Launch Date: April 30, 2021

 Finally! At long last!  A day in Colorado without snow and/or wind!  And no burn bans, either!

It's been a long time coming...

Always on the lookout for a suitable rocket flying day, our little band of BARs in central Colorado took advantage of some very good wind-less, 70-plus degree conditions this past Friday to poke a few holes in the sky above Dove Valley Park in Centennial.

In attendance were Jim Gazur, Lee and Debi Reep, Mike Goss, Roy Houchin, and your humble blogger. 

Without further ado, here are the pictures of the festivities:

Mike Goss launches an Estes EAC Firecat clone
on a B6-4 Motor for a very nice flight.

My EAC Viper clone stands ready for its maiden flight.

Start of a perfect flight and recovery for my new
fleet flagship. You blog readers are going to see a lot
of this one over the next couple of years.

Mike Goss readies his beautifully built Estes Outlander for flight.

Liftoff for a very nice flight on a C11 motor.
Unfortunately, the model sustained damage to some
landing legs on recovery.

My Wasp boost/glider prepped and ready for its maiden
launch on a 1/2A6-2 motor. This design dates back to 1970!

...and liftoff for a perfect straight-up flight.
The glider turned in a 43 second duration.

Lee Reep displays his nicely finished 'Deuces Wild' cluster 
model. 

A perfect liftoff for the 'Deuces Wild'.

My newly built Skeeter Eeter 3 ready to go on a D12-5 motor.

The Skeeter Eeter roars off the pad for a very high jaunt
into the blue Colorado sky...

...and a not-so-successful streamer recovery landing.

Jim Gazur concentrates on preparing a dual-deployment test rocket for flight
on a C11 motor.

The 'test-bed' model looking impressive as it clears
the launcher.

Unfortunately, the model did not attain adequate altitude for the flight computer to 
enable pyro deployment.  Even though the model lawn darted, it sustained very
little damage, and can be flown again.

My Estes Solo ring glider model stands ready for launch.

Liftoff for a successful run.  This flight proved that a 
B6-2 is the optimal motor for the model.

A Cherokee-D flight, courtesy of Lee Reep, takes to the 
skies.  Unfortunately, the model experienced a broken
shock cord.  The nose floated off under the parachute, 
while the booster free-fell, but in a horizontal attitude,
sustaining no damage!

My Quest Big Rage set to launch with an 808 keychain cam 
going along for the ride. This model doesn't exactly look 
like a Big Rage - the original kit Nike Smoke nose cone was lost
on its previous flight, so a Quest Icarus nose is substituted. 
Also, this flight was made without the Big Rage's long
payload section.

Jim Gazur is shown here preparing an ArtHobby Colibri V - 1 meter RC glider
 modified for rocket power.  

A spectacular liftoff of the Colibri !  Lee Reep launched the model
while Jim manned the RC control unit.  This was by far the best flight of the 
day.  Jim had great control of the glider, bringing it in for a nice landing
after executing a couple of touch and go skips along the turf!

My final launch of the afternoon went to the new
Citation Patriot for its maiden flight.

After a picture-perfect flight on a C6-5 motor, the Patriot wafted straight back to the
launch area under its 14 inch parachute, draping itself over a camp chair that had, only
seconds before, been vacated by Debi Reep!  
I then had to start out on a long, grueling 8 foot trek from my own prep area to retrieve
the model.  Good thing I took along a water bottle!

Lee Reep's Red Max leaps off the pad for a very nice flight.

There were a few other models flown for which I have no photos.  

Mike Goss flew an Estes Curvilinear and a Hex-3.  The rest of the crew weren't able to witness these flights, however.  Mike's work schedule dictated a short flight window for the day.  He was flying models solo at the field early before the rest of us arrived, and also had to leave early. 

Lee Reep also flew a Hex-3. He plans to launch it at every launch event to see how many flights he can get out of it. 

Jim Gazur flew a 1.5 upscale of a CMR Manta modified as a rocket/glider with RC control.  The flight was very successful.

Also at the launch was Roy Houchin, who recently moved to Colorado,  Roy didn't bring any models to fly, but promised he would have some ready for our next outing.

It was a great day for flying, period.   After not being able to do much in the way of rocket launches in the past year because of the pandemic, the fire danger burn bans, and lousy winter/spring weather, all of us were very grateful and elated to have had this opportunity to get out for a much needed flying fix.

Cheers!