DART September 1996
September 1996
/ Fiesta Island
1 flight, 77 N-sec burned
It was cloudy and windy on the island, but we had just finished our first mid powered rocket, so down to San Diego we went. The relaxed atmosphere at DART was fantastic, as usual, and we got in several successful flights for the day.
After watching the "big dogs" at DART fly G motors successfully all morning, we decided to go for the gusto and put a mighty F50 in our Aerotech Arcas. Veteran flier Ray (?) helped us load the rocket on the pad and adjust the angle "just so" to prevent the recovery portion of the flight from occurring in Mission Bay, as is always the challenge at DART launches. As we cleared the pad area and armed the relay box, I was so nervous that I couldn't stand still. My dad called out the count and hit the launch button, and the Arcas rode fast and high into the air on a smokeless Blue Thunder plume. The chute appeared at apogee, but the upper level winds were stronger than anticipated, carrying the rocket smack into the water. D'OH! My dad, ever dedicated, stripped off his shirt and went swimming to recover the bird, and after drying the insides with a hair dryer, she was good as new again. Success on our first composite motor flight!
