Launch Report – 11th January 2009

  A slight breeze did try to build at 7:00am but it subsided again by 9:30am.  The thin cloud cover burned off throughout the morning as the temperature steadily climbed to 28 degrees.

The rockets started firing around 7:30am and launches continued at a steady pace from five separate launch pads until noon.  Trevor Beach recently completed construction of the club’s new 8-channel launch controller and brought it along for its first live test.  It performed faultlessly, even under the demands of clustered motors and a drag race.  Excellent work Trevor!

There were a total of 65 launches made by 55 different rockets.  Almost half of them (24 to be precise) were maiden flights.  That was probably due to the windy weather in previous months and the extra time we had over the Christmas holidays to build rockets.  Twelve (12) of the rockets launched on Sunday were scratch designs.  The motor statistics are shown bellow: Approximately 30 people attended the launch day of which there were 17 people actually flying rockets.  Two new members also signed-up with the club at the launch.  Welcome aboard Ken and Wayne!

Three (3) club members attempted their Tripoli Rocketry Association Level-1 High-power certifications with H-class motors and all three were successful.  Congratulations guys!  Now you can start studying and building for your Level-2 certifications.  The QRS now has 7 members certified up to Level-1 and 4 members certified up to Level-2.

We would like to thank the members who volunteered their time and effort to the make it a fantastic day of rocketry fun.

The next QRS launch day will be held on Sunday 8th February.  This will be another member’s only launch day.  The next big public launch day will be on Sunday 8th March.