J's "I go whoosh" whooshing

J's "I go whoosh" whooshing
Originally uploaded by civilgrrl

This will be the last we see of the "I Go Whoosh". This flight went well and we were able to recover it with some problems - it got caught in the power lines. After tugging on it a couple of times, it came lose.

The next day, J flew it on an I 195 - which was not as strong a motor that this video had. It separated at apogee. The wind the third day was BAD.

I did help out with range duties at AIRFest and had a short lived time as Launch Safety Officer (LSO) - something I've done quite a lot - even at a large rocket launch. Granted, I was a little rusty, but I picked it up fairly quickly. I'll just say that it wasn't the most fun experience and leave it at that. The launch got called for high winds (you shouldn't launch in 20+ mph winds).

We hung around the launch site another three hours hoping that the wind will die down - and it didn't. We didn't have shade, because our EZ Up took a hit because of the high wind. The hotel, which was supposed to have a pool, was terrible and M started saying that she was homesick.

We also found out that the next day was supposed to be high winds (over 20 mph) again.

So I made the call - we were going home early. After 3 nights, none of us had had a good night sleep and it was time.

So we're home again and it was nice to get a good night sleep. We're all unpacked, washed, and have eliminated all traces of Kansas dust.

Can't wait till the next HPR launch (High Powered Rocket)

My rocket flying

VID 00003.3GP
Originally uploaded by civilgrrl

This is a video of my pink and black rocket I call the Starry Night. It's flying on an nice little black jack motor by Aerotec (I 195)

It went really fast and I didn't keep it on camera all the time - it really kicked off that rod!

Flying with your big girl

M and mom with the Starry Night Sept 2010
Originally uploaded by civilgrrl

After a very long 6 year hiatus, I finally have started getting back into High Powered Rocketry. We are currently in Argonia, Kansas getting ready to start day two of Airfest. It was really nice getting reacquainted with people we hadn't seen in quite a long time. I forgot just how friendly and helpful everyone is out on the airfield and the Kansas guys are super nice.

We have a superb location looking directly on to the air field and our neighbors are super. I'm not surprised at how many Texans we had out yesterday - seems like you were either from Kansas or Texas with a few Oklahoman's mixed in.

I tried flying my "Starry Night" yesterday on a motor that's OLD (gotta be over 8 years) - an Aerotek I 355 Redline - would have been super neat to see that. But after three attempts (and the final one with a very good igniter) and some consultation with some guys who cast motors for a living, we decided that it was not meant to go up.

So we bought another one - and I like these motors - SUPER black and smokey. I'll send my rocket up on day two.

We did fly J's "I Go Whoosh" on a J 355. Perfect flight! But we had a bit of a scare at the end. It got fouled in some electrical wires coming down. I tugged at it a couple of times and we got lucky - it came loose.

Day Two starts in an hour - gotta go.