May 11, 2024, Launch in Acton; What Wind; Such Crowd
- Details
- Published: Thursday, 30 May 2024 19:27
- Written by Claude Maina
It was another very cloudy and windy day with the wind blowing toward the trees for most of the day. But that didn't hinder either the attendance or the flying. Cars were parked all along the field on School Street. I have never seen that before! There were two scout troops, Pack 3104 and Pack 39 but that was only part of it. There were a lot of people and flights. XXXX to be exact and that with shutting down the launch at 3:00 due to the wind and lack of flyers by that time. The motors ranged from MicroMaxx to G80. We had three competition flights; all by Stephen Maire. I'm sure the strong wind had something to do with the low number of competition flights. But we can't have Stephen carry the load for all of the competition flights! We need more people competing at the next launch. I counted four CATO's (fortunately none were mine this time). There were no motor vendors but 
happily Happy Chutes was! We saw the return of the Mandalorian and if I remember correctly, it had somewhat of a hard landing. Bruce Strong flew is Demistasinator and very diminutive Deuces Wild. The highlight of the day though was a 7-way Mega Mosquito Drag Race. All went up but unfortunately we didn't get all of them back.
Thanks to Kenn, Guy, Bruce, Matt, Linda, Harry, Joe Robertson, and everyone else who helped out with food, set up and take down. Pictures are in the Gallery. Please post yours.
Our next launch is June 22 in Acton. Let's hope for less wind!
We all know that old joke (at least if you are of a certain age).
beyond Whitehall Road, and I believe at least one other rocket landed in the trees. We had six CATO's that I counted. One was an Estes F15-4 as part of a three motor cluster for my 'Are You Experienced'. That is the first time I've seen an F15 CATO. Luckily there was only minor damage. The six does not include an actual Estes CATO rocket flown by Bailey Sostek. They're fun to see. There were six competition flights; all by Stephen Maire. Unfortunately it was a little too windy for any successful flights. There were no motor vendors at the launch but Happy Chutes was there. If you haven't yet stopped by their table, do so the next time. His chutes are really well made. Bruce Strong was busy over the winter months arriving with at least one new creation, his Terror-Dactyl (not a name that inspires confidence for the RSO). Jeremy Herman flew his Falcon Heavy and Starship Super Heavy, successfully as usual. The largest rocket with the largest motor of the day was Joshua Drummand's Jupiter 3 Lite flown on an Aerotech J435W. It was big and loud and a neat flight.
