December 2nd, 2006 - Snow Ranch	Boy there was a crowd flying here today.  A beautiful day, and about 200 people showed up to fly.  The crowds around the RSO were big, and it took forever to get onto the pad, and get launched.   Flew the Ranger on a G64-10, after a long wait.  Straight, high, flight, and perfect recovery! After another long delay, I got my Hornet onto the high-power pads.  This is my 54mm min diam made out of fiberglass, flying on a I435, a 38x600ns motor. This roared off the pad, but then turned 45 degrees and headed for the hills.  I saw the apogee streamers, and the main deploy, but then it was over the hill.  Wrong day to lose one of the batteries for the Walston!!  After hiking around the hill for half an hour, I saw it in the middle of a pasture.  Recovered with little damage:  The mylar streamer was shredded, and both the Acme launch lugs are gone! By now, it's 3:30, and the crowds are definitely thinning.  I can get in some quick flights:  Flew the Wolverine on an A10-3 - good flight. Flew the Glowworm on on the new lengthened payload section, with a Perfectflight MAWD in it, and a D12-5.  Good flight and deployment - the lengthened shock cord (kevlar) did the job.  After it landed, I heard the MAWD beeping out the altitude.  But it's not with the rocket!!  The nose cone came off, and the MAWD fell 650 ft, and it still works!  (And yes, I know about terminal velocity).   Just missing the nose cone...
November 19th, 2006 - TCC Fresno at Maddox Farm	The annual Thanksgiving launch with TCC.  (I'm thankful I didn't have to drive 6 hours to Black Rock...).   Picked up D16 and son, and drove to the site, arriving at about 8:30am.  The large crew quickly got the site set up, but there was little to fly!!  The cloud deck was at about 600 feet, and stayed there most of the day!   Still, I flew: Mini Meanie - 1/2A3-2 - Good flight. Comes down fast on little streamer, heavy nose weight. Mace - 1/2A3-2 - eject but lost streamer. No other damage. Mini V2 - A3-4 - eject but no chute. No damage on tumble recovery. Orange Bullet - 1/2A3-4 - flew fine. Mark 2 - A8-5 - High, straight flight. Streamer left in forward body. No other damage. HoJo clone - A8-3 - into clouds, but the chute didn't unfurl. No damage. Nike Smoke clone - B6-4 - Chute didn't unfurl. No damage. Nike Smoke clone - B4-4 - Chute DID unfurl. Fine flight. Alien Space Probe - C6-3 - Great flight - less weather-cocking because of weight on legs. Didn't stick the landing, but it looked great coming down. Tri-Light - D12-5 - Great, straight flight into the clouds. Minor damage when the chute didn't open. Hellfire - D12-5 - Big, looping flight. Good deploy, but it tore a few shrouds. Upscale Cobra - 3-E9-8's (Thanks Charlie!) - Stately liftoff with acceleration into the clouds, under power. Came back into view, bounce off a car, and onto the dirt road. No damage (probably due to fiberglassed fins.) All 3 engines lit - great flight!  The MAWD says I went to 900 feet.   Strike was quick, and I was home by 7:30pm.
October Skies - October 13th, 14th, and 15th, 2006 at Maddox Dairy.	I didn't fly much on this one-day (Friday) trip to the Dairy.  Mostly, I helped test the "N" motor to be used in the 99K project.   When we lit the motor, it seemed to be burning fine, but it suddenly pulsed, and lost thrust, indicating that the motor had once again, burst the case.   Also, I flew: Alien Space Probe on a C6-3. Ranger on an F40. Called it a day early, and came home.  Still, it was fun.
September 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2006 - XPRS with Aeropac at Black Rock	2006 XPRS group photo - I'm in the back with the Magnum over my head - original colors.   Xtreme Performance Rocket Ships at Black Rock!   Friday, September 22nd - Arrived at 11am, after leaving the Bay Area at 4:30am.  Nice drive, and no traffic.  Used GPS to go right to the site - sweet! But it's freezing!!!  Temperatures in the low 60's, with a persistant wind.  Wind storm the night before.  I didn't want to unpack, for fear of another blow wrecking my camp.    a) Flew the new Honest John on an I161 (short) - great flight to about 1000 feet.  Landing bent up the motor retention - has to be a better way!    b) Flew the PML IO on an H73 - Great, high, flight.    c) Flew the Ranger on a G54 (29/100) - Great flight.    d) Flew the Sidewinder successfully on a D24-7.   Saturday, September 23rd.   After nearly freezing overnight, I was not too excited to leave my sleeping bag, but eventually the bright sun made it impossible to sleep.  Did 2 hours of LCO duty from noon-2pm.  Fun!    a) Flew the Magnum on a J275 and 2 G75s.  The air-starts didn't fire, and thank heavens I had the MAWD as a backup to the timer.  Big chute and slow descent looked great.  Guess the timer reset itself...    b) Flew Cee-ya on an E9-8.  Tore off most of the streamer, and landed hard, breaking a fin.    c) Flew Glowworm on a D9-7, to a successful, high flight.  Pico Alt said about 1300 ft.    d) Flew the Hellfire on an E9-6, that went BANG!!  Blew the internals of that rocket to shreds...    e) Flew the Screaming Mimi on an E15-7.  The delay was too long, and the parachute ripped off, dropping parts everywhere.  Minor damage to a whistle.  Still haven't gotten this thing to make a sound...    f) Flew the mini-V2 on an A10-3.   The chute didn't open, and it tore up a fin.    g) Flew the Gloworm again on an E30-10.  Again, the delay was very long, and the chute ripped.  Still, it took 1:30 to come down, long enough to win the "Dude, where's my rocket?" competition (which is supposed to be for kids).  I steal candy from babies, too.  (Note that the Glowworm said 64711 - bad reading).   Saturday Night, September 23rd.    a) Flew the Ariel with a strobe, and one of the G75s left over from the Magnum.  Even the short delay was too long, opening just before the rocket hit.  One of the fins was jacked loose, and the strobe/payload section was heavily damaged.  I'll have to rebuild.  (Never liked that strobe - just not bright enough).  Phooey!   Sunday, September 24th.  At last, it's warming up a little.  The night was still freezing, though.    a) Flew Arrow 20 on a C6-7 - a big engine in a little rocket.  Perfect skies allowed me to see this little rocket go over 1000 feet up, and recover without a problem.    b) Flew the regular V2 on a D12-5, and it was damaged when the chute didn't open.  Have to replace the balsa nose cone tip with a piece of hardwood.    c) Flew the Wasp on a H238.  This was insane!  The rocket ripped off the pad, and disappeared on the left side of the flight line.  Went out searching with the Walston (and a younger, better set of eyes), and found the rear body, broken in half.  Dang!  Used the Walston to find the forward body.  5154 feet!  Now if I could just keep it together...    d) Flew the Upscale Cobra on 3 x E9-6s, for a perfect flight.  Nice!    e) Flew Lightnin' on a D12-0/D12-7 combo.  The D12-7 blew the forward closure!  I hate that!!!  No damage, but a waste of engines.    f) Flew the Ranger on a G40-7, for a nice flight.    g) Flew the Mirage on a G75, for a nice flight.    h) Flew the Mirage on a G125-5, an old engine left that had a very long delay.  Tore the shock cord, and dropped the forward body a long way, with no (additional) damage.    i) Gave the Mirage to Conner, and he flew it on an H168.  High, cool flight, with no damage or problems.  This kit is indestructible!    j) Just after the (high-power) waiver closed, I flew Lightnin' on an F21-8.  High, soaring flight!!!  Very cool, and didn't rip the fins off.   Monday, September 25th.  Didn't fly anything today.  Tracked D Raimondi's Ridiculous Speed to 21,000 ft, and helped recover.  Also raced to the landing site of the 100K project's booster flight.  Flew fine, but took forever to come down on the big chute.   Then I packed up and drove home!
August 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2006 - Aeronaut with AeroPac at Black Rock	Awesome launch conditions and lots of flying.   Friday, August 4th, 2006 - Research Day. 1) Flew Enterprise on JPS (James Marino's) L980.  Awesome red flame and flight to 10,400 ft.  Threw out the main at apogee, and took a long time to come down.  No damage, and successful flight. 2) Flew Ranger on G40-10 - Great flight - high and straight. 3) Arrow 20 - B4-6.  Went high, and was hard to see, but flew successfully. 4) PML Io on F22-7J - Too low!  Almost too long a delay... 5) Flew Wahoo on I211 - High/disappeared.  Found on the ground 1/4 mile away - dual deploy worked as expected. 6) Launched Glowworm on an E9-8 - Bang!  Blew the nozzle. 7) Flew Lightnin on D12-0/D12-7.  Awesome, high flight.   Lastly, we test burned a JPS N2900 6-grain motor, to be used with the 99k project.  At 2.5 seconds, the case burned through, and it came flying out!!  I was filming 100 ft away, and had to run for it.  It wasn't close, but it did scare the heck out of us.  Need to fix the case.   Saturday, August 5th, 2006 - Normal Flying Day 1) 9:40am - Launched Enterprise 98 on Aerotech M2400.  Rocket ripped off pad, straight as an arrow.  Arced over at 17,600 ft, and deployed the main (again).  Took a long time coming down, and I had time to jump into my truck with a bed full of kids to track/spot for me.  They guided me to it, and it landed 200 yds away - 1.5 mi from the launch site.  Perfect condition!!  APPROVED FOR MY LEVEL 3!!!! 2) From the highs to the lows - Launched Pterodactyl on J540.  Forgot to turn on the electronics.  Lost entire package - case, Walston, 2 Perfectflites.  Searched, but couldn't find it.   Saturday, August 5th, 2006 (evening) 1) Launched Mini-light on 1/2A3-2 - separated, and it was too dark to find the rear body!  (Found it the next morning). 2) Launched Tri-Light on D12-5 - Bang!!!  Motor blew, and the rocket landed in a heap next to the pad.  Destroyed 1 pod. 3) Launched new Ariel with Strobe on H128 - BANG!!!  Burned through, and landed in a heap by the pad.  No damage to the rocket, but heavy soot and smoke damage on the inside.  BP eject hole used as nozzle, and burned/enlarged.  What a mess.  (At least the fiberglassed fins didn't break).   Sunday, August 6th, 2006 Didn't Fly - LCO'd, and struck to leave early.
July 15th, 2006 - With LUNAR at Robertson Park	On the way to a camping trip at Del Valle, we stopped, and I flew...   1) Mini Meanie - 1/2A3-2 - Worked. 2) Mace - 1/2A3-4 - Worked. 3) Wolverine - A10-3 - Worked. 4) Mark 2 - 1/2A6-2 - Worked. 5) Alien Space Probe - C6-3 - Nice Flight, but it weathercocked alot, and hooked the chute on one of the legs, as it often does. 6) Fatter Boy - D12-5 - Nice! 7) Screaming Mimi - D12-5 - First flight, went high, but didn't "scream".  E28 next? 8) Hellfire - D12-5 - First flight, and I didn't even see it!  Had to ask for help to find it!  (Doing too many things at one time. 9) D-Dart - E18-7 - Took a couple igniters, but it lit and ripped off the pad!  (I thought it was loaded with a D9-7).  Needs BT repaired. 10) Wasp - F37-12 - Flown with MAWD ejection.  Good flight, but the elastic shock cord burned through and dropped the rear body. Landed on the grass, so there was no damage.  Replace with Kevlar!
July 8th, 2006 - Gorilla Launch - The High School	Grabbed my daughter, and rocket stuff, and ran down to the local high school.  Luckily, it was early, and fairly empty.    1) Condor ARV on a B6-2 - Fine flight, but the gliders still aren't trimmed. 2) Gyroc - A8-3 - Nice flight, but fairly violent spins at apogee. 3) Mace - 1/2A3-4 - Nice flight, but it disappeared!  Found on the ground. 4) Orange Bullet - 1/2A3-4 - Same thing!  Disappeared in the haze, and found on the ground. 5) Freaky Flyer - 1/2A3-2 - No deploy! 6) Arrow 18 - 1/2A6-2 - Fine Flight.
June 4th, 2006 - LUNAR at Livermore (Robertson Park)	Late arrival and quick departure allowed only one flight.   Flew freshly painted (but not decal'ed) clone of Estes Alien Space Probe on C6-3 to a disappointing 100 ft, and almost didn't get the chute out in time.  Slow landing and red chute was cool, though.  Didn't stick the landing.   Nice day to fly, but there was 100 cub and girl scouts there - lines for the pad as we left.
May 13th, 2006 - LUNAR at Robertson Park (Night Launch)	Arrived with the family around 8pm, and flew:   Ranger on F20-7 - Tilt into the wind was a mistake - the rocket weathercocked badly, and headed out over the rodeo stadium.  Saw an event, but not much more.  Several folks got a bearing on it, and I set out after it.  Had to climb barb wire to get into the rodeo area, and I was without hope, but I spotted it in the back of the land, and walked right to it.  The big parachute didn't open, but other than some chipping, it wasn't damaged.  Whew!   Getting out was a chore, but much easier because of successfully getting my rocket.   Also flew the "Tri-Light" on a C11-5, with 3 blinky lights (very hard to see).   Also flew the "Mini-Light" on a 1/2 A3-2, with 1 blinky light - impossible to see!  If a kid hadn't found it, I wouldn't have come home with it.
May 6th, 2006 - LUNAR at Snow Ranch	Took Dave Cummings and had a monster day of flying - had a great time - got there early, stayed late, and served (LCO and RSO) for two hours at the end.  The club launched 298 rockets that day!   Flew the Wahoo on an I357 - Ripped off the pad, and became hard to see at apogee.  It's okay 'cause it's got a Walston!  Picked it up again as it decended - twisting rapidly, and no main chute deploy (not worried about damage - the grass is deep, and the rocket's fiberglass!).  Used the Walston to find it in the tall grass.   Flew the Io on a G40-7 - Great flight.   Flew the Arrow 18 on an A8-5.   Flew the Ranger on a G38-7, (the sibling of the one that blew up and tore up the Io years ago).  No problems, but it does decend fast on the two chut combo.   Flew the Cobra on 3 x E9-6's.   Impressive and cool, but it weathercocked alot.  Okay, because it blew back to us!
February 11, 2006 - LUNAR at Snow Ranch	Late arrival at Snow Ranch made for a short day of Flying, with the family.   Flew the Wahoo on an H73 to about 1000 ft - slow and gentle flight.   Flew Chelsea's Rocket (the Classic) on a C6-5 for a great flight.   Flew the rebalanced Estes Sidewinder (3/4 oz to nose) on a D13-7 very successfully.