XRAA 3-6-2004

XRAA 3-6-2004
A perfect day for flying, but the week after ARG and all but us diehards had burned all their propellant!

Our only flight of the day was Jim Rutkowski's Gobbles flying on our first successful offset core 54 mm motor, very nice flight with about a 4 second burn.


Mike Meehl saved the day with a couple of flights! After deciding that it was less messy to get some of Jim's chili than trying to shoot cows with rockets, it was a good flight on one of his high zinc black smokey 54 mm motors.





Mike saw our offset core moon burner and wanted to try one, but he had already cut the casting tubes for bates grains. So he punched 3 cap plugs off center and made an offset core bates 3 grain 4" M motor! We had somehow cut the O-ring grooves to shallow in the nozzle, so after a half an hour or so with jewelers files and sandpaper we got them to fit and off to the pad it went. It took forever to come up to pressure then burned for about 14 seconds! Great flight! Was it the most efficient use of propellant? Probably not. Was it regressive? Very, it looked like it burned out at apogee, so the last of the propellant was effectively a smoke grain. Was it cool? Definitely.


Chef Jim serving chili for the rocketry masses and explaining for some fans how chili is an art form that should not be prepared by the untrained! .. :-) Great grub, a trip to a XXRA launch is worth it if nothing else than to get some of Jim's chili or pulled BBQ pork or steak or... We eat very well at the launches, thanks Jim!

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