LDRS 17
August 1998
/ Bonneville Salt Flats
3 flights, 1319 N-sec burned
This was my first LDRS - I can't believe that my parents were supportive enough of this crazy hobby to pile a 10 year old me, about 50 rockets, and several cases of water into our sedan and drive it from Southern California, through the Nevada desert, and onto the Salt Flats in the middle of summer! The experience was unforgettable, including (brain dump here) the awesome manufacturer's forum, seeing my first N2000W, meeting all my heroes from the Point 39 videos (including Earl Cagle himself), watching the PML prototype AMRAAM 2 lawn dart in spectacular fashion about 100 feet in front of our car, repairing our shade cover after an epic lightning storm, hanging out with Ron and Deb Schultz at Ken Finwall's tent, and getting called a "smartass" by Scott Deakins after informing him that no, the J180T I am holding is not too big, only 764 N-sec. Maybe my parents drove me all the way there and back hoping to wear me out of this rocketry thing so they could stop ferrying me to the desert every month. If that was the plan, it backfired horribly! And I'm really thankful for that!
For my first LDRS flight, I put up the classic Lil' Nuke on its biggest motor yet -- an Aerotech G40. Prep was fast with the single use motor, and the flight was rail straight and really high.
This was our first 'big' flight at LDRS, and my dad's Tripoli Level 1 cert. We had been certified in NAR, and we could have "grandfathered" in, but then we don't have an excuse to fly another rocket! It flew as planned, and page 1 of the cert form was signed and gone.
Altitude: 3,281 ft
Since the Level 2 cert didn't go too well with the Bruiser, we decided to take our remaining 54mm motor rocket and go for broke with a J180. Setting up next to Ron McGough and his I-ROC with a J800 was somewhat reassuring, but the long delay for a raffle beforehand wasn't. I'm wearing out my shoes pacing- hurry up and launch the darned thing! Finally, our name was called and the rocket SCREAMED off the pad and was gone. Just vanished. Finally, a little orange speck appeared and I remembered to breathe again. We walked way out to retrieve it (onto the thin part of the salt) and picked it up without any damage. It came straight down and left the nozzle print in the salt. That was too cool.
Altitude: 5,871 ft
