Quote from Eric Becher on March 5, 2023, 9:46 pm

March 2023 Launch Report

What a lousy day for flying! I usually try to be more positive about our monthly launches, but I have to admit – what a lousy day for flying! Wind was the big problem, but it also felt a little colder than the last few. But, as always, our intrepid band of rocketeers pressed on and we made the best of it, despite the marginal conditions.

Motor totals:

1 – 1/2A or less motors

14 – A motors

17 – B motors

12 – C motors

1 – D motors

1 – E motors

2 – F motors

0 – G motors

View Launch Statistics

It was a good crowd for a winter launch. Some were a little shy about putting up our nicer rockets (I know I was). Who can blame us when we managed to lose a couple today, only because the strong winds aloft managed to carry a few rockets under chutes clear across the field, and one even got eaten by a tree.

Brian C. had the first big flight of the day when his hat took off across the field, Brian giving chase nearly the whole way across! (I’m still waiting for the flight card on that one.) We started off with Charlie’s “Snitch,” followed by a couple of “Dare to be Squares”. Their trajectory indicated it would be a day of chasing things down. Plans were altered. Chutes cut down, if not changed out for streamers. Even a few streamers carried a good distance out into the field. As the numbers indicate, “low” was the name of the game today. But there were still some good flights and plenty of good-looking projects.

Paxton made a few nice flights with his “Alpha 3.” Adrith’s “Mosquito” made a couple of quick launches as well. Donald’s “Max Trax” looked nice on its flight, although his “Taz” didn’t quite get up to rotation. Similarly, a few of the helicopter flights had trouble handling the wind, although one did really well (sorry, I didn’t catch its name). Jo Ann and Eric each managed to launch some early Easter eggs, using chocolate eggs, so the risk to poultry products was low. Jeff’s “Super Nova” looked sharp taking off, even if it wasn’t worth a full dollar (its payload being only 75¢). Other flights of note: Brian C’s “Oh Canada” and “Afternoon De-flight” (just for the name alone), Donald’s “Flying Saucer” (which just looked cool), Adrith’s colorful “Nameless”. Maria also arrived under the wire with her new “Orange Crush” and “Sundancer” rockets flying well.

There were also a couple of TARC teams on hand, daring to fly their rockets on F’s. Josh’s team, “ASR TARC”, unfortunately lost half of their rocket in that hungry tree I mentioned earlier. Ben’s team made the first launch of their “Free Range” rocket, which freely ranged across the road, but all pieces were recovered. Hopefully next month will be better weather for them, and some other teams hoping to fly with us.

Thanks again to Joe at Rocketship Games for his attendance. The wind made setting up his “shop” a challenge, but he has great inventory and prices, so thanks to his perseverance, we were able to make a few purchases. Joe won’t make it next month (he’s going to Red Glare) but hopefully we’ll see him in May.

Next launch is April 2^nd. Hopefully the weather will be nicer. Please note that many of the Club veterans will be heading to Red Glare in Maryland that weekend. Charlie will be conducting the launch as scheduled, however he will need a little help. That is the last day for TARC teams to fly, and we expect a number of teams to be present. As many of us know, Charlie mentors some of the TARC teams, so he will be busy that day. If anyone can help Charlie out, we (especially Charlie) would appreciate it. He could use help setting up, if help could arrive around 12:15 or 12:30. Also for breaking down at the end of the day. Plus, some help conducting the launch throughout the afternoon (i.e., pushing the buttons). If you haven’t gotten involved in these activities before, this is a great time to do so. You’ll learn a little, and it honestly isn’t very difficult, just a lot for 1 man to handle (even if that man is Charlie). He’ll give you all the guidance you’ll need, so don’t worry about that.

I was also asked about doing our traditional Easter Egg launch competition. While we would love to do that, we’d need someone beside the officers, who will be absent, to take on that event and run it. Again, not terribly difficult, but we need someone to handle it that day. So if anyone wishes to run that for us, please send a message to us via the website’s “contact page" and we’ll get back to you. If that doesn’t happen, perhaps we’ll push it back to May’s launch.