July Launch Report

You almost couldn’t have had a better day than the one we had for our last launch, bright, sunny, and warm.

We had a lot of things going on that day with numerous Certification flights including Carl Hasbargens level three attempt. We had a total of 99 flights with fliers from as far away as California. There were 7 A’s, 15 B’s, 19 C’s, 6 D’s, 8 E’s, 8 F’s, 19 G’s, 9 H’s, 5 I’s, 3 J’s. and 1 M. The M motor didn’t quite go as planned.

First of all we had some issues with the ground support none of which could be blamed on the equipment itself but rather a series of unfortunate problems, including brittle tie straps, missing o-rings and finally the motor failing to light properly. This was Carl’s second attempt and he assures me that he will indeed try again, more than likely in August.

Beside the level three we had four level one and one level two certification flights. Eric Richey flew his PML Tomahawk named "the leveler" on an H 242, Bill Assimes flew a Bullpup on an H 123, and Eric Dammer flew his Icarus with a digital camera on board. All three were totally successful Welcome to High Power Guys.

The final certification was done by Tim Melody, He flew his stretched EZ-I on an I 205 with motor eject for a beautiful level one cert then came back latter that day and really cranked it up with a J 295. His RRC2 altimeter worked perfectly and brought it in close to home for successful level two cert.

Some of the other memorable flight were Kevin Ballengers rocket named Bigger Scratch on a J 295 and air starting 3 I 205’s, for a spectacular flight, and what would the July launch be without Tom Twiets 4th of July Special on a J 350.

I would like to thank all of you that helped out with the launch and remind the rest of you that these launches are a group effort and would not be possible if it weren’t for the people that volunteer their time to make these launches a success.

I would also like to thank our onsite vendors, Tim Young of Rocket Technologies and Emo of Dazy Dogs. Remember that Tim is just a phone call or E-mail away if you need anything to do with rockets. Motors, kits, motors, Airframe tubing, motors, nosecones, motors Parachutes, and did I mention he has motors. Just drop Tim a line before the next launch and he can get you just about anything you need.

One more shameless plug before I go. Be sure to watch Master Blasters on the SciFi Channel Wednesday nights at 8pm. Last night was the first episode but August 10th yours truly along with some other familiar faces Including Ky and Jodi Michealsen, Bruce Lee and former Tripoli MN member Matt (guitar) Murphy will attempt to launch a Mini Cooper. It should be really cool so be sure to set your VCR.

Next month should be a good launch and also should be our first EX launch of the year so keep an eye out for the next launch announcement. See you all next month.

Dave Leininger
Prefect Tripoli MN