Sport Rocketry

SPORT ROCKETRY MAY/JUNE 2017 49 JOIN THE LARGEST MODEL ROCKETRY ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA TODAY! 1 ■ 1,000's of rocketry enthusiasts across the country that will help YOU become a better flier. ■ Electrifying Clubs—rocketry taught as a educational, safe, hobby. ■ Every member receives the NAR Member Guidebook—a great way to get started in rocketry. ■ Save hundreds of dollars by using the Vendor Coupons each NAR member receives. VISIT WWW.NAR.ORG TO BECOME A MEMBER TODAY! NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROCKETRY by Steve Jurvetson Custom Composites Need a cardboard tube glassed? How about a Phenolic tube wrapped in carbon? Or something more exotic like a solid composite layup. ...Come see what's possible... www.amwprox.com 978-766-9271 Last spring I decide to outdo my dad and upgraded my license to General. Now with access to the Amateur radio frequencies we can use directional signal transmitters or GPS beacon transmitters to track down our model rockets. After passing my HPR Level Two Certi- fication on my fifth try, I logically decided that it was time to make a big level three rocket. This project I have been thinking about building since we first started look- ing at high power rockets back in 2012. Now I just had to wait for a sale to get the right price and approval from my wife. Along came the Wildman Black Saturday sale I was looking for in the fall of 2014. With mostly everything I needed for the project ordered, it was a waiting game for the items to ship out. It took a few months for two boxes to show up at my doorstep and it was finally Christmas at my house. I carefully hauled the boxes over to my dad's workshop. I got everything unboxed and it was bigger than I thought it would be. Once everything sorted out and checked off the packing slip it was bath time for the fiberglass. Over the next year I would stop in every now and then and slowly work the rocket. Then the time came to prepare to fly, but before I could I had to have the para- chute deployments ground tested. Once that was done it was time for paint. I asked my wife what color I should paint the rocket. I told her it can't be blue, white, or green as those colors are hard to find in the sky or in the grass. She jokingly re- plied with pink. "Pink it is!" I told her. You see, "happy wife, happy life," and maybe I can buy another rocket when this proj- ect is done. It took a few weeks to get the primer done, then I let it set for a week. Then I laid down several coats of pink and let it set for a week. Then I added black to the fins and some strips on the airframe to make it pop. With a few hours in to wiring up the deployment controllers and GPS tracker installed in the rocket, it was one step closer to the air. The weekend before the main planned flight I spent some time building the M1830 motor. It took a bit to get it together, but after it was assembled and packed for the trip, everything was ready for the big flight day. My wife and I started the rocket week- end a day early and went down Friday night. This way we didn't have to make the five-hour drive down the morning of launch day and add to the stress of get- ting the "Big Sammie" in the air. Saturday morning, on our way to the field, I sort of missed a turn and we took the long way to the field. We also had a problem with the cargo in the van moving during an emer- gency stop. My parents drove down that morning to join us at the field at Michiana Rocketry in Three Oaks. When we finally got to the field, I did help the guys at the club get a few things set up. The big question when we got there… would we be able to launch my rocket to 6,800 feet? The problem was the cloud ceiling wasn't very high and with no wind at all, the clouds were not moving. Around noon, after waiting a few hours and check- ing the aircraft ceiling weather reports and flying some test rockets, I made the call to scrub the launch for the day and try Mus- kegon on Sunday. My dad, on the other hand, had no problem staying under the cloud ceiling, so he sent up two rockets on sparky loads. After my dad was done shooting off his rockets and we were all sufficiently cold and hungry, we took off to the restaurant and then checked back in to the hotel to rest up for Sunday. Sunday morning came around, we en- joyed the hot breakfast at the hotel and then we were wheels up and on our way to the MMAR/SMASH field in Muskegon to prepare for the afternoon launch time. It was 40°, sunny and clear skies, so as soon as we pulled in I checked in and paid my launch fees. After registration was com- plete, I started prepping my rocket for flight. Two hours of work and it was ready for the pad. Completing a quick check again through my checklist paperwork and I was good to go. So, I was off to get Rob who was the RSO for the day and my L3CC person to do the final inspection. Ev- erything checked out fine. It was off to the pad to launch for Big Sammie. With some assistance getting the rocket out to the pad

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