Quote from Eric Becher on August 4, 2025, 7:49 pm

August 2025 Launch Report

What a perfect summer day for a launch. Sunny skies, little to no wind, and moderate temperatures brought out the fliers. Pretty good day for a picnic too, so we did that too. Yes, it was our annual picnic, and good food was in abundance!

Engine totals:

0 – 1/2A Engines
11 – A Engines
17 – B Engines
25 – C Engines
17 – D Engines
10 – E Engines
8 – F Engines
9 – G Engines
Total of 97 engines on 95 flights.
View Launch Statistics

 

That’s a lot more flights than we’ve been able to have in a while. The calm weather brought out the big rockets on F & G motors, along with a variety of other nice, identified flying objects. Plenty of scale rockets like an SR-71, Gemini, Nike-X, Nike Smoke, Redstone, and Falcon 9, plus more fanciful odd-rocs, gliders, sci-fi space ships, multi-colored Big Daddy’s and even a unicorn. It was a great day, and we flew until about 5PM.

Thanks to all who made the picnic a success. I can’t name everybody and who brought what, but there were some pretty great ribs, pulled pork, sandwiches, chips and dips of all kinds, delicious samosas, a blueberry cake that was crazy good, and little pretzel dogs that looked a little too much like Brian’s severed finger. Cookies and various baked treats capped it off, with a wide selection of drinks to wash it all down. Thanks to everyone who brought something. It was well appreciated by all, and every contribution made it a success that was enjoyed by everyone.

Some highlights from the flying:

The big show was probably the Mega Der Red Max drag race. Estes recently released a new MDRM version with 3 motors (sold out in 1 hour). That inspired Neil, Joe Z and Eric to fly theirs on various G motors. It wasn’t much of a drag race, but it was a lot of smoke, fire and noise. A good show! Max also flew his “Black Pirate” Max a couple of times, which was cool to see. The 2^nd flight had a little CATO issue, but I think the rocket mostly survived.

There were a few pairs of rockets flying, some from different folks just out of coincidence (or maybe because great minds think alike). Dan flew his standard Death Star, which was fun by itself. But then Charlie flew his upscale version which is always an impressive sight. Brian S and Eric flew a pair of Lotus rockets together, but again, in different sizes. Eric’s ran circles around Brian’s… but rockets are not supposed to fly in circles, so that one needs a little adjustment. Charlie flew his spinning “Quinstar” as did Joe Z in a drag race. But Joe also flew his mega upscaled version a couple of times too. That’s another fun sight, and I understand there is onboard video coming. Be careful watching it if you are prone to motion sickness! And in similar spinny flights, Eric flew his “Red, White, Blue Spinny Thingy” (with not one, but 2 CATO motors), as did Neil’s larger “Spinny Thingy” sporting its new sparkly paint (Neil - ABBA called and want their rocket back!). And a few Big Daddy’s took flight in a range of paint schemes. Very colorful and creative!

Plenty of other nice rockets out there, from the basic, to the complex. That’s one of the nice things about the Club launches. You see a wide variety and can gain some inspiration for your own next project. Where else will you see flying Unicorns, Badminton Birdies, gliders, and just about anything Brian C builds that is unique. Brian’s “QCC Explorer” was a nice looking and flying rocket too.

It was good to see a few ARC rockets in the air. Many teams wait until winter to get flying, which is a mistake. The girls of team “Ad Astra” are a few steps ahead already, and they aren’t the only ones.

Did anyone notice the walking wounded in attendance? Our revered High Exalted Grand Poohbah lost a fight with his table saw. His finger is currently being held on by 15-minute epoxy (or was it wood glue?) until he grows another finger in its place. And Joe K was also hobbling around sporting a pair of snazzy new boots. Definitely NOT Cowboy boots! Joe is healing from stress fractures in both feet due to lugging around all that rocket stuff in his little rocket clown car of his. Please take pity on Joe and buy something from his “Rocketship Games” tent so he doesn’t have to carry all that weight back home again. We are of course glad that these two individuals, key to CENJARS launch days, are on the mend, and are impressed at their ability to keep on truckin’!

Finally, we welcomed a handful of new folks to the CENJARS family. Great to see new faces, and a few guest visitors from other regional clubs too (they heard about the food). For you newbies – remember to bring your rain coats and umbrellas for when those sprinklers go off during our launches! Check out the gallery for lots of great pictures and maybe a video or two (videos are bordered in orange).

Next launch is looking like September 7^th. It’s after Labor Day weekend, so hopefully everyone won’t be too busy doing silly summer “fun” things and will come out for another great day of flying (although it will be hard to beat last Sunday).