CATO 35 was a fantastic day for launching rockets.  Sunny skies,  light breeze out of the west and southwest, and temps in the 60s and 70s.  The only unexpected challenge was the head-high corn still standing to the north and to the east.  Those with sonic locators used them, others spent a lot of time in the maize maze.  Incredibly, only a handful of small rockets were never found.  The landowner said that the rest of the corn should be down by our next launch on Oct. 22.

For the first time, we had a waiver for high power rockets at the Sterling site.  Altitude was limited to 2000 feet for high power rockets and 6000 feet for large model rockets, due to the heavy airplane traffic that is normally routed nearby.  Stay tuned for new HPR and LMR limits for future launches, they will probably have to change again.

The theme of this launch was CLUSTERS!

On the left are two Estes Heatseekers owned by Rick Polzello and Jim Zamecnik (a.k.a. Jim Z. in VT).  They are about to drag race on Aerotech D21s!  This was a big-time neck snapper.  Both rockets were visually reacquired on the way down but they landed deep into the corn.  To the right is Jesse Zamecnik's Sidewinder (C6-5), and Brian Sullivan examining his Bullpup (A8-3) and son Austin's Big Dawg (A8-3).
Photo by Rick Polzello

Here are a couple of Jim Z's Rockets. The BLT (Buzz Lightyear Transport) and the Sprint anti-ballistic missile missile.
Photo by Rick Polzello

Clusters:

• Matt Balboni flew is Blackhawk on three D12-5s.
• Jay Calvert flew his LOC 4-29SS on a pair of G64-7W motors.  This is about as big as you can get and still be a "model rocket" according to both the Safety Code and FAA definitions (3.2 pounds, 240 N-S, and 125 grams of propellant).  Good flight to about 2200 feet, but the chute didn't eject all the way (no damage).  A Transolve Ultrabeep helped to locate it in the corn.  Jay also flew his Shadow Technology on an I, two Hs, and two Fs (see above).
• Rick Polzello flew his TLP ASRAAM on a pair of D12-5s.
• John Poulin really got into the cluster theme.  He flew "Little Clus" on three A3-4Ts,  his Centaur on three C6-7s, and his LOC Viper IV  on four E15-7Ws (Great flights)!
• Jim Z was also a cluster junkie, flying "Poor Man's Dual Deployment" (PMDD) on a C6-3 and a C6-7 (4 seconds between the drogue and main chutes).  Jim also flew his Buzz Lightyear Transport (BLT) on a cluster of three C5-3s, and finished up with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  BBVD is a modified Estes Big Daddy that fired an F24-7W core motor, then immediately airstarted four C6-0 outboards using a pull-pin mechanism.

Multi-Stage Flights:

• John Atkinson's Quest Navaho C6-0 -> C6-7.
• Len Haze's Aerobee 150A (from the Peter Alway plans) attempted an open-air gap stage from a D12-0 to C6-7.  Unfortunately the staging failed.
• Tom Jardine's Estes Mongoose on a C6-0 to C6-7 combo.

Notable Flights:

• George Boulas flew a couple of neat little booster gliders from NARTS plans on 1/2A3-2T motors (Icarus X and the WUN).
• Chris Adam's PML AMRAAM 4 on an I161-10W.
• Jason Lavigne's level 1 cert flight (see above).
• Rick Polzello's Quest Pipsqueak on an Apogee D3-5 just kept going, and going, and going...
• The Heatseeker drag race on D21Ts (see above).
• Aaron Welling's plastic Estes X-wing fighter attacked Jay Calvert's metal minivan, and lost...
• Michael Tiskus' Estes ARV Condor attempted to attack Jay Calvert directly, but missed.
• Jim Z's 2.2X upscale Estes Twister flew twice on C6-3s.  Excellent "maple seed recovery".
• Chris Adam's beautiful Saturn V on an E23-5T.

Top Dozen Hot Shots:

Name	Total Impulse (NS)	Breakdown
1. Jay Calvert	1149	I300T, 2xH238T, 2xG64W, 2xF23FJ
2. Chris / Zachary Adams	387	I161W, E23T, C6, B6
3. Jeff Thomas	339	2xG80T, F62DS, C6, C5
4. John Poulin	292	F50T, 4xE15W, D12, 3xC6, 3xA3
5. Jason Lavigne	283	H128W, G35W
6. Rick Polzello	260	H128W, D21T, 2xD12, D3, C6
7. Aaron Welling	248	2xG35W, D12, 2xC6, A3
8. Jim / Jesse Zamecnik	241	F24W, D21T, 2xD12, 12xC6, 3xC5
9. Eric Gadoury	232	G25W, 2xF23FJ
10. Matt Balboni	180	F23FJ, F20W, 3xD12, C6
11. Connor / Austin Pallone	165	G64W, F12J
12. John Atkinson	156	G40W, 4xC6

Total Impulse for the day was 4678 Newton seconds, equivalent to a near full "L" motor.