Today's launch was a somewhat informal and scaled back event. It was snowing in the morning, it was cold, and there was some wind. Only the "die hard" rocket fans came out today (but we also did see some new attendees). There were some interesting flights and a higher than normal number of CATOing "D" motors (see photos). A smaller CATO event than normal, but still a decent time for those who ventured out! NOTE: this is a partial report, stats and highlights to come soon...

Today was a day for motor CATOs. Len Haze's AeroBee 150A (Peter Alway Design) is seen CATOing on a D12-0 to C6-7. At center, (name)'s Jayhawk suffers a major CATO. The damage was severe as can be seen (the entire motor mount was blown out through the side of the rocket).

Anyone wishing to contribute additional images please e-mail them to astroman@cshore.com (Joe Roberts). PLEASE limit messages e-mailed to me to no more than 3MB at a time!

LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS and STATS:

Today's launch had 7 registered flyers and 29 flights. Not nearly the numbers of other CATO launches, but some interesting flights nonetheless. We burned a total of 1239 Newton seconds of AP, equal to a full J motor. Today we used Rob Bazinet's "Surefire" launch controller (due to the scaled back launch setup). The controller worked great, thanks Rob! Read on for more details on today's flights...

Clusters: Rob Bazinet flew a modified Big Bertha. For those who are old enough to remember the Estes Ranger, this is basically what Rob did to his Big Bertha (minus the payload section of the Ranger). The first flight was on 3 A8-3's, but only two ignited and the rocket went not too high at all. The second flight was great on 3 B6-4 motors (George Boulas assisted with the wiring of the igniters).

Classic Kits: Other than Rob Bazinet's Big Bertha, the only other classic kit seen today was Paul Welling's upscale Mosquito.

Multi-Stage Flights: One two stage flight today, however it was not successful. Len Haze flew his AeroBee 150A on a D12-0 to C6-7. Unfortunately, the D motor CATO'd and blew the top stage off before it could ignite.

Certifications: No certification flights today due to upper level winds.

Notable Flights: There were several notable flights. Today's theme should have been "Exploding D Motors"! Two of the CATOs are shown in the pictures above. Possibly this is due to the cold temperature? For flights that actually made it off the pad: Jay Calvert's Blue Shark started out fine but then zoomed around like a "hungry" shark after some easy prey! The rocket hit the ground before ejection, but survived without much damage. (name)'s 1/4 scale Patriot suffered a crash as a result of an underpowered flight on an F22 motor (better use an F50T next time!). Jay Calvert's experimental Taz-29 suffered a crash as described above. Jay did have a very nice flight of his Whirl-a-Tron on a B4-4 motor. This helicopter style rocket managed a very respectable 77 second duration on the B motor! Rick Polzello launched his Pip Squeak on a D3 motor. This is a long burn motor, and it is debatable whether this rocket will ever be seen again! Hadrian Kim flew a very unique rocket called 7BaurqsUp; the rocket is constructed using various soda cans. Nice flight on a D motor! Finally, Jay Calvert's Weazel had everybody fooled when the rocket seemingly stayed on the pad despite a perfect ignition!

Motor CATOs: At least 2 Estes D motors (as documented above). I believe there was at least one more D motor faliure (can anyone verify?).