December 20th, 2008 - LUNAR at Ames I took the girls and went to Ames for a brief foray into flying.  Incredibly clear, but cool.  No wind! Here's what I flew: Flew the Bottle Rocket on an F25-4 - Nice!  Landed on the tarmack with no damage.  Thanks to that fiberglassing! While we were gone, they flew the Wacky Wiggler on a B4-2.  Landed on the tarmack with no damage!  That's unusual... Loaded another rack, and launched:  Trilight on a D13-7.  Even shortened, this delay was long.  I was concerned, but it finally opened, and settled gently to earth.  For the first time in a long time, no damage to the pods!! Flew the Wacky Wiggler again on a B6-2.  This time, it broke a fin landing on the concrete.  Nuts! Flew the Tinee on an A10-3.  Nice boost, but the ejection charge didn't spit out the motor.  Resulted in a fast glide, but no damage. Flew the Upscale Cobra on 3 D12s, for another nice flight.  Cliff filmed the liftoff with his super-slo-mo camera - very, very, cool!! Cliff's slo-mo video of the Upscale Cobra at Moffett That did it for me.  I raced off to my next appointment. I also saw Cliff launch a 5.5" something on a 38mm G, with great success - well done!  Can't wait for the next time. October Skies - October 17th, 18th,  and 19th, 2008 - Maddox Dairy, Fresno. I spent Saturday at Dairy Aire, with Justin and Jason.  A delightful day - not too hot or cold, but a little windy, and the field to the east was very wet and muddy.  Man, I forgot everything - CA, drill, Easy-up, Walston receiver, etc. Here's what we flew: I flew the Bottle Rocket on an F20-4 - Nice. I also flew the Fat Boy on a D13-7 - straight up flight with the smoke going downwind.  Great recovery and nice flight. Justin flew the Phantom on an F20-4W(L), and blew the forward closure!  Lucky we didn't burn up the rocket!  We still had a fight getting the forward closure out, and his motor tube is badly burned. I flew the Star Hawk on a D12-5 - very nice. Justin flew the Bulldog on an F40-7.  Nice flight! I flew the Canadian Arrow on an F20-4W(L), and it blew the forward closure as well!!!  Charred the inside of the rocket, and ruined my pretty paint job.  I am bent!  That's two "Loadable" motors that both failed.  This repair will take some work. Justin flew the Phantom on an F40-7 - nice flight to 821 ft (using the 15K) I flew Big Daddy on an F40-7.  Booming flight and high eject.  Long drift into the orchard.  Good eyeballs got me a vector, but I had to jump a ditch, and got a little wet (didn't fall in, though...).  Found Big Daddy, and the front of Mike P's missing rocket... Jason and Justin flew the BullDog again on a G64-7, and this went VERY high.  Arc'ed to the east, toward the muddy field.  A big search and some wading through mud by Jason got it back.  Good show! Lastly, I launched TCC Special on a D12-5.  Another great flight, and lots of admiration. Too soon, it was time to pack up and go. Here's some other (un)cool things we saw: James D's 1/2 scale Patriot on an M2500.  Very, very cool. Steve S got his L3.  Great flight!!!  Congratulations, Steve! James M showed us an SG 54mm case that stretched and blew up.  That's new. Excellent upscale Estes Interceptor. Excellent F104 by Brian, flying on a FastJack "K". Gene E piled in his excellent Jayhawk/Orbital Transport, when he forgot to turn on the electronics.  Too bad!  I've done that twice myself...  Frank K.  An icon. Lastly, Justin gave me a drawing of some of HIS rocket designs.  Very cool!  I'm going to see if I can get some of them built... Here's what I learned. It was wonderful to be on time. It stunk being so unprepared.  No checklist meant I left out a dozen things. It stunk not having any big, cool, rockets to fly.  I needed a few more hours to prep the Magnum. Thanks to What's Up Hobbies and TCC for being there and producing another great launch.  Wish I could have been there longer. September 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, 2008, with AeroPac, at XPRS, Black Rock Had a fun XPRS 2008. Four days of rockets with friends, good food, and some great weather. And some not-so-great weather... Thursday, 9/18/08 - Left around 11am, and got to Sparks by 3 where I picked up a Porta Potty. Seemed a little heavier than last time - Rocky had to pull a little harder. Luckily, I learned my lesson - relax. Don't push too hard, and the gas mileage is much better. Got to the site at about 6pm, and set up next to Steve, and Mike. Gorgeous weather, and no one flying! They closed the waiver early, and there were some torqued off flyers. On another note, there was a tornado on Tuesday night - glad I wasn't here for that. Friday, 9/19/08 - A little windy and noisy overnight. Fair amount of flapping and banging, but I awoke ready to fly.  Here's what I flew: H-Bomb on a G77-L with Perfectflight backup.  Worked great - 3664 ft! Cobra on 3 x F24-10.  Awesome, roaring flight.  I was nervous about all the motors lighting, but they all did.  The long delay made me nervous - ejected well after apogee, but no damage. Wahoo on an H999.  Hammered off the pad, and went to 3947 ft.  This flight usually pulls 80 g's! Flew the Starhawk on a D12-5.  Parawad. Flew the Ranger on a G104.  Nice. Flew the Lightnin' on a D12-0 staging to a C11-7.  Nice. Flew Mimi on an F24-7.  No screaming, but a good flight. Saturday, 9/20/08, awoke clear, but damp from the night before.  There was a little rain, and lots of wind, as the previous night.  I should have left my canopy at home - I don't trust it to the unending breeze...  Still, when I had a chance, I flew: H-Bomb on an H238.  Went to 6289 ft, and won both H altitude and H Bang-for-the-buck contests! Flew Beta on an A10-0 staging to an A3-4.  Nice! Flew the D-Dart on a D13-x.  No eject, but it's salvageable. Flew the H-Bomb again on an H268.  Really tore off the pad, this time, threw a turn about 500 ft up, and headed east.  Didn't get the sudden increase in Walston tone that means "successful eject".  Signal disappeared too soon.  Uh-oh...  With a careful Walston scan, I got a very faint signal to the east.  As I headed out there, James D and friend reported that H-Bomb had almost hit them!  "Here, take my GPS"  - now that's useful.  Drove to the crater.  Walston beeping, but the stud is damaged, the antenna really bent up, and the front 2/3rds of the rocket is shattered.  Nuts.  Good thing I brought my shovel.  Fins can be salvaged. Flew the Streak on a 1/2A6-2.  Still unstable.  Nuts. I had the opportunity to be LCO from 12 to 2, and loved it.  Busy and fun. The night launch came, and no one stepped up to do it!  So I LCO'd that until others told me to go prep my rocket and fly it. Flew the Ariel on an H250G.  Great strobe action, and a successful flight.  Bright stobe!  Took forever to walk to it. That was it for the night.  Saturday night rained and blew hard.  Sunday, 9/21/08, was clear.  I flew: Tinee on an A3-4.  Delay too long, and it arc'ed over badly. Double X-Ray on a C6-0 to C6-7.  Very nice! Der V3 on an E9-6.  Nice! Canadian Arrow on an F25-4.  Nice and High.  Great motor. Flew the F-Bomb on an F39-12.  This little rocket disappeared when the motor lit.  Found using the Walston - partial 'chute open slowed it down, but still hit hard.  Lost the motor and adapter!  Nuts!  Also lost the bt20 nose cone I was using to close up the avionics bay.  But no avionics lost.  Weird. Launched the Wahoo on a J570.  Rocket screamed to about 800 ft, and folded in half.  Rear body continued on a ballistic path, while the front body tore out both the 'chutes and fell.  The culprit - a busted coupler.  Snapped neatly off at the rear body joint.  Crud.  The bent up antenna of the Walston caught in shock cord, and tore off the Walston, which disappeared!  Double nuts!!!  Searched a long time with my Yagi - couldn't hear a peep. That did it for my flying.  Took Steve and Mike and went to Frog Pond.  Found about 20 'burners there.  As I told the others - be nice, and we won't have any problems.  We didn't.  Haven't seen that many piercings and tattoos in one spot in a long time. Went back to camp, ate a nice dinner, packed a bit, and played night frisbee.  Very, very fun. Monday, 9/22/08, I had only three priorities: LCO 8-10, Successfully launch Agent 99k, and Get out of there quickly.  I LCO'd while Alan tried to fly SuperNova on a Swamp Gas "M".  Blew the aft (forward?) closure. Next, we prepped and flew Agent 99.  The M2500 lit beautifully, and heaved that 100lb rocket into the sky.  Burnout and separation happened quickly.  The sustainer lit.  It burned and boosted.  Then it jumped all over the sky, and rained down parts.  At least the booster worked as expected, though a few of us ran out of air, as the booster 'chute took forever to inflate. The sustainer aft came straight down, trailing 20' of Kevlar.  Hit hard. The sustainer fore came down much slower, on a severely damaged Sky Angle 'chute.  No damage. The culprit?  One of the head-end-ignition wires wasn't potted correctly, and the resulting plasma burned through the body tube.  Nuts. But so many things went well, we couldn't be completely glum.  And much of it was salvable.  But, there were two serious beefs: The on-board video failed, and The on-board GPS tracking failed. We'll have to work on these. I was ready to go.   After hooking up to the Big Jake, I discovered that my HP Walston from A99 was missing.  It was in Jame's truck.  I helped them tear down the big pad, and took off for home. Other cool stuff I saw: Cool J-altitude record rocket went over 20,000 ft. Cool M-altitude record rocket went over 40,000 ft. Not one, but two 98mm Mongooses (Cliff and James) flying on N1100s.  35K and 25K, respectively, and both damaged thier nozzles. N1100-to-N1100 flight that went everywhere. Lots of ARLISS flights that looked terrific. Cliff got stuck in the mud, and got out with some help. ISS pass while I was LCO. Thanks to Just Rockets and Discount Rocketry.  Nice people who really support our hobby. Thanks also to the 99k team, who fed me well, and worked well together.  Next year.   August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2008 - Aeronaut, with AeroPac at the Black Rock Desert. Ross had an interesting Aeronaut.  Here's some of the highlights: We rented an RV in Verdi, and drove to BR.  While nice to have protection from the wind and blowing sand, it cost a bunch.  But it allowed the rest of the family to come and have fun, instead of focusing on the weather. Friday, August 1st - Research Day - A little windy, but clear. Flew the Arrow 20 on a B6-6.  Nice! Flew Arrow 20 on a C12-10.  Went straight up, tail-slid, flat spun, and finally ejected.  Good flight! Flew Wacky Wiggler on a B6-4.  Nice flight. Flew the Bottle Rocket on an F50-4.  Nice! Rising winds forced us to quit early.  We went to Frog Pond for a dip, thanks to Larry. Saturday, August 2nd. Flew the Beta on an A10-0 (was P), to an A3-4.  Staged in a big hurry - close to the pad.  Nice flight, but it broke a fin.  Dang! Flew F-Bomb on an E23-8.  Arc'ed a bit, and disappeared.  Found with Walston.  1500 ft.! Flew Big Daddy on an F40-7.  Nice flight, but it broke a fin on landing.  That's why my designs have forward swept fins! Flew the Magnum on a J800 staging to 2 G75's.  Awesome boost off the pad, but only one airstart lit.  Still, she coasted high, but the apogee charge threw out the main.  The 72" chute was a poor design, and  I'm gonna have to fix some fins. Flew Ariel on the remaining G75, and threw out "Bob" and "Lupe" at (well, short of) apogee.  They came down on 'chutes, and the kids loved it.  (Gotta work on my delay grain drilling estimates.)  Rising winds forced us to quit early again.  We went to Frog Pond for a dip, thanks to Larry, Alan and Aaron  Saturday Night, August 2nd. Flew the upper stage of the Beta, with an A10-3, and blinkies.  Three kids there just about killed themselves to retrieve it.  Nice! Flew Ariel at night, with the strobe payload, on an H250G.  Very cool and fast, but the payload coupler separated at ejection, and came down fast.  Couldn't find ANY parts in the dark.  Found all the parts in the morning. Sunday, August 3rd Flew the Enterprise 98 on an M1939, to 22.1K, only to have the (above) 72" 'chute fail to deploy properly.  Heavy damage to the rear body.  Rats.  At least I got it back.  Also, the High Power Walston tore off the antenna, and was nearly lost. Flew the big HoJo on a J500 drag race with Daryl Paris' Dishonest John.  I got off the pad first, but his small diameter and J350 took him much higher.  Found that the nosecone base slammed into the fin leading edge and took out two big bites.  Nuts! Flew the Small-time Gangsta on an E9-8.  Went high - I saw it eject at apogee, and I lost it!  Luckily, Laura Raimondi saw it, and pointed it out to me.  Whew! Rising winds forced us to quit early AGAIN.  As you could guess, we went to Frog Pond for a dip.   Thanks to the Paris's Unlike previous trips, we didn't try to leave Sunday night.  The RV place wouldn't let us return it until Monday at 9am, so we packed slowly, and spent the night on the playa.  Monday morning, we left at 8am - not a minute too soon, as it was 11 when we got to Verdi.  And after that, another 4-hour ride back home... Cool stuff I saw: First flight of the launch - a K sugar motor that roared off the pad, got to 500 ft, and blew up. Kevin McG's M750 Cert 3 to 22K! Aaron S's M1315 Cert 3 to 16K! Alan T's Supernova on an M1845 - very nice. Mike Y's L600 altitude attempt that went to 26K, and shreded/frizzed two fins! Curt Von D's M altitude record to 37K.  And his level 3. Desert Larry flying Columbia 1 and 2, to great two-stage flights. Lessons learned: More prep work = better results. RV was expensive, but nice. Water is precious!  Use disposible plates, utensils, and dishes. Get rid of the bad 'chute.  It's damaged the Magnum twice, and Ent 98 once. Don't park RV on the flight line.  Blocks the view of others. Bring ice! I can't wait for XPRS! Saturday July 19th, at TCC Fresno. Got to Fresno at 9:30am, and prepped Agent 99 for another single stage flight.  And prepped.  And prepped.  And prepped.    For four hours, I worked on that thing - procurring a K1499 and an adapter for it, honing the forward body when it wouldn't fit our nifty new Al coupler, and creating and wiring charges.  It took forever.   Finally, at 1:30pm, we put the rocket on the pad, and it roared off, sailing to 1800 ft, where the drogue came out, and deploying the main at 700 ft, as desired.   And it landed in a very muddy field, so I got the job of getting it out.  Not too hard, but the (extremely hot) road was hell on my (bare, muddy) feet on the way back.   We got our GPS results, but the camera didn't work properly - lost the video.  Nuts. Saturday, June 28th, 2008 - Newark I was fortunate enought to take the girls and meet with Alan T, Rich F, and Karl A at Newark early Saturday morning, and we got some good flying in before the field got busy.  Too bad it wasn't as calm as other times...   I flew: Alien Space Probe on a C6-3.  Went straight up, but the chute didn't open.  Busted legs.  Rats. Flew the God Bug on a 1/2A6-2.  Still not stable. Flew the 13mm arrow on a 1/2A3-4 - nice. Flew the little V2 on an A10-3.  Nice. Flew the Nike on a B4-4.  Also nice. Flew the Fat Boy on a C6-3.  Didn't open the 'chute, and it landed in the baseball diamond.  Had to climb the fence.  Nuts! Flew the Mark 2 on an A6-4.  Flew great. Flew the Der V3 on a D12-5 - High and cool. Flew the Io on an F50-4 - Loud.  Flew great! Flew the Meanie on an A10-3.  Fine flight. Flew the Double X-Ray on a B6-0 staging to a B4-6.  Very nice! Flew the Mace on an A3-4 - High! Flew the streamer duration on a 1/2A3-4.  Streamer came out, but didn't unfurl.  Nuts! Flew Tinee on an A3-4.  Fsss-Bang!  Motor blew up just off the pad, and the glider glided off into the distance.  Found the pieces - little damage!  I've never blown up a 13mm before... Flew the Big V2 on a C11-3.  Very nice. What else I saw: Alan flew his SR71.  Cool. He also flew his (shortened) Mean Machine - great flights. Karl flew his Weasel, and it landed in a tree!  Hell of a time getting it out, and it would have been easier, if I brought the picker.  Had to go get it.  Doh! Karl also flew his motor-ejecting, motor slide-down rocket.  Great concept, but it wasn't stable, and the motor didn't slide down properly.  Burned the heck out of the rear fuse...Nice try, though! Too soon, it was time to go.  But we'll be back, and soon. June 20th, 21st, and 22nd, 2008 - Mudrock, with Aeropac, at the Black Rock Desert I was fortunate enough to spend three nights and four days in Black Rock, flying with Aeropac.  So many nice people, cool rockets, and only a little blowing dust! Thursday, June 19th - Left the house at 9am, and drove steadily.  Gassed and ate in Verdi, at about 1, and picked up the Porta Potty at 2.  By driving steadily, and not trying to speed, I got to Empire at 3:30.  I gassed again, and headed past Gerlach out to the launch site.  Discovered that my GPS didn't work!  Phooey!  Got to the site by following the cones, and pulled in at about 4:15.  Helped set up with Daryl P and Jonathon, and Dave K invited me over for spaghetti dinner.  Delicious!  Racked early. Friday, June 20th, 2008.  Got up early, ate, flew, LCO'ed from 10-12 with Daryl P, then flew lots more: Flew the Ariel on a J180.  Man, that went high.  Deployed at apogee, and I had a fair drive to go and get it... Flew the Canadian Arrow on a G53-7 Fast Jack.  Flew great, and a perfect recovery. After LCO duty (10-noon), I got a M1845, 3-grain 98mm demo motor from Karl at Aerotech, and flew Enterprise 98 to 18766 ft!  Perfect flight and recovery, but my Walston high-power failed!  I had a weak signal before launch, and nothing afterwards - dead batteries.  If Steve Sawyer hadn't been with me, and had good eyeballs on it, I wouldn't have recovered it!  We went 1.5 miles from camp, and saw the blowing 'chute.  Great flight!  Thanks again to Steve for assisting me, and Karl and Gary for the motor.  Very cool! Flew the H-Bomb on an F27-x, no delay or ejection.  It didn't go that high, but ejected right at apogee, as that's what the Perfectflite told it to do.  Busted the tip of the nosecone.  Dang! Flew the Lightnin' on a D12-0 to D12-7, for another great flight. I dragged Jonathon and Dave K off to Frog Pond for a dip after the waiver closed.  Dave prepared an excellent chicken dinner - thanks!  Racked early. Saturday, I flew and LCO'ed again from 10-12.  I flew: Upscale Cobra on 3 x D12's - great flight. Io on an H148 - Awesome, high flight. Tang on an H112.  No separation at apogee!  Main fired at 300 - much too late.  Crashed hard!  Destroyed the Perfectflite MAWD, and heavily damaged the Walston.  Dang!@!%&@! Around 2:30, the winds came up, but I still flew the big Honest John on an I225 FJ.  Another great, flight, though I couldn't let Dave and the boys of Oasis for Kids (11-year-olds) retrieve it, as they backed off 1/2 mile - much too far.  I got it myself, before it dragged too far.  That did it for flying for the day.  The winds started screaming, and we quickly retreated to the Frog Pond for a dip.  A nap later, and it calmed down around 7pm.  I ate a quick dinner, and got ready for the night flights.  I LCO'ed and flew: Tri-Light on a D15-4.  Another nice flight, but the parachute didn't open.   Broke another two pods... Flew the Mini Light on an A10-3 - deployment, but no 'chute. Flew the Mini Light again on an A3-4.  Deployment, but again no 'chute.  I'm getting tired of my 'chutes not opening!  I launched (as LCO) lots of little Estes stuff, and one "very large G".  Fun! After we shut down at 10:30, I got to work prepping the Hornet for the K250 flight - only possible through the generosity of James D (motor) and James M (borrowed tracker).  Finished up at midnight, and went to sleep. Woke Sunday to calm, clear conditions.  Let's fly!  While Craig S prepped and flew the Endeavour, I flew: Flew the Glowworm on a D13-10.  Very late deployment - almost lawn-darted.  Chucked the motor.  Thank heavens I stopped, checked, and looked for it.  I found it.  No damage.  912 feet. Flew Cee-Ya on a D13-7.  No deployment!  Lawn dart!  Destroyed nosecone and the rocket to the front of fins.  Dang!!!  (Autopsy revealed that the delay grain burned, just didn't ignite the ejection charge.  Nuts.) I was planning on flying the Hornet, with a K250, but Craig was using the borrowed Walston, and I had to wait.  Finally, Craig got back with the (pieces of the) Endeavour.  I installed the Walston, and was ready to go.  I was nervous!   The K250 lit with a roar, and just kept burning!  The bird arched away from us, over the flight line, to the south west.  We had good tones for 2-3 minutes, then it just cut off - grounded.  We searched south west - nothing.  (Funny, this happened when Elizabeth and I were here, and Chelsea was just a baby).  I was getting frustrated.  Not a twitch on the Walston.  I climbed up on the roof (as before), and Craig drove.  Finally got a twitch to the west, and a little north of the flight line.  Drove right to it - .5 miles from our first detection.  .92 miles from the flight line!  14,000 feet! It was getting late - time to pack and go.  So quickly, yet a timeless place. Other cool stuff I saw: Kurt Von D flew the first flight of the launch - a min-diam on an Ellis M1000, to 44,000 feet - a new record!  It was found 11 miles from the site! Paul S launched a rocket on an M1000, and didn't find it again.  Our hearts go out to him. Tony A flew Phantom 109 on a Demo K1050G, which chuffed to a high altitude. Agent 99 sustainer flew on a L663, to 6600 ft, but took damage when it chucked the motor, and dragged a ways!  And the GPS failed at 100 ft!  (At least the motor held together.) Dave K flew Zoid on an N2000, but had a burn-through at 1500 ft, which scattered his rocket all over the place.  Nuts! Tim Gubbins and Steve Ainsworth flew the SPIDER on an "L" motor.  The attempt to deploy rover failed when the parachute was ejected at apogee.  Triple damn!  (The test the night before was so successful...) Cherokee "M" flew on an M, and looked great doing it. Larry K flew Columbia on an I200 to an H, and it flew perfectly. Charlie W flew his Arliss "K" on a J350 - worked fine. Peter C flew "Spare Parts" on a demo, single use, J350, that flew great. Craig S flew his Endeavour on a J135, to great heights.  It wasn't an ideal flight, because he chucked the Walston, Alt 15K, and nosecone at altitude, and had to find them on the expanse of the range.  Amazingly, he found the nosecone and Walston, but not the 15K.   I've done it too. Lastly, I won a bunch of prizes in the raffle.  Fun! Some (more) lessons I learned. Have spare batteries for the high-power Walston. Put protection around the Walston. Check e-mail before I leave - I didn't get the message about the 99k camera and doghouse. Hauling the Porta Potty and driving gently really worked! Standing for the night launch really worked! So enjoyable to hange with friends on the playa. (As usual,) Pack earlier and better.  I could have flown lots on Thursday, if I wasn't arriving and setting up my camp at 3:30. June 14th, 2008 - with LUNAR at Moffett Field Got a last minute invitation to fly with LUNAR at Moffett Field - a demo of future LUNAR launches.  Given the logistical difficulties, I hope not...   I brought Chelsea and Melissa, and arrived at 9:30.  And waited 45 minutes to get in.  Walked around the P3 in front of the operations building to kill the time.   Finally got in, and we launched from the edge of the apron - lots of concrete, but we could tilt toward a grassy area.  Still, too many rockets landed on the concrete.  Damaging.   I flew: Mini V2 on an A10-3.  No 'chute, but no damage until Melissa fell with it.  Oops. Wacky Wiggler on a B6-4.  Landed on the concrete and broke a fin.  Dang! Big Daddy on an E16-7 (shortened).   Good flight, but the 'chute tangled.  Okay, because it landed in the weeds. TCC Special on a D12-5.  Another non-'chute, but no damage as it, also, landed in the weeds. Sharpie Marker Rocket (the Classic) on a C6-5.  Great flight! Even got the jumper back. Baka on a B4-2.  Didn't get off the rod, until ejection! Baka on a C6-3.  Weather-cocked heavily and hit before ejection.  Cartwheel and heavy damage.  Dang!!! That did it for flying the day's flying.  Other cool things I saw: Kevin M's DC Thunder on a D12-3.  Great flight. Charlie W flying Initiator on an F, getting Big Red Bee data. Next time: Bring a folding, wheeled hand-truck for all the stuff. Umbrella? Chairs. Table? Let's hope there is a next time. Saturday, June 7th, 2008 - Lockheed "Young Astronauts" Launch    Got to Lockheed about 8am, and Cliff S and Alan T showed up to help out - very cool!    We quickly got the pads set up, and soon there was 80 adults and kids who wanted to fly.  I LCO'ed, and started throwing Alphas (and other Estes-class birds) at the sky - 3 or 4 at a time.  The line got long, and we had a stand-down of 25 minutes to get the airspace straightened out.  Though the wind was lighter than ever, it still was enough to put rockets everywhere - the field is a little bigger than a soccer field, and the winds were breezy above 100 feet. We launched lots of kids rockets, and put a few of our own up when we could.  We totalled over 250 flights!   I flew: The Upscale Cobra on 3-D12's - 2 plugged D12-0s and 1 D12-5 (with extra bp).  It flew great, but landed on the roof of a nearby building, on the big 'chute.  Someone later retrieved it - thanks! Flew the Der V3 on a C11-3 - great, low, flight, and easy nearby recovery, thanks to a nearby participant I drafted. Tried the Big Daddy on an E16.  Failed to light on a Copperhead, so Alan gave me a Firstfire Junior.  Rocket lifted off, and blew the nozzle!  Landed 5 feet from the pad, stuck on the nose.  All I can think is that the ignitor clogged the nozzle, and this in turn blew out the nozzle.  Better that than blowing up my case!! After numerous unsuccessful attempts, I got the Fat Boy to fly on a D13-7.  Ripped off the pad, corkscrewed, and ejected just after apogee.  New Mylar 'chute looked great, and it landed on the grass without damage.  Cool! At the very end of the day, I got to fly the Sidewinder on a D13.  It soared off the pad, arc'ed over, and didn't eject!!  It crashed in the RV area, and was destroyed.  Boo hoo!!!!  At least I got the case back. Other stuff I saw: Cliff flew his Interceptor, on a great flight. Alan flew his Mean Machine twice - great flights. Cliff flew his Arreaux on a long-burn "E", and it landed in the RV area. Alan flew one of his rockets on an F20-7 - very high! Cliff flew his streamer-duration on an A8-5, and it went very high. Alan flew his (smaller) Phoenix in a high, spiraling flight. One of the participants flew a Saturn 5 three times on an E30-4 - great flights! Other participants brought a brace of Canadian Arrows that we salvo'ed on D12s - great flights. Too soon, it was time to pack up.  Thanks to Cliff, Alan, and especially Paul and the Management Assn who do so much to keep us flying. What worked: Getting there early, and setting up. Someone giving me a sandwich! Alan bringing his big Phoenix and a 54/1706 motor.  Lots of ooh's and ahhhs. Having friends there, to take over LCO when I needed to step away. Someone getting the rockets off the nearby roof!  That helps a lot. So many kids had the opportunity to fly, and most had good flights.  And, they had fun!!! What didn't work: No LUNAR fliers (handouts) there. No nearby rocket flying field we could refer fliers to. Constantly being bothered about the low max altitude - 1000 ft. Security didn't have a key to the front RV entrance.  Had to go around, and it was slow getting rockets out of there. Didn't fly all the rockets I wanted to/needed to. Forgot the sun block! Alan brought CA, and it got hijacked.  I couldn't find it. All in all, a great launch.  Too bad it's only once a year. May 31st, 2008, at Newark Field Got the family up early, and got to the field by 7am.  With warnings about fire danger, I was hesitant to go into the wilds - we stayed on the soccer field.  We were joined by Jim S and his two, Rich F, Cliff S and Dave C, Craig S and Karl A, and Mike K and his 3.  Quite a crew!  And nice to have a retrieval crew of all those kids.   Despite our early start, we had swirling winds 5-10 mph.  Still, a nice day to fly.   I Flew: Red Eye on an 1/2A6-2 - flew fine. Mace on a A10-3 - good flight! Honest John on a B4-4 - Parawad, but no damage. Wolverine on an A10-3 - Another Parawad.  No damage. Wacky Wiggler on a B6-4 - High, and cool! Mini-Meanie on an A10-3 - Good! Small-time Gangsta on a D12-7 - disappeared in the cloud, reappeared with a parawad, and landed in a tree!  Karl climbed up and got it.  Thanks!  (Impressive how far this rocket drifted, with a parawad.) I'm starting to see a pattern:  Parawads.  Opened the Nike Smoke parachute and re-packed.  Flew it on a B6-4.  It opened, and landed fine. Gold Bug on 1/2A6-2 - unstable!  Weird. D-Dart on a D9-7 - High, cool, flight, and long drift on a streamer. Arrow 20 on a B6-6 - High, quick flight, and successful streamer recovery. Big Fella (Mr Unlucky) on an E9-4.  Bang!!! (Why did I expect this?)  Seems my peeling the motor to get it to fit in the motor tube cut too deeply, and that motor blew up.  My bad!  Repairable until we dropped 15 pounds of milk on in on the way home.  Broke 3 fins, and the repairs looked yucky.  Motor mount is roasted, and the 'chute is full of holes.  He's done.  RIP. TCC Special on a D12-5 - "Cool" said the crowd.  Parawad.  Rats!  No damage, though. Tinee on a 1/2A3-2 - nice flight, and great glide. Baka on a B6-2.  Went 50 feet up, arched over, and ejected hard.  Rocket hit the ground fast - no time to glide.  Pod recovered without problems.  Reduce nose weight. Upscale Cobra on 3xD12s.  (Two plugged 0's, one enhanced -5.)  Great, high, spinning flight, with ejection right at apogee.  Lost nose cone again, but no damage, and a nice recovery. Beta on A10-0 staging to a 1/2A3-4.  High, cool flight.  Nice Recovery on a streamer. V3 on an E9-6.  Very high, deployment at apogee, and gentle drift to touchdown - missing the asphalt. I also saw - Craig launched his (balsa?!) Alpha on a C6-5, and separated the nosecone, with the 'chute.  The nosecone drifted out of sight. Karl launched his naked Weasel on a D12-3, to a low, successful flight. Dave C launched his old Centuri Alien Invader on a D13-7.  It spun, arc'ed, and "flew" - it looked great! Cliff launched an 18mm bird on an A8-5, and it screamed off the pad - way up there.  Good flight. Cliff launched a bunch of Micro Max rockets - HoJo, SpaceFighter, and a saucer.  Great fun! Craig S re-loaded his cone-less Alpha on C6-5s, and flew it twice more!  Worked fine, with a recovery-wadding streamer! Karl flew the Weasel again on an E15-4.  Worked great! Dave tried to fly his SDI, but it hung on the rod, and flew about 6 feet.  Nuts! Cliff flew his Sandhawk(?) on an F12 - great, hissing flight to good altitude, and nearby landing.  Very cool! Too soon, it was time to leave.  Let's do this again, soon! May 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2008 - Dairy Aire - TCC Fresno, Maddox Dairy To my great fortune, I was able to spend two days out at TCC - Friday the 16th, and Saturday the 17th of May.  Too bad we had 106 degree temperatures!!  Absolutely exhausting. On Friday, I got there at 9:15am, and quickly set up my camp.  I was the first to fly, at 11am. Flew the Upscale Cobra on 3 x D12s (two sealed, and the third with extra BP).  Flew great, in the new paint job, though it did spin alot.   Ejected at apogee, and touched down gently.  But where's the nosecone?  Had to look for it - thank heavens someone saw it come down!  (Too much extra BP!). Flew the Big Fella on an ancient E25-4, 18mm motor.  (Try finding a rocket for THAT!)  If flew more like an E25-9, and burned the 'chute closed when it ejected (probably for the best, it would have zippered, otherwise.  A little body damage on the head-down impact. Flew the Io on a donated G76G -10 from Karl and Gary of Aerotech.  Io ripped off the pad, and deployed at apogee (man, that went high!).  Used the truck (and the Walston!!) to retrieve it.  Good plan, given the heat.  Flew the big Honest John on a J460.  Took a long time to light, but tore off the pad, climbing to great heights.  Ejected at apogee, and opened that terrific 'chute - bright pink/purple/red.  Came straight down.  Landed 50 yards away, after going about 3500 feet up.  Very nice!!  (Note that there was some cracking near the fin roots.  Perhaps another "This much, and no more" message?  Note that the siren I was using was audible about 70 feet away, though there was lots of background noise. Flew the Tri-Light on a D15-4, complete with all lights.  Went really high, and ejected right at apogee.  Of course, it broke a light pod on landing.  Bigger 'chute next time. After hours of prep work, I flew the Magnum on a J540, hopefully air-starting 2 H238s, after a 4-second delay.  Got all the way out to the pad, and found that the timer would not light.  Dang!!  Hauled it back and disassembled.  Found a component jacked loose, probably by an errant screwdriver.  Charlie had one of those "no-heat" soldering irons!  This saved my bacon.  Touched the solder and presto!  Timer lights!  Back to the pad.  It's close to 6 - waiver closing soon.  Put it on the pad and armed everything.  We're good!  Ran back to the LCO table and announced it.  Hit the button.  The J540 roared, and the rocket gracefully lifted off the pad.  Climbed waaay up.  Lit the airstarts!!!  Coasted.  Lit another airstart!  (Can't really tell, it's a long way up).  Event at apogee!  Tumbled to 1100 feet, where the MAWD fired the main.  Out came the 'chute.  And the nosecone detached.  Dang!  The rest of the rocket gently settled onto the fields.  Recovered, with some paint jacked loose.  3418 feet (Altacc baro).  Nice!!  Thank heavens I had help recovering. I was very, very tired.  This was a long day, under brutal heat.  Thanks to Laura M and Charlie for some great eats.  I crashed early. Saturday, May 17th, dawned with lots of folks arriving.  Turned out that someone had arrived at midnight and set up a noisy tent right beside me - I didn't hear them - I was dead to the world. We've got a lot of work to do to get the 99k ready to fly.  I started assembling early, and took breaks to fly stuff along the way. Flew the F-Bomb on an E18-10.  Raced off the low power pads, and did some small corkscrews as it climbed out of sight.  Never caught sight of it again.  Good thing I had a Walston!  Tracked it down to the middle of a field.  Cooked my brain walking back...  Perfectflight 15k says 2447 feet.  Wow! Flew the Tinee ("new to me" Edmonds boost glider) on a 1/2A3-2.  Stuck to the launch rod!  Bang! went the ejection charge.  Blew off the nose cone.  Couldn't find it.   Rats! Flew the TCC Special on a D12-5.  Looked great, and flew terrific.  Recovered without error. After hours of work, Agent 99 (sustainer) was ready to fly.  Charlie had the tracking gear working, and my 'chutes and cords from Enterprise 98 were loaded.  I'd assembled a "coffee-can" K458, and Steve had gotten the Av Bay working.  (Gotta turn on the BRB tracker before we button it up, next time.  We had to take it apart.)  With the new JPS CD system ready to go on a 16gram cartridge, the team discovered that I had loaded in .75 grams of BP - way too much.  Dissassembled the CD unit and reduced the BP.  Re-assembled.  Chris and Steve carried it out to Alan's launch tower.  I announced the flight.  When we pushed the button, the K458 roared to light, and gently but firmly pushed the 25 pound rocket into the sky.  And kept burning.  Higher and higher, finally arching over.  Event at Apogee.  Good eyeballs on it coming down.  Event at ~700 feet.  The main came out great.  (I knew that piston was a good idea.)  Gentle touch down in the field.  Wahoo!!! I trudged out and got it, and James came around with his truck and a cold water.  Thanks!!!  The MAWD was beeping out 4531 feet!   Great flight.  Next time - bigger and higher! It was getting late, but I didn't want to stop yet.  I flew the H-Bomb on a Roadrunner F60-10.  It ripped off the pad, straight and true, but seemed to separate at apogee.  Need to remove some BP from the motors in min-diams, and use Kevlar shock cords.  I used my truck to find the pieces - the nosecone, MAWD, and Walston (thank heavens!) came down hard, breaking the nosecone (again), and busting the Av bay body tube.  Rats!  The MAWD says 2489 feet! I suspected the rear-body was lost, but found it minutes later - keep reading. I was late, and labored to pack, and get on the road.  Though my target departure was 6pm, I left at 6:40.  Despite cramps from lack of water, I made it home by 9:20, in time to say good night to everyone.  I was beat. Here's some other cool/uncool things I saw: Someone flew a Quantum Leap to great heights. Dave R flew his Quantum to a niceflight on a J460 to I284. Steve K piled in his beloved Nike Smoke when his computer failed to fire anything at apogee. Kevin M flew his Upscale Magnum(!?!) [Bruiser], on an I to 1200 feet.  Nice, zipperless recovery.  Airstarts Sunday! Saw a nice, big, "M" bird blown to bits on a demo motor. Saw James D's Phoenix badly damaged on a demo motor.  We all grieve. Saw Sean Stevens attempt to launch a 120 pound 2-stage BullPup on an M2500 staging to another M.  I was out retrieving my H-Bomb, when this was announced.  Watched it climb off the pad, then suddenly loose steam about 500 feet up, and arc toward me.  My feet said RUN!!!, but my brain said - "watch where it's going to go, first."  I also started praying that the air-start did NOT light now.  It didn't.  Charges went off, and parachutes came out - 4 in the sustainer, and a couple in the booster, which drifted in front of me.  The booster's on Fire!  Well, it's doomed, but maybe I can save the electronics.  Jumped in my car, and raced to it.  Hey, there's my aft body to the H-Bomb!!  Parked.  Jumped out, and grabbed my fire extinguisher.  Ran to the booster.  Tore out the pin.  Squeezed the trigger - it went "thhht" and stopped.  Useless.  Put a little chem on it, though.  (What better place to discover your extinguisher doesn't work!!!).  Others arrived, and put out the campfire - all that was left.  I believe the electronics were still beeping out the altitude.  Heard later that the booster had blown the nozzle, dooming the rocket.  If we know Sean, he'll try again. Here's some lessons I learned: When the weatherman threatens 100 degree temperatures, buy and pack ice like you mean it.  Like, a spare cooler of ice.  And keep it in the shade. Retrieving with the truck was a great idea, in the broiling sun. We needed lots more assembly and prep time on Agent 99, before we got to Fresno.  Thank heavens we (as a team) were well prepared. The Walston save my fanny a number of times.  Quick(er) retrievals, by far. Lots of sunblock - good idea - no sunburn.  Just keep it out of my eyes! I love Steve's technique of mounting on-off switches on the edge of his trays, facing the wall.  Easy to arm, with no fumbling around.  And we only need 1 switch, not two, per unit. 99k needed to have the MAWD main set to 500, not 700, so the AltAcc was the unit triggering the main.  That's the one we're flying. Ask Gary and Karl for demo motors, more often! That was fun!  Can't wait to do it again. Saturday, April 26th, in Newark Though it was early, Himanshu T and his family, Jim and Jack S, and Rich and Jaiden F showed up!   We met at the ball field at 7:15 (I was late, and I DO hate being late), and quickly set up on the diamond.  Absolutely NO wind - Excellent!!!!.  Launched the following: Flew the Red Eye on a 'streamer-ed' 1/2A6-2 - nice. Flew the Arrow 13 on an 1/2 A3-4 - High! Flew the Wacky Wiggler on a B6-4 - Worked great. Flew the Fatter Boy on a D12-5 - Ejection at apogee burned loose the 'cute, and it fell in the baseball diamond.  Had to jump a fence to get it.  And it jacked loose a fin.  Rats! Flew the D-Dart on a D12-5.  Spectacular, arcing flight, with ejection at apogee.  It came down on the streamer, but landed high in a tree!  (Came back later with three lengths of PVC.  Managed to get it down, but let's just say that PVC pipe is the wrong stuff for this.  Want RIGID stuff.  And light.) About this time, I noticed that the launch battery (two 6V lantern batts wired in series) was really warm - no surprise, as the battery clip was shorting the terminals!  Not smart. As I was planning to move the "wilds" and use the car battery for the copperhead igniters, this was the right time.  Still NO wind.  Moved and set-up.  After a few launches, some of the folks started trying to catch the falling rockets - fun!.  We launched: Mace on an A3-4.  Nice, and high.. Sidewinder on a D13-4.  Tore off the pad, and ejected at apogee.  CAME STRAIGHT DOWN.  Three of us caught it, sitting on the car!  Wonderful. Der V3 on a D12-5 - Great flight. The little Honest John on a B4-4 - Nice flight. Flew the Orange Bullet on a 1/2A3-4 - Nice. Flew the Arrow 20 on a B4-6 - Great flight. Flew the Screaming Mimi on an F39-6.  I didn't like being that close to an F engine, but it didn't stick around long enough to debate.  Tore off the pad on a bright blue flame, but separated at apogee.  The rear body landed on/near the railroad tracks, and took medium damage - fin and whistle torn loose, and one fin beaten up.  Darn elastic.  The nose-cone took forever to come down, but was still close.  Gotta love the lack of wind.... Flew the Wolverine on an A10-3 - love this rocket. Flew the Mark II on an A6-4.  Worked okay, but the streamer didn't "stream" - replace. Flew the Starhawk on a D12-5 (I used a lot of these, today.)  Great flight. Flew the F-Bomb on a D12-5, as I could not get the D9-7 lit.  Great flight to 1086 ft on the Perfectflite 15k. Flew the little V2 on an A10-3.  No surprise, the parachute didn't inflate, but there was no damage. Flew the Nike Smoke on a B6-4.  Nice Flight. Flew the Small-time Gangster on a D12-7.  High flight, and delayed chute opening (of course - it's Mylar). Flew the Double X-Ray on a B6-0 to a B4-6.  Great flight!! Flew the Mini Meanie on an A10-3 - flew fine. Flew the big V2 on a D12-5.  Great flight.  Need to repair three broken fins, though. Additionally, Jim flew his Patriot on a B6-4 and a C6-5.  Great flights. All this in 2 and 1/2 hours.  What fun!  Do it again! Lessons learned: Once again, packing and prep work paid off handsomely. PVC is un-usable for tree-retrievals over 20 feet. Bring a 30+ ft retriever when flying here. Need another launch battery setup.  And don't forget the terminal covers! Announce the launch date early, and often! Kids break lots of rockets.  Don't be surprised. Separation breaks lots of rockets.  Remember the rule:  "No elastic in rockets that fly on 24mm or larger motors". 7am is the time to fly!  No wind at all!! Would have been fun to fly some larger birds - more "F" and the upscale Cobra.  Just need a larger launch rod and pad. Gotta be clearer on directions, for folks who have not been there. Wave to the train drivers, and keep everyone well-clear of the tracks. We'll do it again soon.  Thanks to all the folks who showed up and helped retrieve all those rockets.  We had fun, too! Saturday, April 5th, 2008 - Snow Ranch A beautiful, cool, day at the Ranch.  Not as many folks as I expected, but still a good crowd.  We drove out via 120 and a side road, instead of taking Hwy 4 as usual - saw lots of pretty country.  Justin and Jason came with us, and the girls played in the creek and tree nearby. In some ways, a tougher day than usual... Here's what we flew: Flew the Sidewinder on a D13-4.  Nice flight,  but I think those old engines cause delays to burn longer...  Recovered okay. I flew the H-Bomb on an F27-8.  Beautiful straight boost and ejection near the apogee.  Gee, the parachute seems to be taking a long time to come down.  Maybe because the payload section and nose are missing.  Follow the body, because I can find the nose with the Walston!  Hiked a long way, and got it off a hill.  Faint Walston signal from the pad area.  Past the pad area.  (Gee - doing a lot of walking...)  Becky G had it - nose broken off  (damn those urethane 29mms!).  Found the pieces!  Now I can repair it....  1400 feet on the MAWD. Justin flew his new "Rednose Bulldog" (Loc Onyx)on an F62-S.  Nice flight, but a slightly early ejection, and the 'chute is too small!  Jacked loose a fin on landing - dang!  Nothing a little 5-minute epoxy can't fix. Flew the Mini Light on an A10-0 to 1/2 A3-4.  Nice boost, but no second stage!  Can you say "lawn dart"?  Smashed the nosecone into the payload, and core-sampled the BT520 adapter, into the rear body!  Rats.  Inspection showed that the lower motor burned through, but not well enough to light the upper stage. Flew the Ariel (now wearing Red Metallic paint) on an I161.  Great, soaring flight to (near) 2000 ft.  Looked great coming down, too!  Elizabeth, Melissa, and some Boy Scouts recovered it from the hill across the creek.  Thanks a ton!! Flew the Big Fella (Mr Unlucky) on an old E15-4.  Another old motor, the delay was more like 7, and it made all of us hold our breath.  Recovered with only a slight zipper mark.   Whew! Flew the Wahoo on an I211, for (my) coolest flight of the day.  Had to recycle and old, home-made igniter, before the I lit, and ripped the rocket off the pad.  It threw a slight turn, and headed north, and out of sight.  The Walston had a strong tone, which got stronger suddenly, signalling apogee ejection.  (That's a relief.)  No one saw it.  Had a good, strong, signal for a minute, which suddenly cut off.  Gotta be over that hill.  Started hiking.  Went around the hill, and got a "weak" signal across the meadow.  Hiked there.  Now I'm getting a slightly stronger signal 90 degrees away, up the valley (that would be called a "reflection").  Continued hiking and following.  Getting stronger, but the attenuator still kills it.  Kept pursuing.  Spotted it further up the valley.  Great!  Recovered without damage  The altitude?  5271 ft.  That's a new Mile-High Wall record.  Extremly cool!!!!  And I got my exercise hiking back. After a long delay, Justin launched his Bulldog on an F40-7 I gave him.  (He bought the re-load, and used my pre-made motor.)  Great flight, but no ejection!!  Another lawn dart.  Surprisingly, the damage was manageable - the motor tube tore loose and slammed into the nosecone, bashing it up. The fins stayed on, and the body tube was only a little crinkled.  Not bad, considering. Inspecting the motor showed that the delay grain hadn't burned.  At all.  Ruby and Jim gave us a new motor - thanks! It was getting late, so we headed back.  I was sorry to go, but it was time. Important lessons I learned: Don't trust the old, old, motors.  Get new delay grains. Thank heavens I packed the day before. It's hard to spend time with the family, at a launch. It's easy to bust fins (off).  Just ask Justin. Other things I saw: Tom D's cardboard cluster rocket sky-writing. A big, 6" monster (with lots of aluminum) fly on an M1939 - beautiful. The Pinata rocket on an I600.  Easter Eggs on parachutes.  The kids loved it! Charlie's "Smokin' Banana drifting down on big 'chute and just missing Discount Rocketry. Thanks to:  My family for putting up with my mania. Discount Rocketry for being there, and being nice. The Orvis's for letting us fly there. and especially All the volunteers at LUNAR.  There could not be terrific launches, like this one, without you. Saturday, March 22, 2008, in Newark Alan T and Cliff S were going flying in a little-used part of Newark, and I showed up for a few launches - we had a conflict later.  Perfect conditions - not too cold, and not a breath of wind.  The smoke from the motors stuck to the grass!   At the soccer field, (before anyone else showed up), I flew: Alien Space Probe on a C6-3.  Arc'ed over hard, and ejected 15 feet above the ground.  Somehow, the 'chute opened, and there was no damage.  Gotta fix this... Flew the Classic on a B6-4.  Perfect flight, though the jumper (army parachutist) didn't open his 'chute all the way. Flew the new Gold Bug on a 1/2A6-2.  Good flight. Flew the Gyroc on an A8-3.  Nice flight! Flew "Cee-ya" on a C6-5 - a good motor for this rocket.  Worked fine, but came down in a tree.  I've got no extension rods, or anything else.  Parked the truck under it!  Then I could just barely reach it. About that time, Alan showed up, and showed me where we SHOULD be flying.  Moved out to the wilds, and flew a few more, before we had to run. Flew the new Red-Eye on a 1/2A6-2.  Cool. Flew the Wacky Wiggler on a B6-4.   Delayed liftoff, then roared off, toward the railroad tracks.  Saw it eject, stretch out, and land in the tumbleweeds.  Looked, but could not find it.  Rats!  To my surprise and delight, Alan, Emily, George, and most of the TARC team came and looked as well!  We could not stay - had to go to brunch.  Emily found it!  Hooray!  Chelsea made a thank you card, and we picked it up that day.  Nice! Too soon, I was doing other things.  Fly here again soon! I learned: a) My little 12V combo battery doesn't have the juice to light a Copperhead. b) Some people are so nice -  I'm humbled and delighted with the efforts to help me get the Wacky Wiggler back. c) Gotta go back there soon.  Great place to fly up to an "F" engine. February 9th, 2008, LUNAR at Snow Ranch. What an incredible day to fly.  Great weather, good luck flying, and lots of friends and family there. Got up early, after a short night, and packed the car.  Stopped in Livermore to pick up Justin, Jason, and Melanie (had to call and tell them we were 1/2 hour late - rats!).  Stopped a couple times to take care of the kids and stretch, and got there about 9:40. The site was set up, and the club was launching.  Got a nice spot on the flight line, and quickly unloaded.  Again - unbelievable weather, for February. Here's what we flew: Flew the Sidewinder on a D13-4.  Ejected early, but no damage.  Landed partly in the creek, which did cause damage!  Dry and sand. Justin flew his Tomahawk (re-painted) on a G77R-7.  Another great flight that ejected right at apogee. Flew the Classic (or as Chelsea calls it, "Sharpy Marker Rocket"), on a C6-5, and ejected a jumper.  Worked great, and both rocket and paratrooper landed 30 feet apart. Flew the H-Bomb on an E28-7 (s).  Rocket left the pad and cartwheeled!  What the!?!?  This is a proven design!  Looks like the nozzle was canted.  Little damage.  (Note to self - whenever a fluorescent orange-red rocket is not sealed/urethaned, it gets dirty incredibly easily.  Clear coat these!) Flew the Small-time Gangster on a D12-7.  Once again, this rocket ripped off the pad, and went to the limits of sight.  Ejected at apogee, and slowly decended on the green chute.  I started walking towards it.  Lost it.  Found it again.  Started walking again.  Lost it, and couldn't find it!  Dang!  Asked another rocket person to help me look for it.  Found a 29/40-120 case!! Turned it in.  Went back to camp.  A few minutes later, the person we spoke to walked up with it!  Thanks!!!  (Karma?) Justin flew his Outlaw on a B6-4.  Okay flight, but he slightly burned the plastic 'chute. Jason built a motor for the PML Io - a G61W-M.  Great, soaring flight, with good ejection and recovery. Flew the Bottle Rocket on a G54-M(S).  Great flight, but the bent fin sure causes it to spin... Flew the Cee-Ya on an E18-10 (8).  Amazingly high flight.  Flashing of the streamer was the only thing that allowed us to spot and recover this rocket.  Tore streamer up, but other than that, no damage. Justin decided to fly the Tomahawk on an "H".  It's held together under F's and G's, so why not.  Coached Justin through building an H165R-M.  Friction fit it in.  Mounted my high-power Walston.  Taped on the nosecone.  RSO says you need a vent hole (I should have known that!).  Cut one with my multi-tool.   When we launched it, it tore off the pad on a red flame, and climbed until it was a speck.  Ejected close to apogee, and the chute came out perfectly.  Strong signal on Walston, which got louder as the antenna was unmasked.  Not needed, as we had good eyeballs on it.  Landed right nearby - no damage!  Great flight.  That could have been a cert flight. Grabbed the Honest John, and flew it on a Cesaroni I212 Smoky.  As usual, the Pro38 lit instantly, and the HoJo climbed on a cloud of dense black smoke, ejecting right at apogee.  The chute came out perfectly, and it landed (a little hard) just across the creek. Justin and I inspected the Outlaw 'chute, and finally agreed that it should be okay to fly, even with a little rip.  He flew it on a C6-5, with no problems. Other things I saw: Dave R flew his Insanity on a K700, for a great flight. Steve K flew his Fat Man on a J540, and jacked loose a fin.  Maybe the wiggling was a turn signal! Had a large rocket come in ballistic, and impact hard. A million tame bees, in a cloud above a huge number of beehives.  They were everywhere, but no one got stung. Justin bought a Loc Onyx! Too soon, it was time to leave, and we sadly left the cows and bees for the city. Overall, an unbelievable day.  Flew 12 rockets, with minor damage to 3. Special thanks to: Discount Rocketry for taking care of our rocketry needs. LUNAR club members for manning the launch table and taking care of the rest of the launch needs. Alan Thym and his family for being nice and making delicious chili. The Orvis's for letting us use the site. Mother Nature for an incredible day of flying. January 20th, 2008 - TCC Fresno at Maddox Dairy Drove to Fresno, after stopping by Livermore and getting Justin (16) and Jason (20-something).  Justin and Jason had built the IQSY Tomahawk I gave them, finishing with a mostly yellow paint job, with black,blue and red highlights.  Nice!  Nice drive to the launch site with a stop for breakfast.  A little ground fog, but scattered, high clouds otherwise.    This is going to be a nice day to fly!   Flew Justin's Tomahawk on an F20-7.  Took off okay, but that delay was just too long!!  It was 1/2 way to the ground when it ejected, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Flew my beefed-up Estes Canadian Arrow on an F23-7.  Great engine and flight - ejected just past apogee, and landed without a problem.  Nice!  (And now, get it painted). Justin re-loaded the Tomahawk with an F50-6, for a great flight!  Ejected right at apogee. I flew my Upscale Cobra on a 2 D12-0's (that I had plugged with epoxy), and 1 D12-5.  Great spinning flight, but ejection didn't throw the parachute out, just the nose section.  It tumbled for a moment, then settled on a nose-down attitude, and core-sampled.  Dang!  Minor damage, but it'll involve new paint.  Drat. Flew the F-bomb on a C11-5.  Good flight (okay, a little twisty), and ejected at apogee.  Saw something fly off - probably the nose cone (my shock cord was thin kevlar thread), and the 'chute and remaining shock cord tangled (but fell without damage).  Luckily, I had a Walston in the nose cone (and a Perfectflite altimeter), and was able to track down the nosecone.  453 feet.  Gotta get this painted, and replace that shock cord. About this time, Justin and Jason bought a G40-7 from Andy, and had another great flight with the Tomahawk. I flew the TCC Special (yet another wearing sanded primer) on a D12-5, to a great flight.  Looked terrific.  Will look better painted. Flew the Hellfire on a D12-5.  It arc'ed off the pad, and impacted before the ejection charge could fire!  The previous flight on a C11 worked fine!  Dang!! I'm done with this rocket. Flew the Glowworm on an E9-8.  High flight, but no ejection.  Lawn-darted, and destroyed my MAWD, broke my Walston, ruined my Pico (yay!!!), and generally ruined my day.  Groan.... Justin and Jason built a G77 in a 29/120 case, and flew the Tomahawk one more time.  Great flight!  Time for an "H"! Ended with the Big Fella (also known as Mr Unlucky), on his favorite engine, an E9-4.  (I've blown up 3 E9's in this rocket - go figure).  Uncharacteristically, he took off straight, and gently ejected at apogee.  A great flight. It was getting late - 3pm, and we had a big drive ahead.  We split. Other things we saw: An "L" class rocket came in ballistic, and really smashed... A Carbon-Fiber upscale Tasmanian Devil spin madly on an E11 and F12.  Cool! Gene E's beautiful rockets finished with automotive paint. Gene E's great Jayhawk flight. Cliff's Solar Express torn to pieces on a "-0" delay... Thanks to Andy for coming, Cliff for being good company, likewise for Justin and Jason, Maddox Dairy, and TCC for hosting.  See you in a month!