Thunderstorms threatened, but stayed to the east. So, only a few sprinkles of rain interrupted the June, 2014, NEFAR rocket launch.
The threat of storms kept some fliers at home, so there weren’t as many large rockets launch as usual. But, we had a number of Civil Air Patrol cadets there flying smaller rockets. At times the wind was gusty, but sometimes it was so still that the exhaust from a rocket’s launch would just hang there for a while.
I flew my DJI Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter about a half-dozen times to record the low- and high-power launches from above. Here’s a short video I put together:
More than 75 flyers attended ROCK’s June 2014 launch!
Here’s a video I made of the launch:
View additional photos of the launch in the June 2014 ROCK Launch Photo Album at RocketReviews.com.
I flew my quadcopter at the April, 2014, ROCK launch capturing aerial photos of the event. Visit the April ROCK Launch photo album at RocketReviews.com to view the collection of photographs.
On Saturday, NEFAR held their last launch of the year. With overcast skies and a brisk wind, turn-out was low. But, a few diehards launched rockets large and small.
Here’s a video I produced of the launch using a Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter.
I’ve uploaded photographs from the December, 2013, ROCK launch to RocketReviews.com:
December 2013 ROCK Launch Photos
I was having a problem with my left eye and found it difficult to take still photographs, so I let Bracha use the DSLR.
In the mean time, I took stills and video with a DJI Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter. I used the video from the helicopter to produce the following video.
Here’s a video about the Bigger Big Daddy Akavish which we, Bracha and Roger, launched at during NEFAR’s Bunnell Blast in November.
After the scrub in July, we were anxious to get back to launching rockets. We had a pretty good turnout in spite of the heat and thunderstorms in the forecast.
Please visit the August ROCK Launch Photo Album at RocketReviews.com to see the rest of my photos from the launch.
With the forecast calling for thunderstorms, I was reluctant to make the 1 1/2 trip to Bunnell for NEFAR’s July rocket launch. But, Saturday morning, I checked the weather radar and current conditions for the area and it looked okay. So, Bracha and I, Chris of Odd’l Rockets, our friend David, Dave’s brother Larry, Dave’s granddaughter Cassidy, and Oscar the wonder dog all piled into our mini-van for the trek to the Clegg sod farm for the launch. We were rewarded with a great day for flying rockets!
Cassidy helped get things started by flying her Popcorn rocket on a B6-4 motor.
The soggy and wet field, provided a good environment for sparky motors. Gary’s two-stage Quantum Leap flew on an I297 staged to a G64, but the second-stage motor failed to ignite. The onboard electronics, however, deployed the parachutes and returned the booster and sustainer safely to earth.
Mike Birnbaum’s Titan turned in a picture-perfect flight on three E9 motors.
Besides handing the LCO/RSO duties most of the day, Steve Ghioto flew his Big Red saucer on an I175. The flight didn’t go exactly as planned.
The trailer is fine and I think Steve’s saucer will fly again.
The other Steve, Steve Pollack, flew his Maxi Orbital Transport on a K630 for another crowd-pleasing flight.
Heather Martin’s “Into Darkness” appeared to lose parts of its H110 motor on the way up.
I didn’t get any photos of it, but … we also witnessed a flight where the motor apparently traveled through a rocket and out onto its own. The motor, by itself, flew stable for a few seconds, shooting into the sky, then, as tracking smoke poured out, it started to corkscrew before it finally began tumbling back to earth.
You can view all of my photos from the NEFAR launch in the Photo Album at RocketReviews.com:
http://www.rocketreviews.com/july-2013-launch.html
Bunnell experienced an almost perfect day for flying rockets last Saturday and many rocketry fanatics took advantage of the nice weather at NEFAR’s March rocket launch.
Some cool scale models flew from the low-power pads.
Tom Tweit’s scale model of Rocket Goddard’s Nell turned in a terrific flight.
Out on the high-power pads, one rocket chuffed up the launch rod then stayed there as others were launched.
An Estes E9 provided some excitement when its nozzle failed. Fortunately, Fireman Steve and his can of Minute Maid soda were on hand to save the day.
Our Big Daddy Akavish also provided some undesired excitement. Bracha and I flew it on a CTI K490 motor.
The lift off went well, but a few seconds later, the rocket took a sudden turn. The altimeter deployed the parachute while the motor continued to burn. The rocket made a hard, tragic landing. Postmortem analysis showed a big hole in the side of the motor.
Additional photos from the launch can be viewed in the RocketReviews.com Photo Album.