July 15, 2023, Launch in Acton; We Hit a Milestone!
- Details
- Published: Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:26
- Written by Claude Maina
The weather predictions were not looking good, even the morning of the launch. But we should know better by now. It was partly sunny most of the day, temps in the 80's with mild to moderate winds blowing toward Route 2. But the rains never came.
We had another busy day with 277 flights with a motor range from 13mm A up to G. We did have a couple of CATO's (one being mine) and a couple of rockets that landed in the trees, and one on the power lines. We had four competition flights, all by Stephen Maire. Richard Pelle had much more success this time launching his water-powered rocket. The flights were all good, but I would describe the recoveries as 'belly-flop' recovery. Bruce Strong had much more success with his Eiffel Tower. But no dragons this launch! We miss the dragons! Ray DiPaola of FlisKits was there with kits to sell and prototyping a new set of 18 mm motor kits - subatomic particle series. There was Z-Boson, W-Boson, Gluon, Tachyon, Muon and Higgs Boson that I saw. All were pretty neat and flew well. We had a sesveral drag races as well. The nicest-rocket drag race would go to Mike Lehmann and Daniel Shea with two really 
neat Mercury Redstones. They both won!
A big thank you to the three vendors at the field, Wildman CT, Happy Chutes and FlisKits. We really appreciate them making the trek to Acton and hope they return!
OK, so what's the milestone. We surpassed 1000 flights for the season. Flight 277 was actually number 1065 for the season so far. Which means - Flight 212 was flight 1000! So who is the lucky winner with Launch Card 212? - Rick Hobbs!! Congratulations Rick! For launching flight 1000 you and a guest will be spending a fabulous, all expense paid, week at the luxurious Honolulu Hilton on the beautiful island of Oahu! And Rick, you and your guest will be getting there in style with first class tickets on American Airlines! To claim your prize, contact any CMASS officer. Some restrictions may apply.*
Acknowledgements to Kenn, Guy, Matt, Linda, Scott, Tony, Ed, John P. and everyone else that helped with set-up, take-down and food sales. Pictures are in the Gallery. Please post yours. Our next launch is Aug 12th in Acton.
*Not valid in the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii.
The Cricketeers were back on the field when members arrived to set up; but they left the field with no issue. It was overcast throughout the day with some showers in the afternoon that temporarily stopped launching with temps in the 70's and for the most part a moderate breeze. Even with the stoppage and no Scout Troops we still got in 210 flights. The trend is definitely moving up.
V, Bruce S, Rob C). We also had a six Mega Mosquito Drag Race. I don't know who won, but Deb lost as hers did not leave the pad on the first try. Some other notable launches were Bruce Strong's Eiffel Tower; a really nice Pink Crayon (Jim Salem); Scott Clement's Asta; my own tribute to Timothy Leary; and over 18-rated Dude Clone. We did have two horizontal flights; Rod Thomas's Mini Wallace & Gromit and Bruce Strong's Der Bronze Max both went a little squirrelly. And finally, the first launch of the day was an Alpha. I don't know how often that happens, but I find it strangely significant. Now if Estes would only make an Omega...
