Launch Date: April 10th, 2025

Greetings, Blog Readers,

This last week, Colorado was finally blessed with some excellent rocket-flying weather, so members of our Front Range group gathered at Dove Valley Regional Park in Centennial to do just that.  The temperature was in the low 60s, winds from 0 to 6 m.p.h., and crystal-clear blue skies. Ideal. The soccer fields at Dove Valley were in very good shape and dotted with numerous soccer goals, a few of which factored into some of our rocket recoveries.  More on that later... 

Without further ado, here is the launch report.  ( Please note that this post is not entirely complete.  I still have a few flight photos and descriptions to process through over the next couple of days.  Check back often).

The first flight of the session was made by my Wasp boost/glider on a 1/2A6 
motor.  Boost was very straight, but the glide descent exhibited the usual tight 
spiral. Even though pre-flight trim testing looked OK, there is still some work
 to do on this model.

This is Lee Reep's unusual, and very cool, F-powered Halloween Candy Bowl.

Halloween Bowl Rocket.  

"Used for testing "questionable" motors. But they always seem fine. This flight was a 20 year-old Estes E9-4, which had a pretty bad reputation for CATOs. "

David Bauer displays his much-flown Corsair kitbash model.

A picture-perfect liftoff on a D12-5...

Mike Goss's first launch of the day went to an Estes MAV on a C6-3 motor. 
 "Nice flight, wiggles a little going up, ejection just after apogee, full chute deployment."

Greg Hauser got into the action with a great flight of a Quest Harpoon
on a C6-5 motor.

Another rocketeer to recently join our group, Rich Wallner, brought along a very attractive 
Estes F15 Screaming Eagle model for its maiden flight.. 

Liftoff for a superb flight on a B6-4!

Jim Gazur and Adrian Adamson stopped by to watch the festivities.  
Adrian is the owner of Featherweight Altimeters, and currently holds
Tripoli F, G, and J altitude records. 

My next model to go up was the EAC Viper for its 18th flight.
On a B6-4, the fleet flagship turned in a great performance.

Rich Wallner's Flip Flier awaits ignition.
                       "B6-4. Good flight, but chute doesn't release from body tube due to kit design flaw.  Tumble descent.  Body tube broken on landing.  RIP!"

Mike Goss's Estes 60th Anniversary Alpha.
"Launched on the 3rd igniter after scraping the motor a bit. Good straight boost on an A8-3,
ejection at apogee, and parachute did not open, bounce recovery with no damage."

 

A very nice liftoff of Greg Hauser's Quest Tomahawk SLCM on a C6-5.

My third launch of the day went to a Crossfire ISX.
Excellent flight and recovery on a B6-4.

Mike Goss's Estes Gryphon boost/glider.

"Estes Gryphon on a 1/2A3-2T: Slow spin on boost, about 1 rotation, straight smoke, ejection near apogee, glider entered a tight, steep turn, and sped into the ground within a second of the streamer recovered boost pod.  Glider needs more tail weight to balance properly, and less side weight to glide in a larger circle."

An E12-8 motor sent Greg Hauser's Cherokee-E off on a perfect flight.

Mike Goss's Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile set to go on an A3-4T Motor.

“Good motor for this rocket, straight boost, ejection at apogee, parachute was tangled in the long Kevlar shock cord and did not open, bounce recovery, no damage.”

My good ol' reliable Big Bertha turned in another flawless flight on a C6-5.

Lee Reep flew his special Reep 50 — "A Baby Bertha built by my wife's nephew and his son for our 50th anniversary. Great flight on a B6-4, as is typical of a Bertha. Straight climb, perfect chute deploy, and soft landing." 

Greg Hauser's Quest Minotaur ready to take to the skies.

An impressive flight on an F15-4 motor!

Mike Goss packed along a Space Case Rocketry 3-sided Avenger to put up two flights,
both on A8-3 motors.

Flight 1:
"Very nice straight boost, ejection at apogee blew out motor,
and executed a near perfect lawn dart."

Flight #2:
"Very nice straight boost, ejection at apogee, kept motor in this time, but did not blow out nose cone, but floated down horizontally and broke a fin on landing.  Post mortem showed that the wadding was too tightly packed, and first blew out the motor, and second, split the side of the rocket to vent the pressure.  Issue is that the streamer is big and hard to pack into a triangle shaped rocket, and I put too much dog barf into the rocket that kept the ejection pressure from blowing off the nose cone.  Will attempt to repair and re-fly later."

The next bird out of my rocket box was the Citation Patriot.

A perfect flight on a C6-5 motor. The model drifted back and landed softly
right in the middle of the launch prep area.  This particular model has a habit of doing that!

An impressive launch of an Estes V2 on a D12 motor courtesy of Greg Hauser!
(Kind of a blurry pic....)

David Bauer preps a special edition NARAM Satellite Interceptor for flight.
He had noticed that I had brought along my SI model as well, and suggested a
simultaneous 'drag race' launch.

Here's my Satellite Interceptor ready for launch...

...and Blast(s) off!  A very impressive sight!  Dave's model was C6-5 powered 
while mine flew on a B6-4.
This is the first time I've managed to take a photo of a rocket drag race that caught 
both models in the frame.
Dave's model was recovered close by, while mine landed just outside of a nearby soccer goal.  One rear fin broke off on landing. Easy fix...

Greg Hauser's well-built QCC Explorer ready on the pad.

A perfect liftoff and flight on a D12 motor.

Wind conditions died down enough to cause me to un-chicken-out of
sending up my FlatCat boost/glider for my final flight of the launch session.

 

The 'Cat' streaks skyward on a B4-2 motor.
Unfortunately, the pop pod hung up on the glider at ejection, causing a 'Red Baron'
descent.  That might have been a good thing, because the whole affair landed fairly close to the park's south boundary.  Had the glider separated, I might have been looking at a 
long chase and possible loss scenario. 

Another impressive F15-4 powered rocket. This is Greg Hauser's Great Goblin
 leaving the pad for a perfect flight.

Greg executes a final pre-flight inspection of his nicely-built Super Orbital Transport.

A D12-5 sends the OT off on a great flight. The Orbiter separated at apogee and
went into a well-trimmed glide. This was the only truly successful glider flight of
the day.  Greg was denied membership in the exclusive 'Glider Spiral-ers' Club' !

The final flight of this Dove Valley launch session was put up by Dave Bauer.
This is another one of his cool aircraft kitbash models.

I have a couple of pics remaining in my launch session photo file of models for which I have no ownership or flight information.  When the data becomes available, I will make the necessary corrections.

Estes Interceptor

Interceptor liftoff

.

Launch of an unidentified model

Also, I have a list of models flown by some of the participants for which I have no photos:

Lee Reep:

Jet Freak glider. "A design by a 12 year-old kid and published in a club newsletter years ago. The B6-4 flight was much higher than expected. (It's always been launched with an A8-3.) It could use better trimming but a long glide might have caused it to disappear." 

 Banshee on a D12-3.  "This is an old jet fighter style of rocket, and always flies well. This flight had a lot of tail-wagging during ascent, and the chute fouled, causing a crumpled upper tube and shattered nose cone. It goes into the repair box, after some consideration on whether it was worth rebuilding."

Rich Wallner:

Estes Quinstar                        C6-0    Excellent flight.

Estes Mercury-Redstone        C6-5    Excellent flight.  242ft.  Coast-Apogee: 3.0 seconds.

Estes Space Ship One            C6-3     Very good flight.  Chute caught on fin, tumble descent, fin broke on landing (easily fixed)

Estes Cosmic Explorer          C6-5    Excellent flight.  596 ft. Coast-Apogee: 4.8 seconds.

Greg Hauser      Estes Black Brant III     B6-4

In closing, this was quite an enjoyable model rocket outing for all involved. A very diverse selection of models and motor types were used.  

A lot of rocket talk got....well...talked!

We also observed during the session that, even though wind gusts up to six m.p.h. were recorded at ground surface level, the air was quite calm within a couple hundred feet above us.  Thus, none of the parachuting models drifted too far from the launch pads.  I recall that only two of the flights ended up a short distance outside of the park perimeter.  That is especially significant, given that there were a number of birds flying on D through F motor classes.

A very small number of the models flown returned damaged. None were lost. There was one motor CATO flight for which I have yet no information, but I will post here later on. 

We even had a couple of the birds end their flights in some of the soccer nets scattered about the field!

I'll finish off with a couple remaining photos:

A very busy rocket range at Dove Valley Park!  A whole lotta preppin' goin' on!
(Photo by Rich Wallner)

How does a proper rocketeer make entries in his flight log?
With a 'way cool' rocket pen, that's how !!
Rich Wallner demonstrates....

Cheers !!