ROC April 2008

April 2008

/ Lucerne Dry Lake

3 flights, 1882 N-sec burned

With spring in full force, temperatures were mild and skies were clear for the April ROC launch. Over the course of two days, I burned my first Mojave Green motor, had a great campout, and put up the Arcas on a SPR reload. Both days turned windy in the afternoon, but not after a significant number of rockets had taken to the skies.

Flight 1: LOC IV, AT H250

Mojave Green had just debuted, and I quickly picked up a 29/240 and 38/360 reload of the hot new propellant. Since I flew my first-ever Redline reload in the LOC IV (the H210R), I figured it'd be appropriate to do the same thing with the Mojave Green. At the end of a five-count, the rocket ripped into the air atop a brilliant green flame, studded with Mach diamonds. The rocket was spinning like mad; either the flight speed was so fast that asymmetric airflow was producing a significant roll torque, or the act of ripping a button off as the rocket was leaving the rail really messed things up. Either way, the LOC IV was hell bent on getting as much altitude as quickly as it possibly could. COOL MOTOR! Ejection at apogee was nominal, and the rocket came to a soft touchdown (really far away, mind you) under a SkyAngle chute.
LOC IV on an AT H250

others: recovery

Flight 2: iROC, AT I245

With the winds beginning to pick up (and seeing how far away the LOC IV had landed on its last flight...) I elected to keep my next flight a little lower. I wanted to put the I245G in something lightweight (like my Vulcanite), but I ended up using the iROC instead to keep the altitude reasonable. This turned out to be a good thing, as it still drifted a half mile away! The boost was snappy, though the peak altitude was a little low, and chute deployment was on time. A nice, quick flight on the new propellant.