Went to AIRFEST 29 in KANSAS this month, very good trip, but launch did not go well, Will go back next year. So now it's time to fly this rocket that got almost destroyed in a CATO fire on the field. It has been fixed in a short amount of time with the help of Tim providing me some parts.
Update 09/11/2023 - Got in touch with Bernie for some parts for my Project X rocket that got damaged in Kansas. So I'm planning to fly this rocket and pick up some parts at the same time. Charges are all made and installed. booster charge installed and dog-barf on top. Main chute loaded and chute protector and dog-barf and shear pins in nose. Motor loaded in casing and in rocket, double O-rings applied. 75 mm adapter rings installed also. Need to do - check and fold the streamer, check the sled with stratologgers, load streamer. Charge all batteries and camera's and Canon, and GoPro, Charge RTX's.
Update 09/13/2023 - Streamer folded. Weather looks marginal, some rain might be in the forecast. The streamer looks very beat up but will fly another flight.
Update 09/15/2023 - Stratologgers tested and working, replaced batteries also, Charging all the batteries and loading the car later. Car is all loaded and gassed up. All batteries charged. Weather looks marginal but still going to see Bernie and Jason.
Update 09/16/2023 - LAUNCH DAY - It still shows rain in the forecast, but according Tim, that is always the case and the weather will be just fine and bright. Long drive again, had some detours from multiple accidents, but the GPS took care of that in a breeze. Not many people at the field, that's good, nice spot, tent and chairs up, all good. Rocket packing went smooth this time, no phone in AvBay, so that was already installed home, so no worries on the field, RTX found signal fast, just had to tape the RTX and camera on the shock cord and to the pads. Pad D2 was straight so that was my choice. Florence too pictures and I had the ground GoPro on the tripod also. A little wait and then launch. The rocket took off and then took a curve to the west. According Tim the motor was not powerful enough for that rocket, and yes I had to agree on that one, the take-off speed was below 40 ft/sec. Way to slow for that heavy rocket, that needs a 4 grain motor for sure. Rocket landed in the middle of the dense bush, Had to crawl all the way inside the jungle. There was a road left and right but no matter what I had to go smack in the middle of the dense bush to get it out. Rocket was all draped on the canopy of�the trees, to high to reach it. So I had to jump a few times to get the shock cord to pull something down. Had the booster down already but the rest was still stuck up high. Trying the nose cone side and could barely reach the front back to unhook the shock cord, so now there was no tension on the booster side that I could put down now and also the streamer. It took a while with a long tree branch to get the main chute and front bay and nose cone, after a long time I could really pull it out. While doing all this pulling I had put most of the parts on the ground, and lost them a few times, the bush was really dense. I could relocate my RTX again and the streamer, and then I lost the booster again while pulling the other parts out. A real struggle it was. Had a number of scars on my body and a big scar on my back, My T-shirt was completely ripped of my body and soaked wet of the humidity. Also asked Bernie how he was doing, and his health does not seem to improve, he has all kind of issues and he's thinking about selling his business, I guess somebody made an offer and he's thinking about it, I gave him some parts of the KANSAS flight Project-X and he will look into it. I asked him for an M2245 IMAX CTI motor and he will look into that also. Hope he will be around a at least a few months or a year. After we left the field, I went to visit Jason Cook, miracaly he could pull out data from my destroyed phone !!! And video !!! We discussed the transitions piece from 4" to 3" for the next flight of Project-X for Kansas next year. He had some great idea's on that and I let him do his work, He is a perfectionist!!! I will look at all the pictures and video's tomorrow. The shock cord GoPro stopped when the rocket launched. There is some ground GoPro video. Florence took a bunch of pictures again, thanks honey. I will examine the rocket tomorrow, glad that I took the time to collect all the rocket parts and did not left anything behind. There should be no damage on the rocket or streamer or chute. Again, the forecast showed rain, but it hardly drizzled when I returned to the field after the recovery, the rest of the day was sunny and no breeze. Oh and the main chute did not deploy fully, seems that it was tangled, investigation tomorrow.
Update 09/17/2023 - My body hurts like hell today, from all the recovery exercises. Climbing trees, pulling etc. But it feels good. Jason send me already some valuable�information for my next Project X flight also. If I can keep the cost low then I will sure go back to Airfest 30 next year !!! Cleaned out the rocket, no damage, chute and streamer are ok. I will clean out the motor casing, looks real clean actually. Nota to self, use 3 grain motors for 3" rockets and 4 grain motors for 4" rockets... and make sure the take off speed is above 50 f/sec. !!!! My Insane rocketry T-shirt is totally ripped from my body, I might keep it and frame it as a reminder !! haha.
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