[Rockets] April 10 Wilsonville Memorial Park Launch Report

[Keith Packard]

Beautiful weather today! No rain at all, and even occasional glare from
the sun through the clouds. Fortunately, a large crowd ignored the dire
weather predictions and came to fly rockets. We had several families, a
cub-scout pack and a nice group of teenagers, along with quite the OROC
showing.

        Launches:               42
        Successful flights:     35
        Flyers:                 18
        Rockets:                26
        Most Flights:           8 John Lyngdall
        Biggest Motor:          D12-7 Tim Ryerse

We were busy for two solid hours, running 13 racks off the rods. A few
recovery failures this month -- five little rockets separated at
apogee. We also had a C motor CATO, reminding us all to keep behind the
flight line during launch operations.

The wind was gusty at times, but we didn't lose a single rocket to the
trees. Most of the smaller airframes were sporting streamers instead of
chutes, which seems to be the best plan for this field.

I'd like to thank Cub Scout pack 413 for coming this month. They had a
couple of airframes which flew quite well. This group clearly specializes
in rapid airframe recovery -- I've never seen our adult members traverse
the park with that much speed. They also got a brief lesson in recovery
system preparation and I'd like to think that helped with their 100%
successful flight rate today.

John Lyngdall helped me test some new electronics today, which was
greatly appreciated. And, while I was prepping airframes, Tim Ryerse
ran the RSO/LCO table. Thanks much to both of them; I wouldn't have
gotten four test flights in without their help.

And, thanks to John, Tim, Mary Anne and Bob Welsh for help setting up
and take down the range today -- we had two pop-ups staked down with dog
screws in case it rained, and (of course) didn't turn out to need them
at all.

Thanks to everyone who came, I hope you had as much fun as I did today.

The Memorial Park schedule for the rest of the year is:

    * May 8, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch
    * June 12, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch
    * July 10, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch
    * August 14, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch
    * October 9, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch
    * November 13, Sunday 2pm to 5pm, Public Launch

Hope to see you next month!

-keith
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