April

Sunday April 21st, 2024

Launch Summary

Finally.  Schizaphrenic weather and just about everything else imaginable that could postpone or scrubb a launch event finally made way for an opportunity to fly.  This was an additional weekend scheduled to accomodate desires and the weather almost cooperated.  Saturday was a total scrub, with heavy cloud cover, snow falling , cold temperatures -a real springtime in the rockies.  Sunday morning started out rather dubious as well, although the forecast was encouraging.  Heavy fog and ground covage of snow slowly burned off and by 10:30, we were ready to be flying.   HUGE thanks to Jack Matthews for towing the equipment trailer both ways and range set up in the cold. Turned out to be an epic launch for many, especially everyone invlved in the CU Senior Capstone project integrating three teams - Ground Support, Motor and Airframe - to launch Chimera on their HADES Hybrid.  Six certifications that I can recall, five L1 and one L2 for Tim Fischer, Cody Smith, Paul Williams, DY Heiberger, Brandon Conklin and Kevin Habuda respectively.  Conway Stevens made the most good noise for the day, static firing five different motor configurations and formulas.  And there was a total of 56 flights - 31 Class One and 25 Class Two from 26 different flyers.

Weather Conditions

Springtime in the Rockies and on the Pawnee National Grassland.  Heavy fog and snow covered ground slowly disappeared as the sun performed magic.  Eventually clear skies and soft winds.  Really rather a remarkable day on the prairie.  The PNG is still in desperate need of moisture to manifest a spring green or the Pawnee will continue to suffer from drought and remain a tender, dried out and high fire risk situation.