An impromptu launch over the Christmas period. In attendance were Pete and Angela Waddington, Brian, Mike, Richard, Tony, Luke, Darren, Shaun, & James, and of course Pete Davy.
It really was quite cold, but Pete D had the workshop warmed up with a roaring wood fire. We unpacked and larked around with Pete W's micromax fora while. They may be small, but are they really that portable if you need a whopping great 12v lead acid battery to ignite the motors? Eventually the shuttle launched, and might have just about made it to the roof, if it hadn't attempted a docking with the fluorescent tube well before apogee.
Brian arrived witha a cheery face, and the statement "No flying today, there's a blizzard out there". Eh? It had been fine when most of use arrived, but sure enough there were blizzard conditions now. Luckily within the hour the blizzard was over, and not too much more snow had fallen. Prepping continued. As usuall Darren was last to finish prepping, and had to walk up to the launch site by himself. We had a great day's flying, which continued until it got dark. The pictures and flight stats are below...
| Flier | Rocket | Motor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angela | Patrinot | H123W | Very short delay, stripped payload bay from shock cord, no other damage |
| Pete W | Mirage | G35-4W Econojet | Super slow straight boost |
| Pete W | Rohini | F20-4W Econojet | Predictable flight on the motor of choice |
| Pete W | Prowler | C6 | Underpowered boost on Quest motor. Payload bay took the sliproad to Spackington and bought souvenirs |
| Pete W | Heatseeker | B4-4 | This new Estes kit, had the A to Z of Spackington on board but deployed the 'chute for a lucky landing just on the westbound side of the Spackington bypass |
| Pete W | Shuttle | MicroMaxx | Crew are recovering after encounter with a giant fluorescent tube, safe re-entry to earth and landing on bench near a box of mince pies |
| Pete W | Saturn V | MicroMaxx | Awesome launch on main flying field. Onboard altimiters and ground spotters estimate apogee in excess of 10ft...! |
| Brian | Black Brant | G40-7W | Maiden flight of this Cosmodrome kit |
| Brian | Jayhawk | F25-4W | Cluster R kit |
| Brian | Initiator | F20-4W Econojet | |
| Brian | Stariot | D12-5 | A kitbash of the RocketVision Chariot. Fin dislodged on landing.. easy repair |
| Brian | Bombproof | D12-3 | Estes 2.6 tube ply/glass fins.. old and much repaired |
| Brian | Sprint ABM | D12-3 | Krushnicked??? on pad and badly burnt |
| Darren | Accusatory Finger of Suspicion | I300T | Awsome blue flame, flew to 2667' and even with CPR resulted in a long cold walk |
| Darren | Tintinique | G104T | A very long delay almost meant disaster. Deployment was approx 20', but only minor scratches resulted |
| Shaun | Half Arsed | E15 | Hard landing on a streamer, limited damage to coupler |
| Shaun | Variety | E15 | Another squirelly flight |
| Shaun | Centuri Saucer | D13 | 18mm RMSs rock! |
| Luke | Quest lightning | C6-7 | |
| Luke | Quest lightning | C6-7 | |
| Richard | Quest Nike-K | C6-5 | |
| Richard | Quest Nike-K | C6-3 | |
| Richard | Dagger | C5-3 | Fin lost at touchdown...Will fly again... |
| Richard | Fat-Boy | C6-3 | |
| Richard | Python | D12-3 | Lost chute mid-air, fin ripped off, will fly again... |
| Mike | Interceptor-I | H73J | A much strengthened Interceptor G, beautiful flight |
| Mike | PML Sudden Rush | I300T | Loose launch pad nuts resulted in a less than ideal trajectiory |
| Mike | Spirit of the Age | G40-7W | A PML Phantom in disguise |