Date: March 20 and 21, 1999

Location: Eldorado Dry Lake

Club: LTR Springfest

Welcome to Windfest - er, I mean, Springfest 99. I got out to El Dorado at about 8:00am Saturday. I brought my LOC IV, V.B. Javelin, and my scratch-built, upscaled Goblin. It was already a bit windy when I arrived, and it only got worse. I barely had time to get a G64 prepped for my LOC IV and get it on the pad before the winds picked up. I think mine was the third or fourth flight of the morning. It was the LOC IV's first flight, and it was perfect. Beautiful, slow flight straight up to about 1200 feet, with ejection right at apogee. I only had to chase it about a quarter-mile downwind. I recovered it with no damage other than the usual few scratches in the paint.

By the time I retrieved my LOC IV, it was too windy for me to dare flying again. There were a few other flyers who braved the wind, but not me. I just watched other people fly and visited with a few acquaintances. There couldn't have been more than two or three dozen flights the rest of the morning, and by noon, they shut down the range and finished the raffle. Then most of us, including me, left.

I hadn't really planned on going back on Sunday, since I had heard that the weather was supposed to be just as bad or even worse. But I finally decided to go back out, if only to watch everyone else fly and hope for a raffle prize. Then I got to thinking, if the weather is favorable, why don't I go ahead and try to certify on Sunday? After a couple of calls to my Tripoli-Vegas officers, they said that sounded like a good idea, weather permitting. There was one major detail I would have to take care of first -- I wasn't even a member of Tripoli yet! (at the time). I found out that I could join on-site and attempt my cert at the same time. We could work out the details as they came up.

Sunday morning came and the wind was dead calm. In the city, anyway. I just hoped it would be the same and stay that way out on the dry lake. As soon as Tripoli-Vegas prefect Dave Pacheco showed up and got set up, I filled out my membership form and handed over my money. We discussed which rocket I should use, and he suggested the Javelin. Then I went in search of a motor for it. At first, I was going to get an H180 from Brent of GadgetWorks, but somehow I just knew that would be a bit much for my Javelin, so instead I used an H128 from Ken Finwall of California High Power. Now it was time to load the motor in a 29/180 casing I borrowed from Vince Catalano. I found the H128 a little intimidating, since it was the first time I had assembled a motor that large. After loading the motor and securing it in my Javelin, I took the rocket back to Dave so he could look it over. He suggested drilling a vent hole in the payload section to prevent separation, so I borrowed Mike Alber's Dremel and drilled a 1/8" hole near the center of the upper body section.

I checked her in at the RSO table, and took her out to the pad. After connecting the ignitor clips, I walked back over to Dave's RV to wait. Then the butterflies and the pacing started. I'm sure that anyone who has ever attempted a cert flight knows exactly what I was going through. I went through the checklist in my mind of everything that could go wrong, and I was convinced that something would. When the LCO finally got to mine and counted down, it didn't budge. Damn Crapperheads! After the range was clear and I went back to the pad, I found that the ignitor hadn't even fired, so it must've been a problem with how I attached the clips. Not wanting to take any chances, Dave suggested I replace the Crapperhead, and we used one of Scott Bartel's Hi-Rel ignitors instead.

After another half-hour of waiting and fluttering butterflies, the LCO finally got back to my rocket. This time the ignitor worked and she blasted right off. Right after she left the pad, she tilted slightly North-East (to the right of the LCO table and downrange) and kept right on going and going and going. She went so high I was sure she was going to separate, but by gosh, she stayed together. That vent hole must've done it's job! The 'chute ejected right at about apogee, and I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. She floated down nice and slow on her green 30" 'chute, and landed only about 200 yards away. I walked out and retrieved her, and found no new damage. It was at that moment that I knew I'd had a successful cert flight. I walked her back to Dave and he looked her over and signed off my certification. Yippee!!!

After cleaning the casing and returning it to Vince, I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day's events. Here's a few of the highlights (forgive me for not remembering anyone's name!):

- A spectacular flight by some black and yellow rocket that boosted on a K1100 (I think - don't quote me) then airstarted two more sets of two motors each and flew out of sight. Wow!

- A successful two-stage flight of a PML Quantum Leap. Beautiful!

- Vince's Hawk Pink on a baby-M.

- A heart-breaking separation of a 1/2 scale (PML?) Patriot. The way it shattered on impact, I assume it was a PML phenolic kit.

- Lots more exciting flights than I can remember now! I'm sure I'll remember more of them when I get my pictures back. I don't think I've ever seen so many M-class flights in the same day!

I did manage to fly once more on Sunday. I flew the Goblin on an F40-7. I just knew the seven-second delay was way too long, but that was the only reload I had for it. It flew a lot slower and lower than I'd expected, maybe about 800-900 feet, then nosed over and headed right for the ground. You could hear me -- and everyone else -- groaning "Uh-oh!" until the 'chute finally ejected about 200 feet above the ground, and she floated down nice and slow on her 'chute. Whew! I received a nice cheer from the crowd for giving them such an exciting flight. I saw Jodi Michaelson taping it, so hopefully it'll show up on the Rocketman Springfest video. After I retrieved the Goblin, I noticed about 1/4" of zipper damage on the tube from the high-speed ejection, but it's nothing to worry about.

After that, I just wandered around and watched everyone and chatted. I made it a point to stop by the Vaughn Bros. booth and tell them that I had just flown my L1 cert on one of their rockets. I also got to chat a bit with Konrad and Barbara Hambrick. Nice to see them again!

Thanks to everyone for helping me with my certification: Dave Pacheco, Mike Alber, Vince Catalano, Brent McNeely, Ken Finwall, Franco Volpone, and everyone else I forgot. Thanks for making it such a memorable and exciting day!

(Footnote: All three of my flights ended up on the Rocketman Springfest '99 video. Get a copy and check it out!)

Motor Count: 1/2A - 2, A - 3, B - 1, C - 3, D - 3, E - 1, F - 4, G - 1, H -1