LDRS 20

July 2001

/ Lucerne Dry Lake

3 flights, 2567 N-sec burned

LDRS 20 was my second LDRS, and the first one that ROC ever hosted. (Can you believe it?!) I was on the lakebed beginning on the 18th to help set up and get prepared for a big weekend of rocketry. The Arcas flew in dual deploy mode for the first time on a Kosdon K350, and I got to meet and hang out with tons of awesome people as a "large project coordinator". What a terrific event!

Flight 1: Vulcanite, AT I211

This flight went as well as the previous one did. It also showed up on Earl Cagle's LDRS 20 video as the first flight of the launch. COOL! Unfortunately, the ALTACC data was lost. (That thing was finicky sometimes.)

Flight 2: LaserLOC 2.1, AT J460

At LDRS XX, hosted by ROC and LTR, I decided to fly the J460 in this rocket. We were on the lakebed at 6:00, prepped this rocket, and stuck it on the pad around 7:00. After a 5 count, Rick DuVall punched the button. A brief delay ensued as the motor came up to pressure, then BAM! it was gone. I managed to catch one glimpse of the rocket on the way up, and that stop frame is embedded in my mind forever. It is of the rocket up around 7,000 feet with a blue flame as long as it, screaming upwards. After burnout, we followed the delay trail and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the trail terminated in a puff, signaling deployment of the parachute. Out came the orange dot, and away we went. We followed it all the way down (through the national anthem) and lost it in a haze layer above the lakebed. Great. Now what? We waited for the rocket to touch down, and then began our search for it. After hiking out to the radio towers (~3 miles), we headed back in for some water and replanning. I went up to the LCO table to have them announce if anyone found our rocket, and described it to them. Then the lady (I don't remember who) held up the rocket and said "This one?" Well, yeah. Someone found it and brought it back. Thanks a lot, but it's not nice to do that for someone. What if the motor kicked out or the rocket broke or something? We like to see how our rockets land to diagnose the damage. So please, if you see someone's rocket laying on the ground, DON'T PICK IT UP!!! Of course, if the rocket has been pronounced lost or if it's your rocket, go right ahead, but leave the rocket there as a courtesy to other fliers. All that we lost was about 2 hours of flying time. We were lucky. Back to the flight, we downloaded the ALTACC data and got our highest reading ever: 11,487 feet! Woo hoo! We also busted mach (~1500 ft/sec). What a great flight.

Altitude: 11,487 ft

Flight 3: Arcas, Kosdon K350

At LDRS we flew the Arcas again on a Kosdon K350S-P load. This time, the rocket flew beautifully to 4400 feet, with successful dual deployment on the way down. I must say, seeing the 9 ft. Rocketman chute inflate what only seemed to be 800 feet off the ground (probably because it was) and have the rocket gently touch down just a few feet away was the most awesome sight in my whole rocketry career. I gotta try that again.

Altitude: 4,463 ft

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