It was
Father’s Day weekend and Ben wanted to fly some rockets with me. We
woke early and threw some rockets into the Highlander before making our
journey across the Bay Bridge ahead of the beach traffic. We enjoyed a
nice leisurely breakfast at Hollys’ in Grasonville. We then killed some
time at a local hardware store and browsed through some of the hidden
antique shops before it was time to head to the Central Sod Farm.
The weather at the sod farm was warm and sunny with some cooling and
relaxing breezes. The large diesel engine clanked in the distance as it
pumped water to the various sod fields. We made quick work of setting
up the launch field and then Ben and I headed to Higgs Farm to help
unload some potential rocket building materials. We ate our packed
lunches from Subway upon our return and then started to prepare our
rockets.
I had already done most of my prepping to
Shaken, Not Stirred
at home but still had to fluff some parachutes and ensure all the
shrouds were attached. I was still missing the Q-CAM so there were no
onboard video to worry about. Being a Southern Maryland boy, I knew I
did not want to walk through the almost waist high corn field to
retrieve my rocket so I adjusted the launch rod angle accordingly and
armed the electronics.
Shaken, Not Stirred
smoked off the launch pad at the conclusion of the countdown on its
35th flight with the
slightly intended arc into the wind.
Shaken, Not Stirred
arced over at 1,240 feet where the drogue successfully deployed. The
mains were successfully ejected and deployed at 400 feet where the
rocket came to rest very close by, almost hitting the LCO’s truck. The
LCO was thoroughly impressed with
Shaken, Not Stirred’s
flight and awarded it a record breaking 17 “nices”.
Count Shaken, Not Stirred’s
“nices” here.
Not to be outdone, Ben dusted off and prepared his
Warp Drive.
Warp Drive has
not seen flight for over two years. Ben prepared an Aerotech F52-8 for
propulsion and soon had
Warp Drive on
the pad. After waiting through a faulty igniter problem,
Warp Drive
finally achieved liftoff and soon disappeared into the yonder. It was
soon sighted descending under chute before it came to rest in the soft
sod.
Warp Drive
almost hit the LCO’s truck as well.
See Warp Drive’s
return to flight status here.
Warp Drive was our last flight for the day. We helped with the launch
and filmed some other flights. We visited the vendors where we managed
to purchased some difficult to obtain Loki H144 reloads and a number 22
nozzle for Toni, since I broke her other one which had grounded Toni’s
Sally Ride. We relaxed in the shade of our camp before it was time to
leave. As I walked over to make a pit stop, I found another arrow head
in excellent shape. This simple arrowhead provided an excellent ending
to an excellent day. Happy Father’s Day goes out to all those that are
lucky enough to be a father and have a father. Until next launch . . .