December 2014 Launch Report

Temperature was a pleasant 26°C with some gusting breezes.  There were 24 launches for the day, including a number of low power staged rockets.  It was pleasant conditions for launching.

There were a number of visitors attending for the first time and Petar was kept busy explaining the wonders of the hobby to them.  Jeremy was one of the first timers but brought along his home-made water rockets and launch kits.  This was interesting for many of the members as they had never seen water rockets launch before.  He had one successful flight and promises to be back.

Andrew launched his Torrent on a J270 and gained his level 2 certification.  It was a perfect launch and recovery – well done, Andrew.  Nic launched his TCMAC on a G80 motor but it ‘disappeared’ after the launch (an malfunctioning GPS tracker didn’t help).  An hour or so later ‘hawkeye’ Warren discovered it about a kilometre away and returned it to a grateful owner.

The largest motor used was a J335 in Larry’s Mongoose.  It lifted to 4,500ft.

It was pleasing to see so many junior rocketeers successfully launching their home made and kit creations

We welcomed first-timer Adam who launched his two stage Air Commander a number of times.

November 2014 Launch Report

The November launch was conducted under clear blue skies with no wind and temperature around reaching 30°C. It was perfect launch conditions.

There were 37 launches from B to I power motors including one two-stage and one cluster launch.

Miranda launched her Blue Jay in celebration of her recent 11th birthday.  Warren launched his scratchbuilt ‘soda-bottle’ rocket Screaming Soda on an E22 to 550ft.  The first flight suffered early separation as the heavy nose cone self-ejected at motor burn-out.  After a little modifications, the second flight proved to be perfect.

Sarah returned from her university studies to launch a few rockets.  She launched her Flyin Lion only to find it land in the highest part of a tree and could not be retrieved

Thomas gave his Superbird a work out with six launches on C motors.  Andrew launched his first dual deploy rocket.  Everything went perfectly.  Nicely done, Andrew.

There were many visitors and Ari, Blake and Warren were kept busy explaining the wonders of the hobby to them.

October 2014 Launch Report

We had great weather for our October Skies launch.  Little wind, some cloud cover and about 25°C.

After all the publicity we were able to muster for this launch, not just radio interviews but number of newspaper articles, the crowds were smaller than expected for our advertised launches – we estimate about 150 people.  They participated in the raffle, devoured the sausage sizzle and generally enjoyed the day.

But the good news was the quality of launches was brilliant and the crowd loved it.  There were 50 launches for the morning.

Dean launched his Darkstar on L power motor to 4,500ft.  It was a spectacular launch and the recovery was perfect.  Larry launched his Gemini on twin H118 motors.  He then launched his 7½” diameter V2 rocket to 2,740ft.  The Niejalke family members all seemed to launch a rocket each.  Bruce’s Quicksilver lifted off on a Vmax motor.  The burn time was very short but it reached apogee in a very short time.

Warren was busy all morning conducting the Southern Cross Rocketry Fly-it, Take-it program for budding young rocketeers.   Thirteen youngsters prepared and launched their Junior rockets.  This was their first foray into rocketry.  The inaugural program proved very successful.  There were many happy young rocketeers around that day.  Well done, Warren and thanks to Southern Cross Rocketry for the rockets and motors.

Two presentations took place during the morning.  The first involved the awarding of honorary membership to Councillor Trevina Schwarz and local farmer Michael Christoffel and family for their continuous support of QRS activities.  The second was to 15 QRS members who were awarded QRS lapel pins for five year membership.

It was truly a great day of rocketry combined with great weather and enthusiastic crowd.

A special thank you goes to all volunteers as without your help events like this will not happen.

September 2014 Launch Report

Temperature was a pleasant 19°C with no rain and little wind. There were some distant fog patches snaking around the mountain ranges and a hot air balloon landed in a field close by.  It was a great day for launching.

The day actually started slowly but within couple of hours there were around 30 cars at our launch site.  There were 20 launches for the day including one cluster.

New members, Andrew had a successful launch of his Torrent on a G60 even with a late parachute deployment.  New member Thomas gave his Farside rocket a good run by launching it six times on C motors.

Glen had good results with his unusual looking scratch-built Orion and Viper rockets on B motors.  Oliver finally got his Tardis into the air on a D21 after a few false starts with a dodgy Copperhead igniter.

Jeff’s Callisto and George’s Red Dog were launched with nosecone-mounted BRB 900 trackers to gain some experience with the device.  Phil launched his Explorer to 2000 feet with a H133 motor.  Ole also used a Callisto for his launch with a H163 for a text book launch.  His Danish support team were there to undertake retrieval duties.

Matt launched his LOC Viper 3 with 3x E20-7W motors for a real nice launch and recovery even with a bit of a "cork screw" in the boost phase.

Warren’s D Region Tomahawk lifted doff on a J400SS and was the largest motor launched for the day.  It went straight as an arrow and dual deploy worked as it should.

Next launch is our annual OCTOBER SKIES open day launch.  It is the premier launch event on the calendar.  We hope to have as many members present launching their special rockets.

August 2014 Launch Report

After a few days of solid rain in South East Queensland, it eased up enough for us to conduct the launch.  There were blue skies with lots of cloud around and some gusting breezes but not enough to slow down the launch program (the ground was wet but the sky was fine).  The wet weather did, however, keep many away.

This was the first members' launch back at the LA2 site for some months.  It was good to be back.

There were 19 launches, mainly LPR.  The largest motor launched was a H110.

Jeff spent time in the recently plowed nearby corn field searching for his AMRAAM 3 gaining in height as the sticky dirt built up under his shoes.  Warren tested out his GPS tracking device in his Callisto.  Blake launched his SCR Junior on a D21 winning the fastest-off-the-rail award.  Larry gave his Tiny Pterodactyl a workout with three launches on different F and G motors.  Matt launched his cluster Viper III on three E12 motors.  Andrew pushed his Weasel and Rapier rockets along on F motors.

Looking forward to seeing  everyone back for the September launch.

July 2014 Launch Report

The July launch was conducted at the alternate site thanks to kind permission of farmer Michael.  It was a crisp 4°C at the start of the day but we had clear blue skies with some minor wind gusts.  Today gave us another opportunity to show many new visitors what rocketry is all about.  Many kids from the audience got to push the launch button and that is always exciting for them.

The number of visitors was pleasing and two new members signed up.  A number of rocketeers were at the launch conducting trial runs for the August AYRC.

There were 43 launches from A to K power motors including one two-stage launch.  Matt launched his 3D printed rocket called 3D Dominator on a C6-5.  It was a little unstable but very entertaining.  He intends to improve the design and get it successful.  He then backed it up with the launch of the Extreme Wildman which lifted to 3,000ft on a K2045.

A number of rockets found their way into the unfriendly corn field but, thankfully, all were retrieved.

Tristan’s Skylofter launch card stated that he was “flying a lego man to the moon”.

Congratulations to Ole and Ivan who both achieved their Level 1 AMRS certification with their Callisto rockets.

May 2014 Launch Report

The morning broke with mild temperatures, scattered clouds and threatening showers but we experienced fine, windless conditions for the entire launch program.

We utilised our secondary launch site again thanks to the generosity of farmer Michael.  It was green from recent plantings and was perfectly flat - great for recoveries.

The day started with local rural fire service providing a short instruction on first-response fire fighting.  This was well received with a number of members attending.  This is part of the continuing program to ensure safe launch procedures.

It was a relatively quiet morning with 17 launches, mainly LPR.  Great to see so many visitors attend .  Warren and Matt entertained the crowd with the launch of their 'I' motor sparky rockets.

Mark launched his Hi Flyer, the smallest rocket of the day on an A8 motor.  Unfortunately it descended  into a tree and remains there.  Ole launched his Callisto on its maiden flight.  It had a great flight but landed some distance away.  His whole family were there to give him some Danish celebratory cheer.  George went for a long walk through the cow paddocks to retrieve it.

The launch of Matt's Flying Dutchman was his first using the dual-deploy recovery system.  It performed perfectly - well done Matt!

Jack gave his Speed Freak a work-out by launching it several times on 'C' motors.

April 2014 Launch Report

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Launch day was cloudy throughout but there was little wind and the temperature was a pleasant 25 degrees (or thereabouts).  We conducted the launch at farmer Michael's recently plowed field (just up the road from our normal site).  Michael has been a great supporter of the QRS.  Whilst the ground was a little rough, the field was huge and perfectly flat with no trees to content with.
We started the day with a meeting for the members to discuss a number of issues and then got down to business.We had a nice turn up for a small launch and special visitor all the way from Ingham, Mario with some of his friends.  It was great to meet Mario and he was going for his L1 certification launch.  The launch was nice and straight with perfect deployment.  Unfortunately the rocket suffered a cracked fin. Better luck at your next attempt, Mario.

There were 27 rockets launched with a number of new members taking advantage of the great launch conditions.

It was great to see Mike ('wingnut' on the forum) again.  He had a busy morning prepping his own rocket and those of his daughter, nephews and brother-in-law.  The whole family had a great morning of launching.

You can catch Mike's video of his 4" Thor flight on forum.  It was the largest motor rocket launched on the day.

Caelum's rocket unfortunately made a bee-line for the dreaded corn field and took some finding.

Bruce launched his Apogee glider.  This is an unusual rocket that turns into a glider for the recovery stage.  They are small rockets made from balsa wood but take some skill to construct and balance.  It performed well.

We packed up at around midday just in time for the rain to start - perfect timing!