CATO LVII Launch Report - 24 February 2002
Sterling, CT
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CATO LVII Launch Report - 24 February 2002
Sterling, CT
CATO 57 was a very nice launch considering we are in the middle of winter! The temperature was quite moderate (although not the 50's and 60's we've been spoiled with recently) and the Sun was out all day. The mud softened up later in the day making for some mucky footwear. The wind was minimal nearly all day, and the vast majority of rockets were recovered. A number of interesting flights were made (including contest entries). We had 20 registered flyers make 83 flights and burn 6,047 Ns of propellant. This is equal to a baby M!
The "early crew" finishes setting up the range for a day of rocket activities...
First off we have Jason Hicks' Aerotech G-Force taking off on a G35W; Next is Josh Drumond's Jupiter recovering after a great cluster flight (see panel below for more of Josh's flight). Third up is Jason Hicks' LOC EZI-65 leaving a dense trail of smoke on a G75 motor. At right is Rob Bazinet's BSD Little John ripping away on a Cesaroni Pro38 5-grain I360 motor.
Len Haze's Quest DCX makes another great flight on a C6 motor; next is Toby Schneider's Mean Machine with modified fins. It stripped all 4 fins on an ESRD attempt later in the day! Next up is Chris Capen's Lil Nuke. Finally we have Len Haze's upscale Mosquito taking off from Blue Pad No. 1.
Jeff Thomas's Candy Cane of Doom makes a looping (and not too distant) flight on a B4-4 motor (where's the CP on that thing anyway?!?). Second up is Les Kurz's Thugster on a G33J motor. Following Les is Greg Riley and his Mustang lifting off on E15W power. Next up Alex Giosa's Honest John makes a nice flight on an E30T motor.
Alex Giosa's Estes Saturn V struggling to gain altitude on a D12-3. As is usually the case with this rocket/motor combination, the rocket had a difficult time reaching an altitude sufficient to allow the chutes to deploy. The result was a rather rough landing (the Saturn will fly again however). Note: to anyone planning to fly one of these on a D12-3, the conditions have to be near perfect to have a good flight: no wind, a smooth, clean rod, and the luck of a "potent" D12 and the luck of a "short" 3 second delay! Next up is Brad Martin's Orange Crush 2-stager that contrasts well with the sky as it makes its way up. After that, Alex Giosa has a nice flight with his Patriot on a G80-4T motor. At right, Jason Hicks' LOC Minnie Mag tears the sky in half with thick black smoke from an H97J motor.
Alex Giosa's Patriot still smokes after a nice flight. Next, the back end of Matt Cuomo's Gray Thing clearly showing the two E9 motors (sorry Matt, I was slow on the shutter and only got the back end)! At right, Jeff Thomas displays another of his creations, the Candy Cane of Doom.
Josh Drummond and his Jupiter. Today's flight of the Jupiter had a cluster consisting of one each of every 29mm motor made (only kidding)! Seriously, there were three kinds of F motors in here and 3 different delay values for a total of eight (8) motors. Josh can be seen making his way out to the away pad with Jason Hicks and also setting things up on the pad. The rocket left a massive trail of thick exhaust, and when the ejection charges went off it sounded like a 4th of July celebration! Another great flight for Josh!
All right! They all lit!
1) Rob Bazinet and Rick Polzello help Jay Calvert ready Shadow Technology for launch.
2) Jay inserts the igniter.
3) Launch on a Cesaroni Pro38 J360. As you can see, ShadTech tipped a little to the east immediately after clearing the rod. A pair of H210 Redlines were airstarted at T+2.5 seconds, and twin F24 White Lightnings were fired at T+5.0 seconds. Good flight to 2580' (would have been well over 3000' if vertical). Good dual deployment.
4) In a tree! And woudn't you know it, another 50 feet to the west and it would have been in the clear!
5) Out of a tree! Thanks to Joe Roberts' assistance and the CATO tree pole.
1) The Plane that wouldn't go away. The launch of Shadow Technology was on hold for several minutes while this Bozo circled the field.
2) Josh Drummond loading many igniters into Jupiter. On the left Jay Calvert slides his 1.5X Deltie glider on the rod. On the right is Jeff Thomas. I'm not quite sure what Jeff is doing.
1) Josh Drummond's Jupiter after a successful flight.
2) A great shot of Jason Hicks' LOC EZI-65 at liftoff.
3) Jay Calvert's 1.5X Deltie glider on a C6-3.
4) Rick Polzello's Onyx flying on a G35-4W
Here is a closer look at Jeff Thomas's Flying Candy Cane. It has no fins or nose cone. It didn't exactly "fly" either. Eric Jonsson's ARV Condor boosts on a C6-3. A couple of ARV's were flown and the gliders spiralled nicely in the calm air. The red & white rocket is Les Kurz' Thugster flying on a G33J. Jason Hicks Minnie Magg can be seen burning an H97J in the photo at right. Lots of BlackJack was burned today as the inventories of Aerotech motors dwindle down.
Crash Kings! New CATO member Greg Riley poses with his Mustang. The rocket finally flew on the 4th attempt after Greg struggled with some Copperheads. Unfortunately, the E15-7W failed to eject the parachute and the rocket came in ballistic. At right, Les & Matt Kurz pose with their Thugster. A separation caused the rocket to come in hard and damaged the body and fins. Both these crashes happened in the same rack of rockets.
1) Matt Cuomo's Gray Thing takes off on a well lit pair of E9 motors.
2) Alex Giosa's Saturn V begins it's ride up the rod on a D12. As is usual for this combination, the rocket managed to inflate the chute about 10 feet above the ground.
3) Rick Polzello's E SuperRoc entry flies off the rail on an E11-3J. This rocket took 2nd place.
4) Rick's upscale Heatseeker rips on an G80FWL.
Someone's Onyx is loaded on the rod while Ulf Jonsson's SuperRoc floats gently on a thermal. Ulf managed 157 seconds on this flight. The rocket was recovered well on the other side of Rt 49. On the right, Brad Martin's "3-Dee" 4-stager at liftoff. The rocket had an "interesting" flight! Brad writes " I think what happened is that the 1st and 2nd stage worked OK, struggling to get it off the pad... slow but stable... The 2nd-third stage seperation failed to eject the 2nd stage properly, leaving the outer body tube and center rings after it finished torching the 2nd stage mmt... this is what caused the sky-writing show... lack of thrust due to the nozzle being approx. 3 inches up the 2nd stage mmt tube and weird thrust vectoring as it torched out the 2nd stage innards. Once the fourth and final stage ignited it blew off the 2nd-3rd stage remains and worked fine, except that the rocket was now horizontal! The nose section was mostly trashed, but the base was fine and hopefully will fly again.
Matt Cuomo's Maxi Alpha III screams of the rod on an F25W. At right Les Kurz SuperRoc entry awaits check-in. Les kicked motors on his two prior flights. It looks like he has come up with some especially positive motor retention for this flight. Beautiful job with the eliptical fins too.
Anyone wishing to contribute images please e-mail them to Joe Roberts
LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS and STATS:
Frequent Flyers: Alex Giosa made nine flights today while Ryan Sears managed eight. Brad Martin, Chris Capen, and Jay Calvert all made six.
Clusters: Matt Cuomo flew "Gray Thing" on a pair of E9's twice. Both flights were nice. E9's make nice cluster motors. Josh Drummond flew "Jupiter" on eight (8) different F motors. Four F23FJ's, two F25W's and two F50T's provided power. The rocket flew a "lob" profile and a couple of the motors were slow to light. The ejection was nominal, but kicked a couple of motors while they wer still burning. A very fun flight to watch. Brad Martin flew "1st Class" on three C6's, but not all of them lit and the rocket had an unstable/vectored flight. Jay Calvert's "Shadow Technology" airstarted a pair of clusters.
Classic Kits: One Alpha flew today.
Multi-Stage Flights: Brad Martin flew "3-Dee" in a four stage configuration. D12-0's were loaded in the 1st three stages and an E9 did upper stage duty. The D12's had a hard time lifting themselves and the rocket eventually looped and leveled out just as the E9 lit. The rocket buzzed over the crowd in cruise missile mode and augered in under power while the E9 was still burning. Brad aslo flew "Orange Crush" on a pair of C6's. Alex Giosa flew his Estes Comanche in a two-stage configuration on a C6 to a A8. Jay Calver's "Shadow Technology" airstarted a cluster of H210R's and then a pair of F24W's. A Cesaroni J360 got it off the pad.
Notable Flights: As described in photo panels and in other categories: The Candy Cane of Doom, the 3-Dee, and several of the contest flights.
Motor CATOs: Alex Giosa had an Aerotech D21T blow a nozzle, and Ulf Jonssen had an Apogee E6 fail to eject. Greg Riley suffered the same fate with an E15W in his Mustang. The rocket will have to undergo "tube coupler and body section" surgery as a result.
Contests: Today's NAR Open Meet featured two events: E Super Roc Duration and C Boost Glider Duration (multi-round). Prizes were awarded for the top two places in each event. A and C Divisions were combined in both events.
CATO 57 Open Meet
| NAME / DIVISION | SCORE (length x time) | PLACE | CONTEST POINTS | PRIZE |
| ESRD | ||||
| Ulf Jonssen (C) | (350 cm x 157 sec) + (DQ - no eject) = 54,950 points | 1st | 360 | Aerotech G64-4W reload |
| Rick Polzello (C) | (296 cm x 60 sec) + (296 cm x 49 sec) = 32,264 points | 2nd | 216 | Aerotech F40-4W reload |
| Jay Calvert (C) | (224 cm x 27 sec) + (291 cm x 90 sec) = 32,238 points | 3rd | 144 | - |
| Les Kurz (C) | (DQ - kicked motor) + (DQ - kicked motor) = 0 points | - | - | - |
| Sergey Semenov (C) | (DQ - unstable) + (no 2nd flight) = 0 points | - | - | - |
| Toby Schneider (B - but not a NAR member) | (DQ - shred) + (no 2nd flight) = 0 points | - | - | - |
| Eric Jonssen (A) | (DQ - crimp) + (no 2nd flight) = 0 points | - | - | - |
| CBG (MR) | TIME (seconds) | PLACE | CONTEST POINTS | PRIZE |
| Ulf Jonssen (C) | 240 (max) + 96 + no 3rd flight = 336 | 1st | 480 | Aerotech G64-4W reload |
| Eric Jonssen (C) | 50 + 52 + no 3rd flight = 102 | 2nd | 288 | Aerotech F52-8T reload |
| Jay Calvert (C) | DQ + DQ + 33 = 33 | 3rd | 192 | - |
| CATO57 Meet Totals | - | PLACE | CONTEST POINTS | |
| Ulf Jonssen (C) | - | 1st | 840 | |
| Jay Calvert (C) | - | 2nd | 336 | |
| Eric Jonssen (A) | - | 3rd | 288 | |
| Rick Polzello (C) | - | 4th | 216 | |
| Les Kurz (C) | - | - | 0 | |
| Sergey Semenov (C) | - | - | 0 | |
| Toby Schneider (B) | - | - | 0 | |
| Year to Date Totals (2000/2001 contest season) |
PLACE | CONTEST POINTS | ||
| Jay Calvert (C) | - | 1st | 1784 | |
| John Poulin (C) | - | 2nd | 1592 | |
| Les Kurz (C) | - | 3rd | 1004 | |
| Ulf Jonssen (C) | - | 4th | 984 | |
| Rick Polzello (C) | - | 5th | 804 | |
| Alex Immerman (B) | - | 6th | 360 | |
| Eric Jonssen (A) | - | 7th | 288 | |
| Spencer Poulin (A) | - | 8th | 216 | |
| Sean Hogan (C) | - | 9th | 192 | |
| Alex Calvert (A) | - | 10th | 120 | |
| Rob Bazinet (C) | - | 11th | 104 | |
| Jeannine Lawall (C) | - | 12th | 0 | |
| Sergey Semenov (C) | - | 12th | 0 |
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| Jay Calvert |
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J360, H210R(2), F24W(2), E15W(2), C6(3) |
| Rob Bazinet |
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I360, H238T, E30T |
| Rick Polzello |
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I205, G80FWL, G35W, E11J(2) |
| Josh Drummond |
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F50T(2), F25W(2), F23FJ(4), E9 |
| Jason Hicks |
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H97J, G75J, G35W |
| Alex Giosa |
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G80T, F25W, F20W, E30T, E15W, D12(2), C6(2), A8 |
| Matt & Kevin Cuomo |
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G40W, F25W, E9(2), D12(2) |
| Chris Capen |
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G40W, F25W, C6(2), B6, B4 |
| Les Kurz |
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G33J, E15W(3) |
| Jeff Thomas |
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G40W, E15W, C6, B4 |
Motor Summary
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Anyone wishing to contribute additional images please e-mail them to Joe Roberts
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