NCR Club Launch - April 2006

Saturday April 1st, 2006

Launch Summary

Regularly scheduled club launch. Range and waiver were operational by 9 AM thanks to all the help from volunteers, especially John Nelson and his son David. A hefty herd of cattle needed to be friendly persuaded to leave the immediate launch area before 45 different flyers could put up a total of 107 flights for the day. When the cattle returned in the afternoon, we called it day and ceased operatons at 3 PM. The morning started with a deceptively close drag race between Chris and Steve Frazier, launching Ninja's on a D12 and E9. The frequent flyer field was led by the Frazier's with 7 flights each, followed closely by Jack Zeidlik with 6. What should have been a busy day for the Greeley High School TARC team ended aburptly when their first flight Cato'ed on the pad. Post morteum was inconclusive but hope is not lost for their efforts to repair, fly and qualify before next week's deadline. NCR was also treated to a visit from the Heatherwood Elementary School Rocketry Group mentored by Jon Skuba, who also managed to get in one flight of his IQSY Tomahawk for another 3516' in the Race to Space. Other Notable Flights included two L2 certifications - TRA member Bill Pate flew his Minnie Mag on an Aerotech J350 and NAR member Tim Thomas launched his V2 on a Pro38 J285. Zack Crawford successfully lit all three B's in his Tres and dad's Escape Velocity on a Skyripper I119 helped proof out the refurbished hybrid GSE. Adam Boggs and Steve Marshall put up Endo and Hot Shot in a now you see em', now you don't drag race on J570's. A's=7, B's=20, C's=25, D's=12, E's=6 , F's=2, G's=9, H's=11, I's=8, J's=7. Clustered motors count as one flight with one recorded. Huge thanks to all the volunteers for helping with range set up, operations and tear down, inlcuding RSO/LCO's Bruce Schaefer, Warren Musselman, Art Hoag, Adam Boggs and Steve Marshall. Next scheduled club launch is Mile Hi Mayhem, May 5th, 6th and 7th, at the North Site.

Weather Conditions

Typical spring weather on the praiire. Partly overcast skies with patchy spots of blue brillance. Greeley-Weld County Airport reported calm winds aloft and clear skies below 12,000 which allowed the sun to gently warm the crowd to slightly less than the expected highs in the 60's but also made it easier to track all flights.