NERRF 7

I had loaded this motor a few months prior at Red Glare, but didn't fly it due to low cloud cover and Shake Weight prep on Sunday. It sat in the rocket for April and May, and finally made the trip to NERRF in June. The grains were one Loki Blue and two Loki Reds, aiming for a purple-ish flame. Prep was simple, since the motor and charges were built back in Maryland; all that was left to do was install the altimeter and tracker, and fly. Todd and Andrew helped pad prep, and we were off almost immediately after returning to the rangehead. Ignition was on time, and liftoff was stately, arcing upwind slightly; the blue grain burned out relatively quickly, and the red grains tailed off for a few more seconds. Neither event was visible, but Andrew caught sight of the vehicle just after main deployment, descending a field over. Bailey Lynch hopped on his quad and ran out to fetch the rocket, saving me the walk -- thanks dude!

Todd had eight UV grains left over from the last Shake Weight batch, so we elected to divide them up as one 1750 and one 1050 load. Since we'd never got actual accelerometer data on the 1750 by itself (as opposed to just in the cluster), I decided to put it in the Competitor, since it could fit an accelerometer and a baro package. In addition, Todd's ARTSes were acting strange on the last SW flight, so we elected to fly one in the Competitor to see what was up. After pad prep next to CJ and Wildman, Wayne Anthony counted down and hit the button. The boost was snappy, with a loud, pronounced shutdown from the fast-burning propellant. We lost sight of it on the way up again, as it passed between large clouds, but regained sight during drogue descent; the ARTS never fired the main, so the PerfectFlite had to handle its usual duties at 400 feet. The booster and payload section stuck the landing in the bean field, making for an easy recovery, since it was visible from the rangehead; thanks to the person whose name I forgot at the moment for picking it up for me on their way back in!

Todd had three more 54mm grains of UV sitting around, so I decided to kill the stash with a 1050 load. They had already been cored for a 1750, though, so in the 1050 case things were going to be a bit sporty (Kn = 288, highest ever for this propellant). To get data, Andrew volunteered his Parrot, which I taped to the forward bulkhead of the motor against the retention eye. After I helped Todd recover his flight, I headed to the pad and set up Little Dragon. Wayne Anthony called out the count again and the J motor lit up smartly, spanking the rocket into the air at 30.6 Gs, with burnout at 1.27 seconds. LD disappeared into the sky momentarily, but was spotted again on the way down; main deployment happened like magic at 600 feet, courtesy of the Adept22, and landing was gentle in the soy field next door. Bailey was on recovery duties again via quad; on return, the rocket beeped out 5879 feet. Good flight to end the weekend at NERRF!