October Fun Fly 2021
October 13, 2021
After an unusual Airfest, I returned to the Rocket Pasture this past weekend for the October Fun Fly! I was hoping to fly my multistage for the first time in 2 years, but the weather and wind seemed a bit too iffy to risk it.
I went down Friday after work to camp out both nights, and although it got into the mid-90s Saturday afternoon, the evenings were very pleasant. Although Wichita is only 50 miles away and camping isn’t as necessary for the multi-day launches, the time away from the internet and distrations at home allow me to rest and escape more than I would if I’d remained in town. Even on weekends when I have nothing planned, I end up making plans to play tennis, work out, clean, cook, bake, play board games, or tackle some house/yard project. But if I go camp at the Rocket Pasture, there isn’t much to do besides prep rockets, journal, and read, which is good for me to slow down and be outside also. So that’s exactly what I did for this launch!
Saturday I launched my 38mm minimum-diameter Star Cruiser kit on an I195J. It looked like a black needle trailing the smoky exhaust, so I’ll definitely have to do another one of those. I lost sight of it at burnout, and I didn’t even see it at any point on the way down. Unfortunately most of the telemetry cut out when the main deployed at 800ft, so I didn’t have a location for the actual touchdown. It took 3 hours before I had it back in hand. I had been looking in the wrong place, and thankfully one of the K-State certifying team members found it while looking for rockets of their own. I’m still unsure as to why the telemetry gave out; the flight file written to the TeleMetrum maintained GPS lock the whole way; it was just a telemetry issue when the main deployed.
That was my only planned flight for the day. I took a breather to eat some lunch, clean the motor hardware, and then I hung out with the OSU team that was in attendance! There about a dozen members there spectating and doing cert flights, and they even had a TV in the Tahoe streaming the OU Texas game! That’s usually the only thing missing from the Rocket Pasture is the *ability* to watch TV on exciting gamedays like this one. They told me about the Honeywell launches they’ve been doing in Nevada, and while stressful, I think I would thrive in that kind of environment. One student also launched a research L1100 on a blue propellant they’ve formulated! It was an awesome flight to over 13,000ft, so I’m very proud they’re doing such awesome things.
Sunday was much more favorable for weather and began with a beautiful sunrise. The winds subsided overnight, and I was the first off the pads, flying Star Cruiser again, but this time on a thrustier-I245G. Recovery was much easier this go-around, only taking a short 5-minute walk through the dry milo.
I also flew my electronics testing rocket Easy on the Wallet Too to solo the Eggtimer Quantum which went great. It also involved a short recovery in the milo. I ended the weekend with Easy on the Wallet on the *mighty* F20W.
Although it was only midday, I’d planned to hang around for the afternoon to help take down the range after the waiver closed. I cleaned motor hardware, rocket internals, took down my tent, and helped an OSU student get his tracker working for his successful L2 flight. Some cloud cover and higher winds rolled in a few hours before the launch was scheduled to end, and the Pasture had emptied out, so we closed the launch early. I was glad to pitch in taking down the pads and PA system, and as always, Taco Bell afterwards was a treat.
It was a great weekend to camp and fly rockets, and hopefully I can fly the multistage at Distant Thunder!