Flight Log
Flight 1
Location: BRB May 2007 monthly launch - Birmingham Landfill
Date: May 19th, 2007
Weather: Beautiful day, maybe 80 degrees, barely any clouds in the sky
Motor: Aerotech H242-T
Altitude: ~1000-1500 ft (my eyeball isnt that honed yet)
We ended up getting out of Atlanta a little bit late because I forgot the motor casings at my house. After we swung by there, and got on the road, only 3 hours to the landfill. We found a parking spot, and said a few hellos, then it was right down to business. Double checked with Kim to make sure the parachute was packed safely (and I was doing it wrong, oppsie), and now I felt confident that it would be good to go. We walked around a bit, checked out which rod was needed, then it was time to load up the motor. Thanks again to everyone who helped search for the forward seal disk I managed to drop in the foilage.
Kim was a big help in walking me through packing up the motor, though at points I could barely pay attention with all the rockets going off in the background!! Once we had that completed, it was set up on the rod. Thanks to George for helping us angle it right and make sure it was facing into the wind. We ended up resting the clips on a nearby rock to keep them off the blast pad.
We counted down and away she went! It was so loud, it was just awesome!
Of course my nerves tightened up when it got to the top as I waited for the chute to come out, and finally it did.
It landed about 50ft from the launch pad, so the angle must have been just about perfect. It did come down pretty hard on one fin, but it didnt break and it was in good enough shape to pass certification for level 1! Again, thanks for all the help from everyone.
Changes for furture flights:
Fix the fins
Get a larger parachute, and read about how they affect the descent speed
Put another small hole in the payload bay (nose cone almost popped off as you can see from the picture)
Get a box to put everything in so we dont forget pieces next time
