Pictures from AeroPAC's MudRoc 2003 launch
June 20-22, 2003
Black Rock Desert, Nevada
These are my pictures from
AeroPAC's
MudRoc 2003 high-power rocketry meet at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada
on June 20-22, 2003.
I met up with Owen DeLong KB6MER there.
Another friend, Bryan Klofas KF6ZEO, came along in my vehicle.
And I brought my nephew Matthew.
I flew two of my rockets there.
- The first flight of Mr Mach was almost its last.
The ascent on a J350 motor was nice.
But an error of mine installing the delay in the motor (reversing the
position of the spacer and the delay) led to an inefficient burn of the
ejection charge.
The nose cone popped out and was then sheared off in the air stream.
According to Bryan's observations with binoculars, the parachute remained
inside until he couldn't see it any more. We found the parachute deployed
on the ground, but not lined up with the body tube. So we conclude that
the parachute deployed on impact.
The fiberglass body withstood the impact with only a small crack,
which was repaired with epoxy on site.
- The third flight of One-Two Punch was nice and routine on
a J350 motor. It turned out to be a nice grand finale flight of the day,
according to some other attendees.
The afternoon wind had picked up enough that no one else was launching.
But the J350 powered through the low-level winds for a beautiful flight
and gentle parachute recovery.
Back up to Ian's Black Rock page
Copyright (c) 2003 Ian Kluft