How many of those orange shirts does Richard Dierking have? I swear that 90% of
the photos he's in he's wearing that color shirt.
Ken
On May 23, 2018, at 1:26 PM, Chris J Kobel wrote:
George,
One of the “things to remember” on RocketHunter transmitters, 10 wraps of
electrical tape minimum onto the shock cord (somebody’s bad experience).
Thinking of L3 made me recall my personal experience 10 short years ago…
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Or an alternate title might be “How many ROC members does it take to recover
a rocket?” But I’m getting ahead of myself….
I flew my LOC Magnum-based Level 3 project “Blaze of Glory” Friday the 13th
around 8:35am. In my nervousness and haste to fly before the W showed up, I
unfortunately launched right as Ken Brown was pulling onto the lakebed,
missing out on his gorgeous liftoff photos. Steve Seeright did manage,
however, to shoot some nice video of the flight. Anyways, with Dok and Kurt
watching, the Aerotech M1297 pushed the Magnum from the dead calm around Pad
40 up straight and true to 9932’ according to the onboard PerfectFlite and to
a successful apogee deploy. However, the stillness on the ground belied the
high altitude breeze from the east and the quickly-descending Magnum drifted
toward the west end of the lakebed. The main successfully deploy at 1300’
and, through binoculars, I saw the Magnum settle down gently about 500 yards
into the foliage to the west, just short of power lines.
Matt Campbell, who was following the flight with his Rocket Hunter receiver
pulled up in his pickup and we drove out to the west edge into the
bushes….and got stuck. Oh well, we’ll get the rocket first and get unstuck
later. Thankfully, with the RH on board and Matt’s vast expertise using the
equipment, we easily zeroed in on the pristine looking rocket, though it was
only in sight when we were within 50 yards, even with the bright red-orange
paint job and the 10’ orange chute. Thank you, Rocket Hunter! (Courtesy of
Rich Silva) We called back to my wife for help on my FRS radio as we carried
the rocket back to Matt’s truck, being ever so aware of the rattlesnakes
about and the dreaded Mojave Greens. (I wondered why Matt made me walk
first) Dok drove up in Andy T’s truck to help us out… and proceeded to get
stuck. Then Wedge showed up, on foot no less, having found his rocket with
another RH. (He was determined not to lose another Goblin on the lakebed.)
We got Dok’s truck unstuck as Wedge called back on his ROC radio for water
and more tow ropes.
A friend of mine drove out in his Jeep to help us…and proceed to separate one
of his tires from the rim as he drove through a ditch from the south. Wedge
called back for more help and Gatorade. I started to help change the tire
on Mike’s Jeep, as Matt laid out towlines and Dok was dodging snakes and
Wedge was calling in for a samwich. Finally Steve and Andy T. showed up in a
4WD truck as Wedge was about to call in for air support. We got Dok’s truck
on the road with the rocket in back, the tire changed on the Jeep, and Matt’s
truck unstuck but somehow misplaced my FRS radio in the process. Total time:
one hour and ten minutes to recover from a 10 minute flight.
To answer the original question, how many ROC members does it take to recover
a rocket? At least 7, if some of them are BOD members. (Richard, were you
out there too? Did I miss anybody else who helped?) To paraphrase a title,
“it takes a rocket club to certify Level 3”. “Thanks for all your help,
guys, I couldn’t have done it without you!”
Chris Kobel
TRA Level 3 !!!!!