Level One- Success! ...and Failure...

As some of you may recall, last October I attempted to get my level one with my home-brew Star Trek Starter Kit upscale rocket. Actually, I tried twice...and crashed twice. The first I write off to weird igniter placement that resulted in a sputtering underpowered flight that made the ground come up way too fast. In the second attempt that day, I broke the "don't trust the delay on an old motor" rule and also broke the rocket into many pieces. I took those pieces home and immediately began to rebuild.

Flash forward a year....

When I got to the Gunter Tx field, the winds were high. So high that I had to get help closing the gate. The turnout at the launch was good, however, so I wasn't the only crazy person. The back of my car held five models; my stock Estes Photon Disruptor, my Goblin upscale, my Alpha III upscale, my Sirius Eradicator, and....my Star Trek upscale.

The first thing I did was to fly the Photon...just to test the air. She took a crazy turn off the rod and landed somewhere at the end of the car row. At first I couldn't find her, even though I knew she landed close, but with a little help from Dan Smith we found her on the other side of a huge puddle. The puddle had some kind of tank in the middle which blocked our view. It was the only thing within 100 yards that could have blocked our view. The Gunter field had thrown down the gauntlet.

I then located John Dyer (he wasn't lost in the field behind anything, I just hadn't seen him yet) and I started prepping the Star Trek. John has been a friend for more decades than either of us want to admit, and I really wanted him to sign off on that pesky level one thingy. He, being a nice guy and all, agreed to do so... However, no good deed goes unpunished and our adventures this day would seriously impact his ability to fly pretty much any of his own models (sorry, John! But thanks again!)

We soon had the Star Trek ready. She held an Aerotech H100 DMS motor and a lot of hope and prayers. As we placed her on the rail, the wind began to pick up....ominously.....

Sam Barone began the countdown. Interestingly enough, that wind that I was talking about increased with each count and when the motor sputtered to life it was somewhere between hurricane and end of the world levels (full disclosure, we were within NAR wind limits, but my perception might have been impacted by my terror). The rocket rose into the air majestically...like this...

Then the horror began...the wind decided to press against those four large fins and demonstrate what the term "weather cock" means. She leaned over and headed upfield...at about half of her predicted altitude. We all watched in helpless wonder as she headed toward the ground. The ejection charge fired about ten feet before impact...and it was over. Level one denied again.

When John and I reached the wreckage, it was actually not as bad as....well...last time. The nose cone was toast. The upper five inches of tube was crunched, and 75% of the fins had been knocked off (that's three, for you non-math types), but other than that she was fine.

Still, I really wanted that stupid Level One.

I remembered that I had that Sirius Eradicator in the car....Hmmmm. After some horse trading between myself, John, and Robert from buyrocketmotors.com (plug!) I had a 29mm Aerotech H135 in hand. Now, the Eradicator is strong, but it is very light. John "loaned" me some clay for the nose, and soon we were ready to go again! Victory or death!!! Ok, not really "death," but humiliation anyway.

Sam went through the countdown again and she SCREAMED off of the pad! As she instantly got very small in the sky, John said "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..." I just said, "Holy-moly!"

We watched as the green chute deployed and she drifted...waaaaaaay up in the sky.... We had other eyes on her as well, namely Jada Smith (Dan's wife) who told us to call her if we needed help with tracking the landing spot down.

John and I lept into my Mini just like Batman and Robin would have if they drove a Mini...and were in their 50's...and we were off for recovery!

After parking next to the fence, we met up with Chas Russell, who just so happened to be wandering about, having recovered his rocket, and the Three Amigos began really searching. John called Jada and she told us exactly what track to take. Still, we didn't see the rocket. We crossed the road (which was made easier after Chas discovered a gate in the fence) and continued to search.

Finally, I walked over a rise in the next field and about a hundred yards away, I spotted a green blob. As I walked closer, it turned into this...

Success!!!

My main take-away from all of this is that while it may not take a village to get your level one, friends are always good to have!

Also, here's a shout out to Gary Briggs who, 1. Held the October Classic contest where I won the Eradicator and 2. Made a heck of a stand-off for the deflector plate on the successful cert flight!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!