What a great day to fly rockets! Temperature was not to cold, little to no wind, and the sun was out the whole day! Once again I spent a good portion of the day participating in the NAR old motor test program. Four of my eight flights were dedicated to these tests.
First off the pad was my Semroc Astro-1. I CHAD staged an A10-0T to a B6-4. The A10-0T catoed at ignition, but the Astro continued on with a perfect flight with its B6-4. The Only damage to the Astro was some scorched paint between two fins. Then I loaded up my Semroc SLS Skyhook with a FSI E60-6 blackpowder motor. I had several misfires, but finally I got the motor lit. Perfect boost but the motor catoed right at burnout, shreading the rocket all over the place. At first I thought the Skyhook did not take the stress, but when I removed the motor, I saw the motor had a burn-thru right where the delay column starts.
Then I decided to try out a MRC C6-3. I do believe these are the same motors that Quest now uses. Made in Germany, slightly smaller than a standard 18x70mm motor, and well known for their dense tracking smoke, which is a feature I like. The C6-3 gave my Estes Guardian a nice solid boost and ejection occurred a little late, but perfect for this rocket. The final old motor I tested was an Aerotech E27-4T. This load for the RMS 18/20 gave my Estes Cluster Bomb a nice boost, with ejection occurring right on time.
The Semroc Mars Lander was designed to be flown on composite D motors. I figured a D13 would be the perfect motor for this rocket. The Lander shot straight off the pad. The delay was a little long, but the chute did come out in time and landed very close to where I was standing. The E11 was finally recertified, so I took the opportunity to celebrate by launching my Nubular Super Tube with one. Perfect Flight!
The largest rocket that I flew was my Ladyrobin, which I chose to fly with an AMW I375 Green Gorilla rocket motor. I did not install the typical blue thunder booster grain in the top core, so it took a couple tries to get the Gorilla going. Once the motor lit, the rocket had a nice flight. It wobbled a bit, but I suspected that was related to the altimeter bay, which was made of cardboard and needed replaced.
