Year in review
What I learned this year:
1) Have everything you need to launch in hand and test it before you pack for a launch. Bring necessary spares, but leave the kitchen sink at home, it’s just more to carry.
2) Good enough is rarely good at all. I would fall ill to “Send it” fever. More than once, I was less than happy with my preflight prep, usually after a lawn dart or other failed launch. You would think the first three failed attempts at High Power flight recovery would have made an impression. The only impressions they made were on topsoil.
Earlier this year, I watched Poobah prep and qualify his scale Nike, attach it to the launch rail, and then scrub three separate times for various reasons. Since then, and maybe because of that experience, I have been able to resist “Send it” fever. Just last weekend, I had a new streamer material I wanted to try out, I was only 1/4” away from fitting it properly in the body tube. ( see #1 above). Previously, I would have forced the nosecone on and hoped for the best. I still have that rocket (undamaged) today because I didn't just "Send it".
3) The power of simulations. Open Rocket is a free tool to download and has proved essential to not only my scratch builds, but any rocket kit I have modified. It really takes the guess work out of engine selection and flight prediction. ALTHOUGH, I would encourage anyone to know how to calculate thrust to weight ratios and approximate altitudes with different engines. It is usually good enough for basic 3FNC rockets (see #2 above).
Thank you to the members and officers of CENJARS for another fun and educational year. I can’t wait to see what lessons 2026 will bring as I seek my Level 2 rating.
Chris Oliver
That sir is what this should be all about — learning!
We had all started out knowing very little about this hobby but, as time in this hobby progressed, so did our knowledge and understanding of it. This is especially important for those seeking to go higher in both altitude and power. Every flight should be a learning experience whether it was a great flight or a not so great flight. The goal should be to have a safe and successful flight. If one is going to aspire to anything less, he or she in the wrong hobby.
FWIW, Chris, that was my full-scale ARCAS sounding rocket, not a Nike. However, the rest of your observation is spot on. There's always another launch or so we hope. If something doesn't feel right, don't send it! In the case of my ARCAS, changing weather conditions prompting lowering of the altitude waiver kept my ARCAS on the ground twice. I'd need to refer to my flight log to recall why there were three. I do know that I recently attended a METRA launch but opted not to fly the ARCAS after prepping her because of the winds. While the ARCAS is dual-deploy, there's always the chance of something pulling that main out at apogee. I'm not a huge fan of distant recoveries because of main deployment at mile-high+ apogee in high winds.
Agree. I’ve learned a lot on dual deploy with the help from Eric, Poohbah. I will only have 1 model (v2) and pre prepped it for a BARC launch but didn’t push to fly it as the launch window closed. I had several flights planned at BARC due to the larger field and accomplished 4 out of 5 flights. See the away cell for videos
I’m still a slow builder… but I flew my mega interceptor !
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