January 8th Launch Report
As reported by Jose:
“Old Man Winter took a couple of days off in the Caribbean, so the members of the CENJARS club were quick to take advantage of this golden opportunity to send some rockets into the wild blue yonder. Freshly installed president Charlie Kirlew performed admirably as senior technical support specialist, LCO and RSO. According to Charlie’s flight log, there was one 1/2A flight, four A flights, six B flights, 5 C flights, three E flights and one F flight. Looks like a nice normal distribution to me!
There were some issues with the launch controller, as many rockets failed to ignite while on the pad. We have already begun to address the issues as Dave Statham volunteered to install a new set of alligator clips donated by Heavenly Hobbies. If the problems persist, a new launch controller may be necessary.
A new member, Chaka Freeman joined us on Sunday with part of his family. Chaka admitted to being a BAR, and proved it by flying several Estes kits of various sizes. My favorite was his black Mean Machine, which took to the skies under E9 power. After a long absence, Dave Statham graced us with his presence and the beauty of his museum-quality models. Dave flew various rockets including an Aerotech Cheetah that had no qualms in pushing the limits of our flying field on a “properly aged” Aerotech E15. Tyler, a young guest from neighboring Manalapan, dragged his family down to the field and flew several Estes models on B and C engines. I’m sure we’ll see him again as I’m afraid he was seriously bitten by the rocketry bug.*
Ray Godown continued working for his Nartrek pin, using an Estes Alpha in an attempt to attain a 1-minute total time of flight. He also tested an Estes Alpha III on a 1/2A10 engine, using a 13mm engine adapter from Estes. Other featured flights were Charlie’s Estes Fatboy , Jim’s scratchbuilt 13mm Superroc model and Jose’s Heavenly Hobbies Backdraft. The Backdraft model is a dual-engined contraption that has yet to have a successful flight at CENJARS. It was flown once by Dave (ending in a core sample) and again by Jose, ending in a “Was it supposed to do that?” kind of flight. I’ve heard that three is the charm. We’ll see…
*Dragging your family down to the field is an old CENJARS tradition, as to which our our president, Charlie Kirlew, can attest. ”
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