Today's trip to The flying field was designated as 'small-bird' day. Small meaning Estes Mosquito.
I had recently purchased a few packages of 1/4A motors, so it's a good time to continue pursuing my quest for getting a record number of recovered flights on a single Mosquito.
The first launch of the bird was perfect - the model boosted straight up into the clear blue sky. Shortly after ejection, I saw a brief glint of sunlight off of the model as it fell, so I was able to find it immediately.
Minutes later, the model was on the pad for another launch. The beautiful thing about Mosquitos is their prep time - just insert a new motor and go. No wadding to tamp in, no parachute to powder and fold, no shock cord to stuff in, and no monkeying with the nose cone.
Again, another perfect, straight-up boost. For the second time, I caught the flash of sunlight on the silver Monokote band as the bird fell.
This time however, I could not find where it landed. I spent the remaining 20 minutes of my launch session searching in vain for the downed model. I surmise that it may have lawn darted into one of the areas of taller grass, with not enough of the bright fins sticking up to be easily detected.
This was flight number 13 on the model. I am by no means a superstitious man, but 13???
So, I will have to be content with getting twelve successful launch/recovery cycles out of this bird. Not too bad, really.
Here is a picture of the Mosquito prior to its ill-fated flight:
