14 May 2005, Lucerne Dry Lake - First Launch Attempt
The first attempt.... The venue was the May 2005 ROC monthly launch at Lucerne Dry Lake. Although not a ROC-Stock, the launch was well attended, and lots of friends showed up to see the WAC fly. Unfortunately, as the day dawned, a number of unforeseen events started to stack up, which would ultimately lead to a disappointing day. While I'd been hoping that Ron McGough's new launch trailer with the 20 foot rail would be finished in time for the launch, alas it was not to be. However the club's heavy-duty 12 foot rail should be adequate as long as the wind doesn't pick up too much.
The next surprise was that my L3CC Greg Lawson was unable to make it to the launch this month. At first, it looked like I would be out of luck in trying for a cert attempt, until it was pointed out that our regular vendor, Andy Woerner of What's Up Hobbies is also a NAR L3CC, and in attendance. Although Andy had not previously seen any of my documentation and was busy trying to run his business, he graciously agreed to check over my project for flight. Andy had some different preferences for how I handled my electronics wiring, so some last-minute modifications needed to be made. I managed to borrow some power tools that allowed me to make the changes. Meanwhile however, the clock was ticking as the best flying hours of the days were slipping by, and the spectators were growing restless. Although the stress was building, it seemed like nothing serious stood in the way of pressing on for an afternoon flight.
Once the rocket was all buttoned up, prepped and approved for flight, we carried it out to the pad. Installation of the igniter and Hypertek fill stem went fairly smoothly, and finally we were ready for the final countdown. At this point I was way too hyped up to fully appreciate what was going on, but when the count reached zero and the rocket started to lift, it seemed like we were under way. Unfortunately, the light and sound were missing... just the loud hiss of 5500 cc's of escaping nitrous oxide. The motor had started to light and then extinguished. (After much post-launch debate and theorizing about the cause, we finally decided that I had not installed the igniter wires in close enough contact with the grain walls. Live and learn.) The rocket rose a couple of feet but then settled back down on the pad, fortunately without damage.
There would not be a flight today. Besides the time it would take to recycle for a new launch attempt, the motor grain had just been flash-frozen by a full tank load of nitrous; the possibility of fracture and catastrophic failure on a re-launch would be too great. I'll need to buy and new grain and rebuild the motor for a fresh launch attempt next month. Well... nobody promised that this would be easy!
Select the thumbnails below for detailed images.
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