise # 2 - Andrew flew a rocket, a Pterodactyl Jr. on a J300 for a crowd pleasing, neck-snapping flight. Nice job, Andrew. We hadn't seen you fly something in quite some time.

To all who came, thanks for making it a great day. For those who didn't, you should be kicking yourselves for missing yet another great opportunity for a fun day of rocketry.

Rick Dunseith
January 28th, 2006

Flyers: 9
Flights: 18
Motors: 29
C:2 D:1
E:1 G:2
H:12 I:7 J:3 K:1

Everyone was commenting on how great a launch it was, one of the best NAPAS launches ever. We stayed out in the field for about six hours, and even the spectators talked about how much fun they were having. Good weather, good people, good flights - what more can you ask for?

We picked up a renewal and three new members, and those along with flight and parking fees raised over $185 for the club. We had model, mid-power and HPR flights. We burned motors ranging from C through K. We flew saucers, we flew hybrids, we flew multi-stagers and we flew air-starts. And we had a lot of fun doing it.

My personal faves: Jeff's two EV-3 flights on Pro-54 motors, Bob P.'s SunSeeker and Video-FX air-start flights, Chris' two-staged Intrepid, and my Flatu-Lance on an I90 hybrid (despite it not being a "real" motor, even I have to admit that it did make for an impressive flight in that little 3lb airframe).

* 12 Vehicles on the Field
* 20 People in Attendance
* 4 Memberships / Renewals
* 12 NAPAS Members
* 1 Transport Canada Official
* 0 Clouds
* 6 Hours of Fun
* 189 Dollars Raised
* 6 Hybrid Flights
* 18 Recovered Rockets

Rick Dunseith
December 3rd, 2005

Flyers: 4
Flights: 6
Motors: 6
G:2
H:1 I:1 J:1 K:1

The launch was a lot of fun today for the small number of people who showed up. We had a number of successful flights, including Bob Quance's successful Level 2 Certification flight on a 5-grain Pro38, to just over 4200 feet. Our newest member, Tom Wajda, showed up in the afternoon and flew a 2-grain Pro38 Smoky Sam and achieved his Level 1 Certification. Welcome to HPR, Tom.

Rick flew two mid-power rockets to kick off the day, and I flew the Gaspipe to 2400 feet on a 3-grain Pro38. Rick also took advantage of our higher-altitude window in the afternoon, flying his Iris on a 6-grain Pro54. Very cool motor, with a bright flame visible as long as we could see the rocket. Unfortunately, we were unable to find the Iris, but it was a beautiful flight, nonetheless.

The weather was good on the whole. We were set up to fly at 11:30 a.m. and flew until about 4:00 p.m. Despite flurries in the morning, all afternoon we had a mix of sun and cloud; the winds would come up then die off.

Brian Brodersen
July 30th, 2005

Flyers: 10
Flights: 40

What a great launch we had. We all got a little too much sun, but other than that, it was just about perfect. Skies were clear all day (except for the abundance of small airplanes, which we worked around). The winds were minimal all morning, and by mid-afternoon had disappeared altogether.

We acquired three new NAPAS members - be sure to welcome Chris Thomas, Bill Hughes and Joel Niergarth to NAPAS next time you see them on the flying field.

With 12 NAPAS members and their guests in attendance, it was quite the flight line. Our 10 registered flyers logged over 40 model-rocket, mid-power and high-power flights, among which:
* Gary kept the model rocket rack busy all day with a steady stream of flights
* Jim flew and recovered the same model rocket four times
* Jeff flew and recovered his PathFinder X2 three times, each time on a larger high-power motor, and each flight picture perfect
* Andrew and I teamed up with a motor and rocket combination that made for a unique, and loud, neck-snapping flight
* Bob P. had a couple of great cluster / airstart flights

Yesterday also marked another first for our new field - Chris Thomas successful conducted the field's first hybrid motor flight and the first off our own HyperTek GSE. Jeff's and Brian's hard work figuring out and debugging the system has paid off, and it is now working flawlessly.

Finally, the NAPAS executive had an opportunity during this launch to meet with the four landowners adjacent to the west side of our flying field, all of whom have given us recovery permission to retrieve rockets on their properties, and thus extending even further our effective recovery area.

All in all it was a great day for everyone in attendance, members and guests alike.

Rick Dunseith
May 1st, 2005

Flyers: 6
Flights: 7
Motors: 10
G:2
H:4 I:1 J:1 K:2

 It was a strange day in Orangeville. At one point we shut down the launch due to the blizzard and the gale-force winds, only to open it ten minutes later with no wind and blue skies, and then we kept on flying. The weather alternated between good and bad, sometimes to quite remarkable extremes, throughout the day.

Despite having only six fliers, we actually had a lot of NAPAS members (eleven, I think) and their spouses out. It was good to see Brian Cripps and Richard Peters again, it had been a while.

Highlights:
- successful Tripoli Level 1 certification by Jeff's friend Joel Niergarth, with a nice flight of his Honest John on an H153
- new NAPAS member Bob Pouliot entertained with a wonderful clustered flight of his beautiful Sunseeker model lifting off on a central I540 and then airstarting two H143 Smoky's
- we flew our first K motors at that field, and did it in style with a K-powered drag race - Julian's Warlok on a K445 leapt off the pad ahead of Jim's Bruiser on its K550, but once the K550 lit up the Bruiser wasted no time catching up - both rockets had picture-perfect flights, and made good use of our altitude waiver

Rick Dunseith
February 19th, 2005

Flyers: 2
Flights: 2
Motors: 2
F:1 G:1

 Four members braved the elements to attend yesterday's launch.  The weather was great at 9:30am (blue skies, winds at about 12 km/h) but shortly after that the winds picked up, and by 12:30pm the cloud cover had closed in and it began to snow quite heavily.  So we only managed to get in two flights, but still had fun hanging out, chatting, and enjoying a few EXtra goodies.  Brian Brodersen flew his Purple Haze on an F20, and Rick Dunseith flew his 2" PML AMRAAM on a G80.

Rick Dunseith
January 8th, 2005

Flyers: 5
Flights: 9
Motors: 14
C:1 D:4
E:2 F:3 G:2
H:1 J:1

 While the temperature wasn't too bad (for January) and the winds were fairly light, the low and constant cloud cover forced us to scrub some of our planned flights. We'll have to wait until next time for some of those higher-altitude flights. But we still had a good time, and managed to put up nine flights: Julian's Fat Boy on a C6-3, and his ARCAS on a G64 (we lost that one - the white rocket with its white parachute was just too hard to see against either the white overcast above or the white snow on the ground; we'll find it in the spring); Jeff's X-51 on a cluster of two E9's; Bob's 5X Mosquito on an F20 and his LOC Onyx on a Pro-38 G69 (a neck-snapping flight); John Glac's Bat Rocket on an F20 and two D12's, twice; Rick's original Paralyzer on an H180 and his EV-3 on a J400SS (you should see all the black "crap" that motor leaves on the snow for a 10-foot radius around the launch pad).

Rick Dunseith

December 11th, 2004

Flyers: 5
Flights: 8
Motors: 9
D: 4
E: 1 F:1 G:1
I:1 J:1

 NAPAS Returns to Southern Ontario Flying

A handful of members braved the snow and cold to successfully host our first local high power launch in 30 months.  A great initiation of the new Orangeville site, and even some surprise visitors!

After all of his hard work and dedication, to formally usher in this new era, it was appropriate that Rick Dunseith started us off with a picture-perfect Paralyzer flight.  And Mike Dennett of CTI joined us for the first time in years with a neck-snapping boost to book-end the day.

Andrew Ihnatowycz
July 3rd, 2004
 The Freaky Flyer X17 has flown!

It went up [at LDRS 23] on a Pro98 3G M2505 that was donated to the project by Anthony. This motor packs a great punch and it easily lifted the 100 pound beast up to 2370 feet. The boost was nice and straight and the Flyer did a roll at motor burn out just like the smaller scale versions. It produced an awesome amount of noise and smoke which made for an exciting and beautiful flight.

There were two camera teams there to record the flight and some of the project members were interviewed as well. Look for the launch in the LDRS 23 videos. Nadine took some great photos which are going to be submitted to HPR magazine. NAPAS got excellent exposure from this project. This has been a great project and people have really come together to pull it off.

Way to go everyone!

Jeff Mensch

May 16th, 2004
 Despite the uncooperative weather we managed to have a first flight of the Freaky Flyer X8 [at the BRS Invitational]. Of course the best way to finish a rocket is to prime it on the lawn of the hotel the night before and then paint it the following morning at the field. With Rick's expert spray can technique it turned out great. It did seem to attract a lot of attention for such a small rocket.

We fitted the nosecone with about half a roll of masking tape and then loaded the little beast up with a J400 Smoky Sam. When Kathy and I brought it up to the RSO table, Lloyd Wood just smiled and said, "Fly it". Despite losing the igniter at one point we got it loaded on the pad and ready to go. At zero the Freaky Flyer boosted quickly and just kept on accelerating to 2000 feet. The black smoke trail was perfectly straight. After burnout and the 11 second delay, the charge pushed out the nosecone, or so we thought. The nosecone came in ballistic and buried itself with a nasty thud. Without a chute the airframe come down with a weird gliding tumble and bounced off the ground once.

Post-flight inspection showed that the nosecone bulkhead had pulled away from the outer shell. The epoxy and small ridge were just not up to the job. Without the nosecone momentum, the chute never got pulled out of the airframe. The full scale version uses a much different construction technique which will avoid this problem. The impact with the ground also broke off one winglet. Both of these are repairable and the Freaky Flyer will live to fly again.

Lloyd is intrigued with this rocket and asked me to send him the Rocksim file and scale spreadsheet we have. He plans to build a 7.5" (X11) version. He thinks that we had too much nose weight since the rocket seemed over-stable. We based our CG on the Estes version but he thinks we can get away with a half caliber for stability. We will also beef up the nosecone bulkhead joint. Thanks to Bob for helping with the disassembly of the wounded bird while I went to dig the nosecone out of the ground. Thanks to Pat and Len for taking lots of pictures.

The Freaky Flyer X17 is going to be amazing.

Jeff Mensch

May 17th, 2003

Flyers: 3
Flights: 4
Motors: 4
H:1 I:2 K:1 		Spent a sunny Saturday at the Mini Archer launch at Mountainview with NAPAS members Robert Jones, Richard Peters and Doug Todd.  A big field, great weather, helpful volunteers, good turnout and efficient range head made for a well-run launch.  Robert flew a Pro54 K570 in his PML 1/2 Scale Patriot and a Pro38 I212SS in his Minie Magg.  Doug went for a Level 1 Certification with his scratch built Archer on a Pro38 H110, but suffered a zipper on deployment.  I managed a pretty good flight with my ARG Evolution 2 Prototype on a Pro38 I212SS.  I'll let Richard describe the recovery, if he so chooses.  Thanks to Teresa and Bill Wagstaff, the Ottawa Rocketry Group and the A3maQ for hosting another enjoyable event.

Andrew Ihnatowycz

April 27th, 2002

Flyers: 14
Flights: 25
Motors: 35
A:2 C:5
E:1 F:8 G:6
H:2 I:5 J:6 		It was a day for clusters, staging, airstarts and J motors.  Dual deployment flights were bringing them back within yards of the pads.  And high thrust motors were toppling launch rods and ripping off lugs.  Congratulations to Charles Martin on his Tripoli Level 1 Certification flight, going for broke on a Pro38 I170.

Andrew Ihnatowycz

April 14th, 2002

Flyers: 7
Flights: 12
Motors: 20
A:1
E:4 F:4 G:1
H:2 I:6 J:2 		Congratulations to Brian Cripps and Bea Soffers on their Tripoli Level 1 Certification flights.  Kudos to Carl Hill, who successfully flew his first composite motor, and to Julian Wood, who has now repeatedly shown that multiple Estes E9s can be reliably lit using flash-pan ignition.  And Eric Lecker is now officially the resident expert on clustering Pro38 motors, after another great flight using three I170s.

Andrew Ihnatowycz

December 8th, 2001

Flyers: 17
Flights: 34
Motors: 39
A:1 B:2 C:2 D:3
E:7 F:5 G:10
H:5 I:4		 Included in the H flights are a successful Level 1 Certification for Jeff Mensch with his PML Phobos on an AeroTech H123W with MissileWorks electronics for deployment, and two back-to-back Pro38 H110 catos for Rob French (ouch!). In addition, David Fink's custom Desert Eagle, a minimum diameter Pro38 I170 flight to some 7500+ feet WAS RECOVERED WITHIN THE FIELD for another successful Level 1 Certification. Alas, I believe sky-diving Santa wasn't as lucky. Congratulations to Jeff and David, and condolences to Rob and Kathy. My personal favourite of the day was Gerrit Boerman's PML Tiny Pterodactyl on an AeroTech I357T.  Nice combination.

Andrew Ihnatowycz
November 17th, 2001

Flyers: 16
Flights: 38
Motors: 50
A:2 B:5 C:2 D:2
E:8 F:5 G:10
H:5 I:4 J:7		 My personal favourites were Kathy's BSD Sprint on an H110, and Robert's Goblin on a J570. Great power to weight ratios!

Andrew Ihnatowycz
March 18th, 2001

Flyers: 10
Flights: 22
Motors: 29
B:1 C:4
F:3 G:12
H:2 I:3 J:4 		Flight of the Day: Brian Brodersen's beautiful scratch built, split fin, boattail design on a CUSTOM Pro38 I170 . . .

Andrew Ihnatowycz
January 27th, 2001
 A little blustery at the launch today, unfortunately I forgot to bring along kite. I did bring along my new R-DAS equipped rocket but was not ready to fly. Rick had an awesome flight with a K700 in his "Paralyzer", but I left before Eric launched his newly modified rocket with the strap-on boosters. Apparently, he calls it "Ellen DeGenerate". Anyway, I hope it flew well.

Bob Taylor