Click Photos for larger view
  1. Whiplash
  2. Sandy's Flying Saucer
  3. Sandy's Tube Rocket





  4. Dave's Scratch built Zipper




CATO 4 Launch Report

June 21, 1998
Durham



This was our first CATO launch at the White Farm Field adjacent to the Durham Fairgrounds in Durham CT.

This was a "large model rocket" launch (FAA notification but no waiver),with clearance to just over 4000 feet. The field is not large by HPR standards (compared to our Clarks Falls site, for example), but is plenty big for Questes stuff, mid power, and low altitude HPR. We shared the field with RC model aircraft and rubber-powered airplane enthusiast,who occupied the far side of the field.Weather was pretty good,with low to moderate clouds and almost no wind in the morning, and scattered clouds and moderate winds in the afternoon.

(photo #1) Cody Calvert's Whiplash launching on an A8-3.

(photo #2)Sandy Alonzo's Tri-F-0 flying saucer lifts off on a B6-0.This oddroc flew 5 times, on B6-0s and C6-0s. Look how close Cody's Whiplash (with it's 24" chute) landed to the pad.

And there goes Sandy's tube rocket on a D12-5.(photo #3)

(photo #4)This is Brian Eddy's Estes Astrosat LSX flying on a C6-3.This rocket had the distinction of flying more times than any other, and deployed a pair of "satellites" with streamer recovery on most missions. It never returned from it's seventh journey into the heavens.On the far right is one of three (!) 2.6" upscale mosquitos, which were flown by Sandy Alonzo, Rob Larson, and Paul Welling.

(photo #5) In the foreground is a good launch (is this Jeff Thomas' Spike 4 x 1/2A3-4T mini cluster?). In the far background one of the RC planes is writing in the sky!

(photo #6)This is either Paul Welling's LOC V2 launching on an H128-6W, or Rob Larson's 4" V2 flying on a G64-4W. That last rocket landed even closer to the pad than Cody's Whiplash (draped over pad Red 1).

(photo #7)Here we see three "large diameter rocketeers". They all flew rockets of 2.6" or greater diameter.

(photo #8)This is Sandy's larger (2.6") tube rocket. I think this is the flight with the defective G35-4W Econojet. I believe it spit the nozzle. There was a loud "PING" as something hit the blast deflector. As you can see, the was little or no thrust after the initial blast.

(photo #9)My stretched (8 foot long) THOY Jaeger lifts off on an F24-4W reload.  On the left is Dave Sousa's ill-fated Zipper-3 ready for launch.

(photo #10)This was the first, and quite probably the last, flight of Dave Sousa's scratch-built" Zipper-3". This high performance rocket had a predicted altitude of about 3000 feet on its G64-10W reload.Here we see it just starting to turn south (weathercocking?). It was last seen heading towards New Haven at near mach speeds, taking a 29/40-120 case with it. Several folks reported hearing the ejection pop, but there were no visual sightings of the chute.

George Boulas flew a couple of gliders: an Invader, which flew very well, and a QCR folding wing glider, which did not. George also burned a couple of FSI F100-10 engines in his "Extreme II", which got extremely burned when one of them CATOed!

Jeff Thomas gave Marvin the Martian a headache, due to a late chute.

Mark O'Connell was kind enough to take a couple of core samples of our new field with his Astrobee 300.

Dave Sousa's new NCR Patroit looked great flew straight as an arrow on a G64-4T Reload, in spite of the small "true-scale" fins.

Most flights of the day: Sandy Alonzo with 22, followed by Team Calvert (Jay & Cody) with 16, and George Boulas with 14.

Most HPR flights: Paul Welling with 3, followed by Rob Larson with 1.

Some interesting stats on the CATO IV launch:
Number of registered rocketeers - 15
Number of different rockets flown - 65
Number of flights - 106
Number of engines flown - 110
Impulse range - 1/4A through H*
1/4A 1
1/2A 9
A 10
B 9
C 28
D 27
E 3
F 9
G 10
H* 4
TOTAL 110

*I love those H123s. I think there's more to them then meets the eye. All that Impulse from 125 grams of AP. I'm Immensely and Intensely Impressed.

Total impulse for the day = 3461.57 Newton-Seconds, equivalent to a mid "L" motor.

Jay Calvert
Secretary, CATO



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