After scrubbing the last two weekends due to weather we finally got a "go" for launching today. Early in the day weather conditions were not very favorable for flying. Winds were coming from the north-northwest at approximately 15 mile per hour. Those rockets that were flown were targeting the 2000'-3000' range due to the winds and a low ceiling. I could have flown my Dragon Fly with the last of the G76 reloads I purchased last year, but with the cold temperatures I really didn't want to risk the non-ignition fiasco of our last outing. That meant I needed a much higher ceiling and preferably lower winds so I could fly my Flying Colors. The expected altitude for the smallest reload I had available, a Cesaroni 517I255-16A, was 6471'. After noon we started getting some blue patches of sky going over, so I prepared Flying Colors for flight with the I255 reload. When the next patch of blue rolled over us my rocket was launched atop a brilliant red flame and zoomed off into the sky. It weather-cocked a bit into the wind and deployed near apogee as expected. I had a long walk to recover it and discovered that my rocket had received new cosmetic damage, this time on both the payload bay and one of the fins. Due to paint transfer evidence it is obvious that the two parts collided, presumably during deployment of the recovery system. My altimeter recorded a maximum altitude of 6479'.
Video: Flying Colors, Flight 4
Video: Flying Colors, Flight 4 (1/20 normal speed)
Photo Album: 2011-04-09, Start of New Rocket Season
While waiting for a chance to fly my own rocket I shot video of a number of other launches. The videos will be posted to my YouTube playlist for the day as I get them processed.
No comments:
Post a Comment