Back in the Midwest!

Not much rocketry related going on since my last post. I've been busy moving half-way across the country from California to Iowa. I made it back just in time to attend the last launch of the season with the Iowa Society of Amateur Rocketeers (ISOAR) - or so I thought. Mother nature had other plans and the launch was scrubbed due to thunderstorms and winds exceeding 30 mph. Guess I'll have to wait until the spring. ISOAR holds monthly launches April through November at the Indianola balloon grounds. This will be my new Tripoli Prefect.  Looking further out, there are several clubs within 3-4 hours including Tripoli Southern Minnesota (TSM), Quad Cities Rocket Society (QCRS), and The Heartland Organization of Rocketry (THOR). With so many great clubs in the region I'll be happy here!

I will miss Southern California. I leave behind some great rocketeers who helped me get back into High Power Rocketry. Without the assistance and encouragement from members of Tripoli San Diego, I wouldn't have certified Tripoli Levels 1-3 in 17 months. During my time with the club I had 13 launches totaling 12,927 N-sec burned.

As far as the off-season goes, my first project will be building a workshop in my garage. Once I have a good place to work, I'll be making a few small rocket repairs to my Angry Birds and California Screamin' rockets and I'll be taking another look at the LOC Bruiser and determine if she can fly again. I'll also be working on my first 54mm minimum diameter rocket!  It's time to do something other than low and slow. Looking forward to finally breaking the sound barrier and 10,000 ft.

I'll leave you with a picture of my new garage. You can see parts of California Screamin', the LOC Bruiser, Angry Birds, and a few mid-power rockets.

New rocket workshop - lots of potential here.

Better get back to unpacking boxes!

ROCtober - Second Flight of California Screamin'

I've been going through some serious Ammonium Perchlorate withdrawals since my last high power launch in April.  Unfortunately I couldn't fly during the opening weekend launch for Tripoli San Diego last week due to wind gusts in excess of 22 mph.  I had bought an L3200 Vmax from What's Up Hobbies and needed to burn it so I drove up to Lucerne Dry Lake with my sons for ROCtober.  It was probably the most mentally and physically exhausting launches I've ever had, but it was totally worth it!  It's a three hour drive from Imperial Beach to Lucerne and it took about 5 hours to unpack the car, set up my work area, build the motor and prep the rocket all while keeping my kids out of trouble.  During my preflight I discovered that one of the mini-clamps attached to the Raven2 drogue leads had broken and I no longer had continuity to the drogue ejection charge.  I didn't have any spare clamps with me, so I had to drill a small hole through the bulkhead to bypass the terminal block and reroute the electric match directly into the Raven2.  Crisis averted!

During the off-season I came up with the idea to create a video of the flight by overlaying all the telemetry data received from the Telemetrum.  To ensure I captured all the major events (lift-off, drogue, main, and landing), I attached three keychain cameras to the rocket.  I also setup a Flip video camera at the launch pad and had my hand held video camera on the flight line.  The last step was to screen record the telemetry video/audio coming into my laptop from the TeleMetrum.  The end result was my best video yet!

Flight Stats:

	TeleMetrum	Raven 2
Altitude	3981 ft	4044 ft
Top Speed	402 mph	406 mph
Top Accel	21 g's	23 g's

With six cameras rolling, I captured a ton of good screen shots.  Here are just a few...

Pre flight

Post flight

Ignition!

Lift off on the Cesaroni L3200 Vmax

From 0 to 402 mph in 1.3 seconds!

Lucerne Dry Lake from 3981 feet.

Kickin' out the laundry (drogue)

Fin can descending under the drogue

Upper payload and nose cone prior to main deployment

Main parachute deployment - Rocketman 12'

Google maps summary from TeleMetrum
Red bullseye = launched / Black = landed

                         My best video yet.

For more information on ROCtober, visit Rocketry Organization of California

Fiesta Island Launch

Every now and then I get to launch model rockets with my boys at Fiesta Island in San Diego.  Today I brought one of my keychain cameras and captured a few good pics of the bay area.

Apogee - Estes SkyTrax

Parachute Deployment

Apogee - Estes Amazon

Flight Line

For more information on the rocket launches at Fiesta Island, check out DART Rocketry.

Tripoli Level 3 Certification - 6 Apr 2013

My Level 3 project named California Screamin’ is based off the PML Ultimate Endeavour. It stands 120 inches tall and has a diameter of 6 inches. When loaded with the Aerotech M1297W motor, the total weight is approximately 42 pounds. Major modifications to the PML Ultimate Endeavour design include:

• Fully fiberglassed phenolic airframe with two wraps of 16 ounce glass cloth.
• G10 fiberglass fin thickness increased from .093 to .187 inches.
• Length extended from 108 inches to 120 inches.
• Airframe modified for dual-deployment.
• PML piston system removed.
• Extended altimeter bay to 10.5 inches. Electronics include the Featherweight Raven2 altimeter with Power Perch and the Telemetrum v1.2 recording altimeter with GPS and telemetry link.
• Main parachute upgraded to a Rocketman 12 foot Standard Recovery parachute. The drogue is a Rocketman 4 foot Standard Recovery parachute.
• Motor mount increased to 75 mm with Aero Pack motor retainer installed.

I started this project in Dec 2011 and completed the certification flight in Apr 2013. It would have taken less time, but I spent six months out to sea on a deployment to Japan and Hawaii. I was able to get most of my documentation written (31 pages) during my free time on deployment. If you are working on your Level 3 project and have any questions with the required documentation, send me a message and I'll be glad to assist. I took over 160 photos throughout the build.  If you would like more information or to see more pictures of the building techniques I used, just ask.

Pre-assembly - spacing out the centering rings on motor mount tube

Test fitting centering rings and steel rods on the motor mount assembly

Booster section prior to inserting into body tube

Sliding body tube over motor mount and fin assembly

Altimeter bay: 15" coupler with 10.5" liner, bulk plate, and 1" spacer

Screws and threaded inserts prior to altimeter bay bulkhead installation

Side 1 of altimeter bay sled with Telemetrum

Side 2 of altimeter bay sled with Raven2 and Power Perch

Altimeter bay aft bulkhead with ejection canisters, u-bolt, and two-circuit
barrier terminals

Inserting screws through the body tube into the altimeter bay bulkhead

PML expanding foam curing before the next batch

Fin fillets sanded

Rocket set up for ejection charge testing

Rocket, drogue, main 'chute, and 80 feet of kevlar shock cord

Assembled and ready for flight!

Rocket transport vehicle

Launch day!  Assembling the 5,417 N-sec motor

Lift off on an Aerotech M1297 White Lightening!

Screamin' to 5,770 feet

Drogue Deployment

Forward payload and nose cone before main 'chute deployment

Successful recovery!

Telemetrum flight data - lost power at apogee

Raven2 flight data

Ejection charge testing video with Telemetrum

Level 3 flight with footage from 3 different cameras

A special thank you to TAP members, Greg Smith and Jack Garibaldi!

Tripoli Level 2 Re-certification - 2 Mar 2013

When I originally built the Angry Birds rocket using a LOC Minie Magg kit, I never had the intention of flying it on a J motor.  This was a fun father-son project thrown together over Father's Day weekend.  My son had grown very attached to it and I knew he'd be crushed if anything happened, but after my two previous cert failures I was running out of rockets.  After much debate I finally worked up the nerve to send it up on a J357.

Ignition!  Cesaroni J357 Blue Streak.  The black tape on the body tube is
holding a keychain camera.  Unfortunately it didn't record the flight.

Finally Level 2 certified!

Tripoli Level 2 Re-certification - Second Attempt

My second attempt at re-certifying took place in Feb 2013.  For this flight I used another old rocket I built in high school - PML Black Brant X.  I modified the rocket for dual-deployment which extended the length about 6 inches.  This was the same rocket I used to earn my Level 2 cert back in 1996.  There's footage of that flight in my Vintage Rockets post.

In order to make the rocket flight ready again, I drilled some holes into the tailcone and used two bolts with washers to create a motor retainer.  I also replaced the plastic rivets around the altimeter bay with screws.  I selected the Featherweight Raven altimeter to control parachute deployment.  As you'll see in the video, it looks like a great flight.  Unfortunately it suffered major airframe damage during the parachute deployment.  The piston got stuck in the body tube and the main parachute actually came out of the middle of the forward payload section instead of the separation point between the body tube and nosecone.  The phenolic around the fin section bulkhead also shattered.  I noticed the phenolic was brittle when I drilled out the screw holes for the altimeter bay but I thought it would be strong enough for one more flight.  I'm sure the brittleness was due to sitting in storage in various climates over the last 17 years.  I salvaged the nosecone, parachutes, and shock cord but threw the rest of the rocket away.

9' rocket + 9' flame and sparks!  Photo by Greg Smith

Liftoff on a Cesaroni J381 Skidmark!

That white speck in the upper-left corner is my oldest son and I at the
launch table on the flight line

Drogue deployed at apogee

Too many body tube pieces.  The section visible in the middle of the
screen and at the base of the fin can are broken fragments.

Raven2 Flight Data

Tripoli Level 2 Re-certification - First Attempt

I had a great plan to re-certify Level 2 the same day as my Level 1 using an old LOC Bruiser I built in high school.  Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.  The shock cord was too short and the ejection charge was too strong resulting in the shock cord snapping when the chute deployed at apogee.  The nose cone descended safely from 2,000 ft on a 6.5 ft parachute and the rocket came crashing back to the ground with no chute at all!  I was impressed with how well the rocket survived - a relatively small zipper, two cracked fins, and a few cracks in the glass cloth that run the length of the body tube.  I haven't decided if I'll make the repairs or keep it as a trophy piece in my garage.

Beautiful Liftoff!

Aerotech RMS 54/852 J275W

Nose cone descending safely.  Can't say the same for the rocket

Airframe with cracks, zipper, and broken shock cord

The business end