NCR Club Launch - Adios JW July 2007

Saturday July 21st, 2007

Launch Summary

Re-scheduled club launch and a final opportunity for John Wilke to claim the Pawnee National Grassland North Site as his home flying field since JW is re-locating to Iowa until..... Thanks go out again to Ken Plattner for towing the equipment trailer out to the site Friday afternoon so we could partially set the range and relax during an evening of peace and quiet. A good gathering of friends and family members enjoyed another beautiful evening on the prairie. Thanks to Warren Musselman for extended LCO duties. On Saturday, 29 different flyers put up a total of 76 flights during the waivered range hours of operation from 8 AM unitl the afternoon BarBQue and Potluck Send Off slowed the pace of operations. The heat of the day greatly contributed to the slow down as well. A huge round of applause and THANKS to Patty and Dale Netherton for cooking up fantastic burgers and chicken and gracious thanks to everyone that contributed to the success and glory of the feeding frenzy. Congratulations go back out to Dale Netherton for re-certifying L2. Other notable flights should include Andy Zollar's "On the Outs", Larry Bowser's RATT M shot with "Logical Progression", the "Phits Phyler" on a Goodbye Flight for JW, Mike Shinn's clustered "3EE GEE" and Ken Reilly's "Ten Pin's Revenge", and Chris LaPanse's "Cirrus Dart" on an I600 to join the Two Mile Club (11,925'). Chris Frazier had the most flights for the day with 10, chased by Ken Reilly with 8 and Mike Shinn with 7. Flights are listed in a random order as the flight cards have been shuffled and sorted a few times thereby eliminating the correct sequence of flights launched. It was mostly a High Powered Day and a tribute to NCR's Altitude Junkie Emeritus. In an ironic twist of fate, the only rocket Missing In Action for the day was John's "Poetic Justice". Motor usage breaks down as follows, with staged flights and clusters credited to the largest motor used - A's=2, B's=3, C's=10, D's=5, E's=1, F's=3, G's=9, H's=15, I's=12, J's=8, K's=7, no L's and 1 M. Super special thanks to everyone that stuck around and beat the heat putting away the equipment and to Eric Parsons for towing our equipment trailer back to storage.

Weather Conditions

A large ridge of high pressure controlled the weather over the range with clear skies, an almost non-existent breeze and very warm sunshine. Temperatures probably hit the high nineties and possibly breaking the centruy mark for part of the afternoon. Winds aloft were soft and predominately from the NNW. Another absolutely awesome day for launching rockets.