Over the past few weeks in Castle Rock, there has been a considerable amount of constant windy conditions present on a daily basis. I began observing that, on most days, it is
fairly calm in the early morning hours.
I am now back in the habit of working out at the
local recreation center early every weekday morning, and since the facility is
right next door to the High School practice field from which I often like to launch
rockets, I have made the determination to pack a couple of models along and
stop by the field after my morning workouts for a mini-launch whenever the conditions are favorable.
Today was such a session. Winds were variable between 2 to 7 mph, temperature was around 55 degrees, and
conditions were quite clear.
The first bird to leave the pad was the EAC
Viper flagship, flying on A10-3T power.
The model boosted nicely to around 200 feet, but the parachute failed to
deploy fully, despite being well-powdered. The model sustained no damage and
was recovered intact.
The second flight of the session was made with
the newly-built Quest Nike-K for its maiden launch. Flying on a B6-4 motor, the model turned in a
good performance. Ejection occurred after
the model had reached apogee and was headed downward. Its next launch might benefit from a motor
with a shorter delay.
The Nike’s parachute deployed nicely, and the
model landed safely well within the bounds of the field.
All in all, this short ‘shoe box’ launch session
was very satisfying. I plan to be doing many more of these in the near
future. It’s a great way to catch up on logging
some flights on several models that were missed during the 2020 pandemic year.
Cheers!
