Rio Rancho Launch, January 10th 2009

It turned out to be a fairly descent day to launch rockets in January. Congratulations to Bob Finch for successfully completing his L2 NAR Certification flight with his completely bolt together rocket. He successfully flew it on an Aerotech J350. Bob is moving up quickly in the level of certifications. He already has plans for his L3! The wind was a little bit of a factor later on in the day but overall wasn't too big of an issue. It was a small turnout due to it just being January and a bit cold. Even with the small turnout it was a very large motor turnout with three J flights and one K flight. A lot of launches with a high turnout won't launch these size motors. Tony Jaramillo had the most flights of any flier with a total of three. Tony's total included one H128, one J350, and one K700. That's a pretty nice set of flights for any launch. Tony's altitudes were also noted as 2500.00 feet, 5287.100 feet, and 8102.684 feet respectfully. Tony has not reported back to the actual altitude so we will just have to assume that he was able to guess pretty close. One of the most spectacular flights of the day went to Tony Lazzaro with his Estes D-Region Tomahawk on a CTI J410. The Tomahawk screamed to an altitude of 10420 and only suffered minor damage to the fins but considering it pulled 70+ G's it is amazaing that even held together! The "Tomahawk Challenge" contest is only getting heated up and we are sure to see more flights that really push the envelope! If anybody would like to get involved with this contest and would like to purchase a kit please contact Bill Beggs.

Motor breakout was:

Rio Rancho Launch, February 14th 2009

Once again, another great day for a rocket launch. The weather was in the mid 50's and not a cloud in the sky for most of the day. The winds did pick up later in the day but overall it was a really nice day to fly rockets. In total there were 34 flights with motors ranging from A to K. Congratulations to Steve Rowan for his successful L1 flight. He was able to successfully fly and recover his LOC/Precision Hyperloc 835 on a CTI H225. We had two great cluster flights which included Nathan Dalrymple's "Chile" on three CTI J240's and three Roadrunner G80's and Bill Beggs' "Fintastic using three AMW ProX I540 motors which propelled his 20 pound rocket up to 3825 feet. Bill also flew his Tethys on an Aerotech K185 for a flight that literally went clean out of sight. The rocket attained an altitude of 13,120 feet which is the highest altitude of the year.

Motor breakout was:

Rio Rancho Launch, May 9th 2009

Another great day for a rocket launch. The weather was in the mid 80's and pretty clear. The winds did gust at times but, as usual, but overal a really nice day to fly rockets. In total there were 25 flights with motors ranging from A to L. The big flights of the day included Jason Sievert's Tomahawk on a G115 which flew to 3,409', John Currens' "Aunt Jerry Mach II on an L1300, and Nathan Dalrymple's "Merlin" on an L900. Bill Beggs also flew his "Warmonger" on a Ratt J160 which had some dificulty burning through the nylon fill tube which drastically changed the motor characteristics. The rocket attained an altitude of 306 feet on a J! The altimeter did work though and all the recovery was deployed.

Motor breakout was:

Rio Rancho Launch, July 11th 2009

Another perfect day for flying rockets. The weather was in the mid 90's and pretty clear. The winds were very calm early in the morning and then gusting later on. In total there were 13 flights with motors ranging from A to L. Comgratulations to Jim Jewell for his successful L1 flight with his PML Quazar on an Aerotech H123. The big flights of the day John Currens' "Miss Vicky" on an L1300 and Bill Beggs' "High Flyer 38" on a CTI I255R which cranked its way up to 9019'. This was also a test of Steve Rowan's modified GPS dog tracker. It worked fairly good and was able to get us within about 400 feet of the rocket which landed about a half mile away. The GPS was in a body tube but will probably work better if it is deployed with the recovery system to allow it to more easily acquire the satellite signal.

Motor breakout was:

Rio Rancho Launch, August 8th 2009

Once again, another great day for a rocket launch. The weather was in the mid 90's and pretty darn clear. The winds did gust at times but overall it was a really nice day to fly rockets. In total there were 24 flights with motors ranging from A to J. Congratulations to Jim Jewell for his successful L2 flight. He was able to successfully fly and recover his PML Quazar on an Aerotech J90. The motor burned for a long time and was expected to do around a mile in altitude. Also, welcome our newest younger member Alex Burd and his family. Alex has been flying with us for a while and has a lot of potential in moving up to the big rockets.

Motor breakout was:

Rio Rancho Launch, December 12th 2009

Another pretty good day for launching rockets in December. The winds were calm and the temps were in the low 30's early and warmed up to the upper 40's by mid day. In total there were 30 flights with motors ranging from the A to I implulse range. One of the most spectacular flights of the day went to Nathan Dalrymple and his BSD Horizon on an I297 Skidmark. Lots of noise and lots of sparks. Marc Bonem, one of our newest members had six flghts which included conventional rockets an gliders. Bill Beggs did a memorial flight for Dennis Floyd who recently passed away. The flight consisted of a Giant Leap Elipse and an Aerotech I245G. Dennis always enjoyed the green motors. Dennis was a past ARS club member and will be missed by a great many rocketeers. Gods speed Dennis. Our frequent flier of the day award goes out to Max Lucas. He had a grand total of 9 flights.

Thanks to everyone that was involved with launching rockets this past year and I hope we are able to launch much more in 2010!

Motor breakout was: