LOC IV

I had grabbed the LOC IV at the last minute heading out the door to the launch, and I was quite glad I brought it when I discovered a G76 burning a hole in the bottom of my motor box. I quickly loaded it up and got it on the pad, with a bit of a boosted igniter after my earlier shenanigans. The G motor lit right up and carried the LOC IV nice and straight into the air. Just after burnout, however, something happened—either a drag separation or the charge firing—making the chute pop early. No matter, as it all held together and drifted down, landing just behind the club trailer on the manicured sod. Count it!

I had a new stash of small reloads to fly in my 29/40-120 case (that must have at least 100 firings on it by now!), and I hadn't tried this green load yet. With 76 newtons of average thrust, I figured it'd be a good motor to pick up the tubby LOC IV. The copperhead got things going quickly and the rocket shot into the air on a bright green flame. Chute ejection was on time and the rocket bounced down onto a harvested strip of sod. Success!

With a lower cloud ceiling and gustier winds on day 2, I decided to fly as low as possible. The G53 is barely a G motor, but the FastJack propellant still gives a nice kick off the pad to pick up heavier models. I put it in the LOC IV for a nice 1000 foot flight. Ejection was so spot-on at apogee that the pullstring beeper didn't even activate; luckily, it landed just past the edge of the beans, making recovery simple.

The sun was setting and the wind was still, so with 10 minutes left in the waiver I wanted to get another rocket in the air. I pulled out a freshly-purchased H135S and quickly loaded it up. With so little wind, I put a large orange LOC parachute in the LOC IV, along with some wadding, and whipped up a thermalite wire-wrap igniter -- we're flying this one old school. A quick trip to the pad to load up, the countdown, a pregnant pause, and the H135 came to life, carrying the LOC IV into the darkening sky on a trail of golden flame. As the motor burned out, I commented to everyone that I'd always had trouble with Frank delays, but to no avail, as the chute popped at apogee and the rocket began its slow descent to the ground. It landed next to the road, easily picked up and cleaned off for another flight.

Since the G64 flight went well, I decided to amp it up a bit with the punchier Redline load for this case. I once again drilled the delay for the heavy rocket, and headed to the rangehead. There was actually a line for the away pad - look how popular we're getting! After Randy flew his Phobos on a G185, I loaded the LOC IV on the rail with a Copperhead igniter. The boost was fast and straight, but ejection happened a few seconds after burnout; either the delay was bad (internet fearmongering, anyone?) or I just drilled it too short (more likely). No matter, as the chute quickly inflated and stopped the light, draggy rocket with no damage; the descent was nominal and the LOC IV landed gently in the grass a few hundred feet away.

For my first AP flight of the morning, I decided to go for the LOC IV on a G64W. I still wasn't too comfortable with flying on such a small field, so I figured this combination would keep the altitude low while still providing for some excitement. After trimming the delay to 4 seconds, prep proceeded as usual, and I had the rocket on the pad in no time since there were no avionics involved. A quick countdown and the G motor fired up, taking the LOC IV on a nice flight, with a close landing. My small field confidence was boosted!

With the sun setting and the range beginning to close, I wanted to get one more flight in the air. My go-to for easy prep, the LOC IV, was within easy reach, and I had picked up one of the new White Lightning KBA loads for my 29-250 case -- a natural for a vehicle of this size. Packaging was opened, snap rings clicked into place, and 10 minutes later the LOC IV was on the pad with a shiny new H135W in it. The only snafu was walking through RSO; poor Greg Lyzenga had never seen a KBA before and so was a bit surprised to see the shiny gold case in the rocket! A quick countdown and she was off and away with a big white flame and plenty of noise. The motor shut down cleanly (unlike its AT counterpart, the H180W, or the Kosdon H135S) and the vehicle coasted up... and up... and up... and ejected slightly before apogee. Wow, more performance for less cash than the H180... I like! The ejection was so soft it didn't even break the tape on the shock cord, and descent was deliciously slow on a big SkyAngle chute. What a nice flight to end the day.

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.

A front was beginning to move through the launch site, and the winds were up. This particular H238T had been sitting in my box for a long time, and I wanted to burn it before all the ferrocene migrated into the delay grain. It'd be perfect in the LOC IV in this breeze - high thrust, short burn duration to punt it into the air. The boost was fast and straight (even with the wind), but on recovery a fin popped out when the wind torqued it. Oh well, a little epoxy and it was good as new.

For my L1 cert flight, I went with the tried-and-true combo of the LOC IV on an H180W. To ensure that I didn't break any fins on landing, I replaced the stock parachute with a ginormous SkyAngle; there was no wind, so drift shouldn't be an issue. It was weird to fill out the flight card and not put my dad's name on the top next to mine. Rick O'Neill counted down and away we went; I got strangely nervous after motor burnout, knowing it all had to work properly this time. Like clockwork, the chute appeared at apogee and the rocket drifted back down, landing about 50 feet from Nadine (who refused to get it for me =)). Level 1, check!