The August launch was excellent and the numbers show a good mix of low and high power.
The weather forecast was good before the launch and this was correct. See, the weather forecasters can get it right occasionally. :-) It was about 10 F cooler than normal for August. The temperature was 62 F at sunrise and by afternoon it was about 98 F.
Most of the set-up occurred on Friday afternoon with the help of Steven Seeright and the rest of the set-up went quickly early Saturday morning. We launched until around 3:00 in the afternoon and there was only a slight breeze for the whole day.
The construction on the Northbound I15 and shutdown of some lanes didn’t seem to cause excessive travel time. Many people just left for the launch a little earlier than normal. So the “Cajon Crawl” didn’t seem to cause a big problem with people getting to the launch.
Here’s the breakdown of rockets based on impulse:
A: 2
B: 15
C: 32
D: 5
E: 8
F: 7
G: 14
Note: 3 launch cards that were low power but missing or illegible motor information
H: 13
I: 9
J: 9
K: 3
L: 2
So, 122 lights total. This includes 2 NAR Level 1 (one successful), 4 TRA Level 1 (all successful) and 1 TRA Level 2 (successful).
LCO started out with Steven Seeright, followed by Rick O’Neil, then David Reese. At the end of the launch, we tested the wireless microphone system and it worked well.
I wish my narrative could do this launch justice. There were many great flights and I’m going to miss something. David Erbas-White had 5 successful flights, and Gary Schneider (Level 3) flew 4 model rockets and also his scratch-built “Gone Bananas” on an I285. Other people like Doug Sutton flew both model and high-power rockets and had the opportunity to fly multiple times during the day. Even Board members Rick Magee and Kurt Gugisberg flew rockets – how crazy is that!
I think the number of people that flew 2 or more high power rockets during the day is remarkable and an indicator of what a good day is was. The list includes Chris Cotner, Brian Sutton, Gary Schneider, Rodney Shepherd, Steve Jaben, David Reese, Dave Peterson, James Lynn, and Chris Covany with 4 good flights and the last one was a high alt on a L935 Imax!
Can’t wait for September. Thank you everyone for a great August launch.
Richard Dierking
Rocketry Organization of California 