NCR Club Launch - Oktoberfest 2007 - Day 1

Friday October 5th, 2007

Launch Summary

Day One of a planned three day weekend launch celebrating Oktoberfest on the prairie.  35 different flyers put up 80 flights.  Dennis Billings had the first of his seven flights to open the range, John Wilke flew his Screaming Mimi twice on the Ratt K240, Ken Plattner's first K powered launch for his Carbon Diem, the Frazier Father and Son Drag races, and Andy Zollar's El Tercero.  Certifications for the day include Jordan Russell's Jr. L1, Russ Emrick got his TRA L1, Greg Elder and Mike Shinn got their NAR L2's and Scott Harless earned his NAR L3.  And there may have been other certs on Friday that I've missed - apologies if I don't have your paperwork.

Clusters or staged flights are recorded denoting the largest motor used.  Flights are listed in a random order as the flight cards have been shuffled and sorted a few times eliminating the correct sequence of flights.  Motor usage breaks down as follows: A's=3, B's=2, C's=1, D's=3, E's=7, F's=8, G's=17, H's=9, I's=11, J's=8, K's=7, L's=0 and M's=4.

Weather Conditions

Oktoberfest perfect!   Clear skies and little to no breeze for most of the day.  Range and waiver were open first thing Friday morning thanks to the set up efforts on Thursday afternoon of Debbie and Dennis Billings, Art Hoag, Mike Shinn and Warren Musselman who also towed out the equipment trailer.  Oktoberskies at night featured an almost perfect pairing of a pass of the ISS and an Iridum Satellte flare.  Doug Gerrard provided two showings of his Friday Night at the Movies and firewood brought by several warmed the late night crowd.  The propellant pumpkin from Dale and Patty was an extra nice touch.