ROC April 1999
April 1999
/ Lucerne Dry Lake
6 flights, 1366 N-sec burned
This day was consumed by flying the Vulcanite repeatedly for my sixth grade science project. Luckily, the weather was calm and the skies were clear, so it was easy to complete six flights in a row without any issue.
Flight 1: Vulcanite, AT H242
The first of six flights went without a hitch; the ALTS2 was armed as the rocket was placed on the pad, with no external wires or anything. Simple and reliable. This first flight was fast and straight.
Altitude: 3,954 ft
Flight 2: Vulcanite, AT H123
Flight two was on an H123W. We had borrowed an extra case from motor vendor Ken Finwall to decrease prep time, and after the rocket was recovered, it was turned around again in 15 minutes or so. Flight two was nominal, with a long walk for recovery.
Altitude: 3,874 ft
Flight 3: Vulcanite, AT H242
Flight 3 went without a hitch as well; while the rocket was being recovered from flight 2, the next motor was built up. A rhythm was developing and turnaround time was decreased to five minutes or so to remove the previous motor, repack the chute and wadding, and fill out a new flight card.
Altitude: 3,814 ft
Flight 4: Vulcanite, AT H123
Flight 4 was the only less-than-nominal flight for today; we had neglected to tie the shroud lines to the shock cord (only attached using a Lark's Head knot), and at apogee, the chute slid up the cord, slicing the shrouds and separating the chute from the vehicle. Carl Delzell was nice enough to chase the parachute down, and I recovered the rocket from the range with no damage.
Altitude: 3,894 ft
