Return of the Son of Rocket Man

I haven't flown model rockets in about three years. My kids seemed to burn out on it, and I got into cycling and other distractions.

But when I moved, I didn't even think about getting rid of my rocketry stuff. I kept meaning to take Corinna launching sometime, but that sometime never came.

I gave the kid next door a kit for his birthday, and he was too excited about that. Actually, he was excited to pull some of my wrecks out of the trash when I culled the rockets that weren't worth repairing.

So this evening, we were babysitting him anyway, and Corinna told him we'd go launch a rocket or two. It was exactly what I needed to get out my range box, sort through the fleet and figure out what was immediately flyable, and get it in the car.

We went out to Shawnee Mission Park, and it was really too windy to fly. We went down to the lake and up on the hiking trail while the sun was going down because the wind often goes with the sun. You don't want to launch in the dark (unless you have lights on the rocket), but right as the sun is sinking is often a sweet spot.

I honestly thought it was still too windy when we got up to the field, and I'd hate to lose Mr. Creosote, but since I haven't flown him since 2009, I didn't have the heart to let the kiddo down. After Mr. Creosote went off without a hitch, flying upwind and descending just across the road for a perfect recover, I realized two things: 1) I had forgotten the recovery wadding (though miraculously, his parachute and lines weren't singed); 2) I had to launch another rocket.

That meant Hatful of Hollow. I brought Iron Man along, though I don't feel his paint job is done. More than that, though, he's never flown, so I'm not sure how he behaves with particular motors, and I knew for sure that Hatful of Hollow would behave very well on a B motor in these breezes.