Pattonsburg Launch

Drove out for the KCAR launch at Pattonsburg. I've heard raves about this field as one you just about can't loose a rocket at. There's more trees in sight than I'd have expected given the raves, but it is a big-ass field. We also had very little in the way of winds.


Pattonsburg Flights 092708 from Chixulub on Vimeo.



It also has the advantage of being a potential high power site. We only had a NOTAM called in today, but the potential for an FAA waiver to fly truly big birds is there. I thought there was going to be a waiver, and that a member was going to be doing his Level I attempt with a PML Miranda, so I threw the girls in the car and we headed there. It's 120 miles each way, further than I'd normally consider driving for a launch. But between the hype about the field and the desire to see what an H or I motor sounds like in person, I couldn't resist.



The hottest motor that flew while I was there was actually an F. That's nothing to sneeze at, it's a lot of motor. Basically hobby 'model rocket' motors run A through G, the F and G motors (and sometimes the E's) being referred to as 'mid-power.' But mid-power is as unrestricted as sport rocket motors except you're supposed to be 18 to buy them.





Starting with H you get into the world of certifications and FAA waivers. Each letter, you're basically talking a doubling of impulse, so a J motor is roughly twice as potent as an I. Because it's an exponential deal, you get into some pretty serious motors when you start advancing into the alphabet.




And you get more expensive, which is why I don't fly high power. I might do a Level I attempt sometime, but the flights get pricey fast. a G-80 motor, the most powerful before you're into HPR territory, runs about $25 for a single use. Get into Level III and you can pop $350 or more just for the fuel grains to reload a motor.




Whereas I can launch a C motor for closer to two bucks.



Packed a picnic lunch, which the girls ate. Mo ate all the carrots, actually a pound bag, and Em ate some cheese and ignored her sandwich.





And Mo had fun unravelling crepe streamer. I use this for recovery wadding; it's cheap, flame resistant and biodegradable. But Mo just lives to unspool it. Cheap, like I say. When she ran through the eight rolls I brought, she was ready to leave.





As we were packing up, Em pointed out a spider on the car. She'd pointed one out on the range box, and there was another I'd found in a box of motors and killed by reflex. I'm an arachnophobe, true and simple.

But this spider on my car, I decided not to kill. I said to myself, I'm in his home, not the other way around. So I decided to try and photograph him. And right after I clicked this shot, as I prepared to take another he jumped onto my camera lens and I screamed like a girl and jumped out of my skin.



On the way back, I tried to take the girls to the Jesse James Farm/Museum. But it was closed an hour before we go there. Ah well.