Launch Report 8/21/05

We decided to go out and launch a few rockets this afternoon. It was a perfect day with hardly any wind and clear skies, the only downside is that is was almost 100 degrees outside. The launch area was in great shape because the grass was just cut a couple of days ago. My brother and father in-law, and a few friends all headed out for some fun around 6:30pm. The pictures were taken by my friend and "jack-of all trades" James, who owns Finer Works.

The first rocket we launched was the 001 Yankee with a new 2 inch paper streamer. I had read that this streamer was much more effective in slowing down the decent of the model but I could not notice a difference. After that was the maiden flight of the 006 Big Betty and the 007 Sky Writer. Both rockets flew perfectly, there were some problems with the landings though as noted in the launch log. The last rocket of the day was the 003 Viking which hit the street and broke a fin, but the damage is repairable.

The highlight was using my new launch pad that I made using the plans from a web site I stumbled across a couple of days ago. It worked great and it was nice not having to get on the ground to hook up my igniters. The pivot and the strength of the new pad was evident. It also looks really cool. You can build one for about $20 and the link to the plans are listed under "Downloadable Files".