ROC September 1997

Boost was good on the snappy AT full I motor. However, things soured quickly at apogee, when the parachute failed to eject and the Bruiser piled into the lakebed. I remember Larry "Bubba" Jacobs explaining it to me: "It's all part of the hobby, don't worry... you can pick up the pieces and fly it again!" (And anybody who knew Larry Jacobs knew he was in the perfect position to hand out that kind of advice! :)) The failure was traced to the sticky dot on the forward end of the motor responsible for holding the black powder in; it had become contaminated with grease and fell off in handling, allowing the powder to spill out, and thus no ejection.