ROCStock XX
November 2004
/ Lucerne Dry Lake
1 flight, 3646 N-sec burned
The weather during the week up to the launch was iffy at best, with storm fronts passing through the SoCal area. However, by Thursday, things were clearing up, and we were go for launch. Eugenio Cebollero and Jason Toft from The Rocketry Forum had flown out for the launch, and they weren't disappointed - over the course of three days, all sorts of awesome stuff flew, including the Tour de Deuce rockets. I also put up the Arcas on its biggest motor to date. Overall, it was an awesome weekend.
Flight 1: Arcas, AT L850
I had purchased the 3840 case from RocketSilo when they were having their closeout sale, and my parents got me the closures for my 16th birthday (thanks mom and dad!). The reload had been purchased from What's Up Hobbies in December of 2003. 2004 had been a mess weather-wise, so our first opportunity to put up the big L motor was ROCStock XX.
Prep went smoothly; we started at about 9:30 and easily finished by 11:00. On to the pad with a honking big dipped igniter from Kurt Gugisberg, altimeters armed, cameras ready, and away we went. Rick DuVall got everybody's attention... "an Aerotech L-8-50!" And the count came... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. A moment of silence, and then instantly the motor came on and the rocket tore off the pad on a seven-foot pillar of fire. It burned, and burned, and burned. The rocket kept flying on a true course through burnout and kept drilling into the sky as the delay train left a trail. Finally, a small orange dot confirmed presence of the drogue chute at the apogee of 13,681 feet. Eric Williams and I tracked it down to 1000 feet, where the main appeared on cue courtesy of MissileWorks. The ARTS fired the backup charge at 750 feet, and the rocket returned to the ground not less than 1/4 mile from the east end of the flight line without damage. A perfect flight.
Oh yeah, it broke Mach too!
Altitude: 13,681 ft
others: burnout
