Punisher 3

The K185W was a nice lazy flight, so I figured I'd amp it up on the next round. I was debating a K550W but decided to go for the show with the punchier red load in this case. Steve couldn't read my writing on the flight card the first time around, so I had to break the pun to him ("Anita Mai Tai", we were doing Nicki themed rockets this weekend), but after that awkwardness things went really smoothly; the rocket pounded into the sky on a thick red flame and rapidly disappeared from sight. I regained a visual just before main deployment and picked it up about a half mile south in the tiny corn plants.

Since its last flight, I had painted the booster on the Punisher to match the new white nose cone; the black avbay stripe and red spacer that Tim made me add a nice effect at the forward end of the tube. I wanted to keep the sequence of 54mm White Lightning motors going, but was out of K550s, so I elected to burn a K185W instead. The 3" rocket/K185 combo is really solid, and the rocket took off with authority on the moonburning reload. Drogue deployment was confirmed by tracker, and the green main chute unfurled at 700 feet. It landed by the old road for an easy recovery.

The first flight went well on a 2-grain 54mm White Lightning, so I figured I'd keep things rolling with the next casing size up--the classic J415W. Tim confirmed that was the choice he'd make too. After packing the reload, replacing charges, and folding chutes, the rocket was ready to go again by mid-afternoon. Some clouds were rolling through and I was getting nervous about rain, so I ran it to the pads and Steve pushed the button for "impatient David." (Ha!) The darkened skies made for dramatic photos, and the rocket rode straight into the air on the signature White Lightning plume. Apogee deploy was invisible against the cloud deck, but the main deployment just east of the corn crib was easily seen. I landed just past Jackson Lubin's Gizmo 5, and the Punisher was in great shape, ready to fly again.

I wanted a nice relaxing rocket trip, so I kept it simple and packed one rocket and a set of 54mm Aerotech hardware. The plan paid off: a J275 was the perfect match for the reincarnated Punisher 3. The flight was quite nice into the clear blue sky; drogue deployment was invisible, but I picked it up again when the main popped a few hundred yards to the south. Good flight!

I wanted an easy-to-prep flight that was still punchy. Tim had a few of my favorite 4 grain reloads in stock (white thunder!) so I figured that would fit the bill. Skippy was on the mic and the rocket took off like a bat out of hell. It disappeared against the haze, but it became apparent that something had gone wrong shortly after burnout when the unmistakable sound of a shredding rocket echoed down from above. I picked up the pieces from out on the range; the avionics bay was in good shape, but everything else was garbage. Notably, there was a chunk missing out of the exit cone of the motor nozzle--I wonder if it broke just before/at burnout, flipping the rocket? I'll never know. Oh well, time to rebuild!

With the cloudy weather, I figured it best to keep things low. I had the Punisher all set to go, and dug out an old Pro38 5-grain case to fly it with. I surveyed the array of motors in Wildman's trailer, and chose a Green--I'd never flown it before, and I'm not a fan of making green motors, so it was a nice way to kill two birds with one stone. The rocket flew nicely and was visible all the way up and down, landing just across the waterway on the west side of the field.

I had the Punisher prepped and was endlessly mulling motor choices. I finally settled on a J145SK. Even though I'd already flown this combo once, I wanted to do it again since it was so cool the first time. (CTI, please make more of these.) The line was nonexistent and I got to choose any pad I wanted. (Maybe ROC can set up fewer for monthlies to save on work + burnout, it doesn't have to be this way!) Mike Riss volunteered to LCO and counted down/hit the button as soon as I was done setting up on the pad. The igniter smoked and the motor lit cleanly, sending the Punisher into the sky with a little tail wag--musta been happy to have this motor inside of it again. After six seconds of fire and smoke, all was quiet up to apogee, except for Mike: "wow, that was worth the price of admission!" Or maybe it was ignition :)) Dual deploy brought it back just past the back row of pads. Nice!

For the first flight of the Punisher, I chose a very marginally-stable motor: the J145SK. After taping it in from the front of the rocket (and getting all kinds of looks from Tim for it), I waited in line for the pad. I love that MMWP, despite being a "regional" launch or something, has like three high power pads set up -- and there's still basically no wait! I loaded up next to Mike Walsh and his awesome WAC Corporal, and got to go first. The Punisher roared off the pad nice and straight on the Skidmark and weathercocked across 1850E. Apogee deployment was drogueless and the main appeared a short while later. Richard Cash helped me fetch it for old time's sake :) Thanks to Justin for the prep table and Jason for the BP!