Date: March 16, 17 & 18, 2001

Location: El Dorado Dry Lake, NV

Club: LTR and Tripoli-Vegas

James and I went to Vegas with a van packed with rockets and gear. We left at midnight Thursday and got to Vegas around noon Friday. After stopping at my folks' house and checking into James' motel room, we headed for El Dorado Dry Lake. We arrived just in time to see Ken Mizoi demo the new Kosdon by AeroTech K400 in his rocket "Glare". Very cool motor. Unfortunately, the tail section separated at ejection. But because Ken builds his rockets lightweight yet like a tank, the tail only suffered minor damage after falling from apogee. I approached Jason Blatzheim of AeroTech and asked him about demoing motors. He gave me an I310 load with the stipulation that I inform him before flying it. Sounds like a pretty reasonable price for a brand new reload, if you ask me! The rest of the day we just wandered around, checking out the various vendors, watching the few flights that braved the steady 10 mph winds, and chatting with fellow rocketeers.

We got to the lakebed Saturday morning to find that the water had crept a good 200 yards to the east - towards the launch site! After moving the rangehead out of the way, we were ready to go.

James prepped his Sudden Rush while I built the I310. This was the first Kosdon motor I had built, and it's no exaggeration that they're much easier to prep compared with Aerotech reloadables. We loaded the I310 into the Sudden Rush and took her out to the pad. I installed the igniter while James armed the electronics. Back at the flight line, we waited our turn. Jason showed up with Frank Kosdon to make a couple of short announcements about the new "Kosdon by AeroTech" motors. When they were done, the I310 lit with no problems, boosting the Sudden Rush high into the air*. At apogee the streamer deployed perfectly, and we watched her drop until the chute popped, lowering her gently to the lakebed. When we retrieved her, the altimeter was beeping 3,782 ft. Not bad for a free motor!

I prepped my Goblin and an I200 for him. I had just bought a nice, new, black and yellow chute for him, so I was anxious to see if I had sized it correctly. The I200 gives the Gob a real kick, and you can tell that this motor is almost too much for the rocket by the fin flutter*. Ejection was right on time, and the big yellow & black chute lowered him gently to the ground. He didn't land too far away, but a light breeze inflated the chute and dragged him along for a few yards before I could catch up to him. Except for a minor case of road rash, he was just fine.

Next I prepped my Sandhawk to fly on an H97, while James prepped his Sudden Rush again to fly on a J415 (!!!). Right about this time, Ky Michaelson dropped by and shoved his camera in our faces to get some interview footage. No telling if we'll end up on the tape or not; we'll have to see when the tape is released. The Sandhawk flew pretty high on the H97, the delay just slightly too long. I noticed that the 'Hawk was descending pretty quickly; the chute appeared to be tangled. As it got closer, I could tell that a couple of shroud lines had stripped from the late ejection. She landed pretty close, narrowly missing a truck parked along the second row of the flightline. Whew!

Next was James' Sudden Rush on the J415. I thought he was crazy to even think about flying his Rush on this motor. I just knew that it would be too much motor, and we'd be lucky if we ever saw it again. After loading her up on the rail, we retreated to the flightline to await our turn. She roared off the pad and promptly disappeared into the lightly cloudy sky at burnout. No sign of ejection. no streamer, no nothing. I was sure she was lost; goodbye casing, goodbye altimeter, and goodbye to the nice new chute James had just bought. Not to mention, goodbye to a pretty cool rocket. We climbed into the van and headed downwind, looking for any sign of the remains. There was another van a couple hundred yards ahead of us. We saw them stop and a kid jumped out and started running away from the van, then stopped and picked something up. I sped up to see if it was the Sudden Rush he had found. "Is that it?" we wondered. "Is that it? It is!!!" We pulled up to them and jumped out to discover the Rush completely intact. both recovery devices had deployed fully, and she had landed not a half-mile from the launch site! I thanked them profusely for finding the rocket. The altimeter was beeping 8,600 ft! Wow! I was filled with shock, amazement and relief that we had recovered her.

Sunday was calm, the lakebed much dryer than Saturday. I prepped the Endeavour and a Kosdon J280 for her. This motor casing is too long for the kwik-switch mount, so I had to add a small spacer tube and let the motor hang about an inch out the back of the rocket. Even so, she was still more than stable. The J280 boost was nice, the golden flame and almost non-existent smoketrail typical of Kosdon propellant. She made a slight curve to the right, then straightened out and continued on up to about 4,000 ft. or so. I was expecting about a 10 second delay or so, but I counted 20 before ejection. By that time, she was coming in pretty hot, about 2,500 ft. up. At ejection, the parachute and upper section separated from the booster, and I tracked the booster to where it plummeted to the desert floor, not far from the highway. I had lost track of the upper section, so I presumed it had drifted over the highway and was lost. I hopped in the van and drove off towards where I saw the bottom section fall, and found it lying about 100 ft. from the highway. When I retrieved it, I found that only about two feet of it had survived. At least my motor was intact! It was a bummer to lose the Endeavour. She was my Level 2 rocket, and she was the largest rocket in my fleet. She'll be missed.

Meanwhile, back at base, James was prepping the Sudden Rush for another flight, this time on a J90. The J90 is a cool motor; a single slug of 54mm propellant that burns for 8 seconds. I helped James prep the motor and the rocket, and we took her out to the range when she was ready. The nasty "W" had started to pick up a bit, and we waited for a calm spot before giving the LCO the word to "Go." The J90 lit immediately and the Rush flew straight into the blue sky. She arched a little towards the east, but at least this time I could see the entire flight. We saw the streamer deploy at apogee, and I kinda lost track of it until we saw the main, about 400 ft. up. She was drifting south-east in the steady wind, and she landed about a quarter-mile away, near a bunch of R/C airplane flyers. The breeze inflated the chute, and the wind dragged her a good hundred yards or so before we finally caught up to her. The shock cords and parachutes had tangled somewhat and she had a severe case of road rash, but she was otherwise intact and beeping out 4,118 ft. Cool flight. Gotta love them long-burn motors!

James prepped and flew his Pterydactyl Jr. while I prepped Scratch-N-Sniff. This is my scratch-built, dual-deployment rocket. I had the electronics wired and the chutes packed, then couldn't decide on a motor to fly in it. I decided on the I154 over the I211. I had her loaded up and ready to go, but while I was trying to arm the altimeter on the pad, I couldn't get it to initialize. After resetting the altimeter five or six times, I finally had to take it down and scrub the flight. Bummer.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Even though I only had three flights, it felt like six because I was so involved with James' flights of the Sudden Rush. Throughout the weekend, there were just too many cool flights to remember. Among the highlights were:

-A Hypertek Armageddon "M" hybrid that made a distinct flatulence-like noise.
-The much-touted VidRoc flight on an M1949.
-The Gates Brothers' "Porthos" which flew on an N2000 and 6 K250s. Literally earthshaking!
-At least three V2s, one on a K1100 and two on Ms.
-Doug Gerrard's huge Mars Snooper on an L-something.
-Dave Urbanek's Black Knight on a Kosdon L1175.
-Jim Amos's Widowmaker on a Kosdon K410.

Another great SpringFest. It was neat to see the ol' gang from Tripoli-Vegas again, and meet some folks I'd only known by name on the 'Net.

* Thanks to James for the video stills!