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CATO 20 report

Sunday, Oct. 3, 1999
Clarks Falls, CT


Welcome back to the Clarks Falls launch site, and welcome back to High Power!  It feels good to be flying H's, I's, and J's again after the summer model rocket season at Durham.   The corn was down, and the field was dry.  The day started out mostly cloudy and a little breazy, but conditions improved into the afternoon.  All the away pads had shiny new alligator clips (thanks guys)!

The theme of the launch was "Clusters!", and the contest was "Open Egg Loft Efficiency - Duration".

(photo#1)Victor Mirabito's LOC V2 blasts off on a J570W. This beast contained twin Adept altimeters, a recording accelerometer, a video camera,and was launched from a magnetic launch rod! The onboard video can be viewed from Arnold Roquerre's web site.

(photo#2) This is a still image captured from the onboard video. A view of the CATO launch site at Clarks Falls as viewed from 2000 feet. See the smoke trail from the V2?

(photo#3) John Hogan with his level 1 certification rocket, an LOC Minnie Magg painted to look like a dairy cow (how appropriate)! It's flying off a rail, donated to CATO by blacksky. The motor is an Aerotech H124-5FJ single use.

(photo#4)There goes the Minnie Magg! Love that fast blackjack smoke. The flight was completely sucessful, and John is now an NAR certified flyer of high power rockets. Congrats!
Russell Taragan learns the hard way that a D12-3 is not enough to lob a Graduator, in spite of what Aerotech says.  In fact, the ejection charge was too weak to blow the nose.

(photo#5)Ribsy grins and says "Repeat after me: The LCO is not a target"!

(photo#6) Cody Calvert (left), Robert Lee (center), and Sandy Alonzo (right) with Sandy's 5" diameter upscale Mosquito.

(photo#7) The first flight of Sandy's big Mosquito, on an I211W.

(photo#8)...and again, later in the day, on another I211W.

(photo#9)This is Ricky Walmsley's NCR Archer on an F62-4 Darkstar.

(photo#10)Jay Calvert has just powered up the Transolve T2 timer and is preparing to close the hatch on "Shadow Technology". The P5 altimeter is already happily beeping from the upper avionics bay. This will be a double airstart, all White Lightning: J350W -> 2xG64W ->2xE18W.

(photo#11) Everything looks good as Shadow Tech clears the 1/2" launch rod powered by a J350W, but the rocket is doomed...
Both of the G64W motors that should have ignited at 2-3 seconds into the flight failed to fire (one igniter failed to burn, the other burned without firing the motor). Five seconds later, the rocket had arched over into a nearly horizontal attitude after reaching a peak altitude of 1150 feet. At that point, one of the E18W motors fired. The rocket began accelerating horizontally across the sky. The altimeter sensed that it was past apogee and deployed the 44" drogue chute. The resulting high-speed deployment was more than the 3/4" nylon strap shock cord could handle - it ripped. The upper half of Shadow Technology (including the altimeter) drifted safely down to the ground. The lower half of the rocket (about 12 pounds, including the timer and 5 reloadable motors) came in ballistic from over 1000 feet.

(photo#12) OUCH!  Cody Calvert removes "chunks" of the T2 timer from the bottom of a 1-1/2 foot deep crater. The booster section of Shadow Tech missed a stone wall by about six inches. Amazingly, the fins and lower portions of the motor tubes were undamaged. Shadow Technology will fly again.

(photo#13) Robert Lee's flying "Shithouse" on an E15W.

(photo#14)This is the second flight of Robert Lee's "Ultimate", which can handle a cluster of up to seven 29mm motors. This flight used seven F50-9Ts. Wow! The first flight of this rocket was even more impressive: three G125Ts and four F50Ts. This is equivalent to a J575 (the flight was a joint effort with level 2 member Sandy Alonzo).

(photo#15) Larry Hardin's PML Black Brant X on an I300T. This bird also flew on an I357T.

(photo#16)Graydon Pihlaja's Sentinal, by Binder Design, flying on a J570-14W. The Transolve P3 altimeter provided dual recovery. Altitude was about 3500 feet.

(photo#17)An Estes Saturn V takes to the air on a D12-3. This one belongs to either Rob Schwartz or Jon Stevenson.


HIGHLIGHTS: FLIGHT STATS: ENGINE USAGE:
Micro Maxx 0
1/4A 0
1/2A 4
A 19
B 26
C 31
D 65
E 13
F 25
G 25
H 10
I 9
J 3
K 0
Total 230

Total impulse for the day =15,944 Newton-Seconds, equivalent to an "N" motor.

RESULTS OF THE OPEN EGG LOFT EFFICIENCY DURATION CONTEST:

EFFICIENCY SCORE NAME ENTRY PRIZE
SENIOR DIVISION:
7.714 Jay Calvert (1 egg) x (69.43 sec.) 
9.0 Newton-seconds 

C6-3 in "The Yoke's on You!"

1st place senior: 
$35.00 Certificate for Fire in the Hole igniters from Trailing Edge Technologies
4.335 Jay Calvert (1 egg) x (73.70 sec.) 
17.0 Newton-seconds 

D12-5 in "Egg Tube"

-
3.278 Paul Welling (1 egg) x (16.34 sec.) 
5.0 Newton-seconds 

B4-2 in Custom Elite

2nd place senior: 
ASRAAM kit from The Launch Pad (TLP)
1.806 Paul Welling (1 egg) x (9.03 sec.) 
5.0 Newton-seconds 

B4-2 in Custom Elite

-
0.992 Jay Calvert (6 eggs) x (29.51 sec.) 
178.4 Newton-seconds 

H238-6T in stretched NCR Archer (8 eggs launched, 6 survived)

-
0.899 Les Kurz (1 egg) x (44.94 sec.) 
50.0 Newton-seconds 

F24-7W in LOC Aura

3rd place senior: 
$5 Gift certificate from Aerospace Specialty Products (ASP)
JUNIOR DIVISION:
7.432 Jock Fullmer (2 eggs) x (63.17 sec.) 
17.0 Newton-seconds 

D12-5 in "Eggstravaganza"

1st place junior: 
Folgore kit from The Launch Pad (TLP)
5.481 Aaron Welling (1 egg) x (43.33 sec.) 
9.0 Newton-seconds 

C6-3 in Custom Elite

2nd place junior: 
Custom Matra kit donated by A2Z Hobbies
5.136 Aaron Welling (1 egg) x (25.68 sec.) 
5.0 Newton-seconds 

B4-2 in Custom Elite

-
4.181 Jeremiah Portman-Owens (Hogan) (2 eggs) x (35.54 sec.) 
17.0 Newton-seconds 

D12-5 in "Egglofter"

3rd place junior: 
$5 Gift certificate from Aerospace Specialty Products (ASP)
3.118 Jock Fullmer (1 egg) x (53.00 sec.) 
17.0 Newton-seconds 

D12-5 in "Eggstravaganza" 
2 eggs launched, 1 survived

-
2.834 Stephanie Welling (1 egg) x (14.17 sec.) 
5.0 Newton-seconds 

B6-2 in Custom Elite

-
2.222 Cody Calvert (1 egg) x (20.00 sec.) 
9.0 Newton-seconds 

C6-3 in Estes Omloid

-
1.886 
 
Claire Schwartz (1 egg) x (16.97 sec.) 
9.0 Newton-seconds 

C6-5 in Quest Courier

-


Chris Natale had some very good times in the Senior division, but he was plagued by broken egg DQs.  He would have had an efficiency score of 5.540 from his "Egg on my face" (94.18 seconds with a single egg on a D12-3), and an efficiency score of 4.874 from his "Dr. Awkward" (131.60 seconds with a single egg on a cluster of three C6 engines).
Aaron Welling had one of his flights DQ'ed after the launch.  He would have had an efficiency score of 1.440 with his stretched LOC Onyx, which sucessfully flew 3 eggs for 50.40 seconds on a G35-4W Econojet.  Only one problem...Federal law says you must be 18 years old to legally purchase or possess a "G" motor, so you need an adult co-flyer.  I don't think we can allow "G" motors in junior division contest flights.  Sorry for the confusion Aaron - my fault - and congrats on your second place entry!
CATO XX is scheduled for Sunday Oct.24 at the Clarks Falls site.

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