Yesterday started as a typical Sunday in Wall/Belmar. It was gray and windy, barely conducive to flying model rockets, or to getting people out of bed for that matter. But then something marvelous happened. The clouds cleared, old man Sun made an appearance, people started showing up and we ended up with a SPECTACULAR flying day! But don’t take my word for it; I have the stats to prove it:

In total, we had 48 flights with a couple of exiting 2-stage launches. More importantly, we had no lost rockets and no seriously damaged rockets either. By the way, the new Pratt launch controller is working great, with a lot less misfires than in previous launches.

Mr. President, Charlie Kirlew, celebrated Cinco de Mayo (belatedly) with his “Blazing Burrito” rocket. This was a darling creation based on an Estes Alpha, but wrapped with a real flour tortilla and plastic flames. I was impressed, but needed a couple of beers to wash it all down.

Ray “Black Ops” Godown has been gobbling up all the Estes Der Red Max (DRM) kits in the market and making all kinds of contraptions with them. I’ve seen stock DRM’s, 2-stage DRM’s, cluster DRM’s, upscale DRM’s, etc. What’s next? A Micro-Maxx DRM? Oh no!!!!! I just gave him ANOTHER idea!

Some club members have expressed an interest in NAR-type rocket competitions, so we conducted our first Open Spot Landing practice session. Jim Zindle took the honors, with a distance of 12’ 11” from the target. There is one thing I don’t get. How come there were people doing Open Spot Landing practice flight with C-class engines on 1- and 2-ounce rockets? Towards the end of the day, Jim unwrapped his LOC Onyx for a TRULY LOUD flight on a CTI F59. I can still hear the other club members hootin’ and hollerin’!!

Tyler came back to visit us and launched his Heavenly Hobbies Brutus a couple of times on Aerotech E15’s, for straight-as-an-arrow flights.  He toyed with the idea of using an F27, but, at the end, decided to wait for a calmer day. That’s the way to do it, son, quit while you are ahead!

Looking ahead to our July launch (7/1/2012), Heavenly Hobbies is sponsoring a Fourth of July celebration contest. The contest will be a C-class Superroc Altitude contest. Altitudes will we altimeter-based. Superroc has to meet NAR rules and you do have to bring your rocket back. A valuable prize will be awarded, winner takes all. So start building!

Bring a Cinco DeMayo themed rocket to celebrate!

Hope to see you there!

See www.sojars.org for more details ]]> http://cenjars.org/sojars-spring-fling-re-scheduled/feed/ 0 http://cenjars.org/april-1st-launch-summary/ http://cenjars.org/april-1st-launch-summary/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:11:38 +0000 mike http://cenjars.org/?p=1349 As reported by Jose:

“Sunday, the weather report predicted rain for the afternoon. That may have scared
away some non-committed rocketeers, as the turnout was slightly smaller than in the last
couple of launches. However, the hard-core regulars were there and it turned out to be a
wonderful day for launching rockets, as hardly a breeze was felt. In total, 29 rockets were
launched. The engine statistics follow:

1/2 A = 2
A=5
B = 11
C=7
D=5
E=2
F=1

It seems that the order of the day was multi-stage rockets. Joe and Jenna launched an
Estes Hyper Bat several times in single- and two-stage configurations, working flawlessly
each time. Can’t say the same thing for their 2-stage CC Express which, after going out-
of-sight under 24mm power, was seen drifting towards the Atlantic on a wicked thermal.

Ray G. also had a two-stage bird to fly, in his case a homegrown and upgraded version
of Estes’ Der Red Max. It flew gracefully each time and, on occasion, scaring the poop
out of a hawk gliding lazily overhead! But Ray kept digging cool things out of his range
box! He flew a very interesting contraption, a 18mm 3FNC rocket, with no streamer and
no parachute, which separated at apogee for an unstable tumble recovery.

Mr. President, Charlie Kirlew, brought his Ma down to the field to watch some rockets
fly (she’s one of the hard-core regulars I mentioned before). He also brought a lovely
Aerotech Initiator for its maiden voyage. The Initiator flew without a hitch on an E15 and
later on an F26 for an almost out-of-sight flight.

One of the regulars, however, didn’t make it to our meet. We all wondered where Jim
Zindle was, as he would rather have his tongue pierced than miss a rocketry launch. Well,
as it turns out, he was quite busy at the METRA launch in New York. Jim, normally
quite risk-averse, threw caution into the wind and successfully launched and recovered
his single-deployment, 4” Madcow Patriot on J-class power to earn the coveted L2
designation. Well-done Jim!!

Sean Kehoe (from SoJARS) spent the afternoon with us and shared war stories from the
model rocketry front. He flew his superb, homegrown, clear plastic model on D12 power
(he used Ray’s rail pad). Sean also had a Quest Cobalt that flew almost out-of-sight on
C6 power.

SoJARS, our sister club in So. NJ, will hold a NAR-type competition on April 21st and 22nd(see more details in post below).

Several members from the CENJARS and Radical Rocketeers clubs have already made plans to go.
Heavenly Hobbies will be present as a vendor on Sunday. Let’s support SoJARS in their
Rocketry event!”

So bring a fuelish rocket and have some good ol’ Tom Foolery fun with us.

New and Experienced fliers as well as observers welcome to come.

Also any other area rocketry club members are always welcome to join us.

See our new tab above for renting a rocket at the launch!

We hope to see you all there!

PS: If you have not paid your membership dues please bring them to the launch and remember to fill out the application!

• Open Spot Landing      4
• Set Duration 50 sec      8
• B Streamer Duration     9
• B Boost Glider           19
• A Helicopter Duration 20
• Classic Model            20

https://www.facebook.com/events/352915401419044/

We hope to hear from you guys and hope to see you down here in South Jersey the weekend of the 21st and 22nd!

Sincerely,
Randy DePasquale
South Jersey Area Rocketry Society

e-mail: rsdepasquale@yahoo.com

Comment away and come back to see others comments.

Also please check out some of the sponsor links on the right side.

“Last weekend’s launch was well attended. A total of 36 flights left the pad on engines ranging from 1/2A- to F-class. We had several visitors that we expect to turn into new members. Along those lines, CENJAR’s brand-new “Rockets for Rent” program debuted with a Starlight Nano being flown for an introductory rental price of $2.00. We hope, that by taking out most of the cost of trying the hobby, we will be able to attract more guests and eventually, more members.

This weekend, on 3/10 and 3/11, many of our members will attend the Radical Rocketeers’ Regional Meet in Great Meadows, NJ. This is a NAR competition with interesting events, such as “E Egglofter Altitude with Altimeter”.  Woo Hoo!! Bring home the trophy, guys!!

Finally, I’m happy to report that Jenna, our semi-pro dancer-in-residence, finished the mercury portion of NAR’s NARTREK program. Way to go, Jenna!! ”

Also if anyone has any pictures they want to see posted send them to info (at) cenjars.org

Any thoughts, ideas? Use the comment feature which is now active.

We look forward to seeing you all at our next launch!

New fliers and observers welcome to participate and or watch.