Our first launch at the new Sterling site went pretty well overall. However, there were 3 factors that impacted some or all of the attendees. First, we could not get a HPR waiver because (wouldn't you know it) three (yes, three) Victor air corridors meet right over the Sterling site! Second: the wind kicked up in the afternoon causing us to cease flying and finally: the mud. A number of people got their cars quite stuck in what looked like firm grass. Between people pushing and Dave Sousa's 4WD, eventually everyone got out OK. Despite the factors working against us, we had a sizeable turnout and logged 98 flights!

LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS:

Today's launch had 43 registered flyers and a total of 98 flights. Nick Waddington had the most flights (6). Eric Gadoury burned the most propellant (345 Newton seconds) for one person; the Lawall family, collectively burned 405 Newton Seconds of propellant. Collectively we burned a total of 4255 Newton seconds, equal to a mid "L" motor.

Clusters: John Poulin flew his Little Clus (twice) on a cluster of 3 A10-3T black powder motors, both flights were very nice! Chris Natalie flew his Alarm on 2 D12-7 motors. Joe Roberts flew his Estes Cobra (clone) on 3 B6-4 motors, and also flew his LOC Starburst on 2 D12-3 motors.

Classic Kits: Robert Galejs flew a 2.2x upscale of the Estes Trident using a G40 motor (a very nice job on the construction of this rocket). Nick Waddington flew an Estes Alpha; also, Joe Roberts flew his Estes Cobra (clone).

Helicopters / Gliders: Several flyers has Estes Skywinders in the air, all flew nicely. Charlie Loveday tried his Ecee Thunder glider on a D12-3 motor, unfortunately the bird looped around and stuck into the ground.

Notable Flights: Many flyers participated in the Egg Loft duration contest (this contest is being continued to the next launch because we had to quit early due to high winds). Dan Brown had two nice 2-stage flights with his Estes Long Shot. Jason Foster flew a most unusual rocket called A Heads Up Flight. This rocket is basically a flying manikin head with fins on it. It flew great on G motor! Jeanne Lawall also flew a very unique rocket that was made of (at least it looked like) wood. Cody Calvert made 2 flights towards his NARTREK Bronze requirements (streamer duration, 30 seconds).

Certification Attempts: Jason Whiting made a successful Level 1 flight with his PML Bullpuppy on an H128W motor. I heard someone say that only 24 hours before flight time Jason was purchasing this rocket!!! Talk about a fast fabrication cycle... Dave Whiting made a Level 1 cert attempt with his "Super Rocket" on an H238T motor, unfortunately there was a structural failure at ejection (see photo above). Russ Taragon made a Level 1 cert attempt with his "Custom Dart" rocket on an H128W motor. Unfortunately, the rocket was lost (this was a NAR Level 1 attempt and NAR rules state that the rocket must be recovered for an inspection). Bill Russell made a successful Level 1 flight with his PML Amraam-3 rocket on an H128W motor. Kevin Cuomo also made a successful Level 1 cert flight using his PML Amraam 3 rocket. Congratulations to Jason, Bill and Kevin, and hopefully Russ and Dave will succeed with their next attempts.

Motor CATOs: One attendee attempted to launch a LOC Mini Mag on a G125 motor, however the nozzle blew out of the motor and made the rocket jump about 4 feet off the pad (ignition did not occur). Also, John Ritz' scratchbuilt rocket had a very premature ejection on a Kosdon H155, resulting in a partial shred.

MOTOR STATS: