NYA 2015
June 2015
/ Lucerne Dry Lake
2 flights, 2766 N-sec burned
NYA is an after-school youth organization in Mar Vista/Venice. Together with two of my coworkers, we do a spring rocket class for them, including lectures on flight mechanics, propulsion, structures, avionics, and more. And, of course, they get to build and launch water rockets and model rockets. Rick Dickinson was kind enough to call in a waiver for us the weekend before ROCStock, so I got to do some high power demo flights for the kids too!
Flight 2: Jart, CTI J360
My second demo of the day happened after all the kids flew their Estes rockets. I had loaded the trusty Jart with a J360SK to give it a nice, noisy ride to ~3000'. After a countdown mishap (one kid got nervous and started counting up!), we got things underway with a five count. I hit the button and the stubby 4" bird took off hot, straight, and normal, headed for the sun. Our LCO was in complete shock as the motor burned out. Dual deploy worked good, with the rocket landing to the south, but on recovery the motor had worked its way loose and was hanging attached to the rocket by the adapter alone. Lucky!
others: video
Flight 3: Wildman 3, Infinity K1700
I'd had this motor loaded since I lived in Indiana, and figured this was a great opportunity to burn it. The kids were about to leave and were excited to see a K motor fly. My coworker Juliett wanted to launch this rocket--I explained to her that it might blow up :) Luckily, after the countdown (5... 4... 3... 2... 1... PIZZA), all was well, and the Wildman boogied off the rail on a long UltraViolet flame: "OOH IT'S PURPLE, GUYS!" Events happened like they're supposed to, and Daniel helped me track the bird down out on the lakebed. Great flight to end the day.
others: video
