Amazing rocketry launch weather, no wind and a cloudless blue sky that made tracking easy, the sort of day that makes winter worthwhile. We thought initially it would be a quiet morning with only a hand full of die-hard members setting up. But by 9 am, a steady stream of cars began arriving turning it into a fairly full-on morning with a total of 38 launches. At one stage we had 10 rockets on the pads waiting to launch.

It was great to see several families returning for their second launch as part of Southern Cross Rocketry's "Fly It, Take It" program held at last month's public launch. At least a couple indicated they would be back to join the club.

Lachlan started the day with the spectacular launch of his scratch built, "Buckshot 7", a cluster rocket powered by seven C6-5 motors. While not flying particularly high at 1100 feet, the flash pan/black powder ignition produced lots of smoke, the rocket and launch rail being totally obscured at lift off and emerging from the cloud on multiple flame columns. Cool flight!

There were 11 High Power flights for the day, all H and I motors. These included three L1 attempts. Father and son team James and Craig launched an AMRAAM 2 on an H54 to 2100 feet for a successful L1 certification. Congratulations! Our unsuccessful members will both be back next month for another attempt.

There were only four Medium Power flights this launch, Low Power launches making up the numbers with 23 launches. Perhaps because of the lack of wind, there were numerous flights that landed within 30 meters of the pads. Even the higher altitude flights didn't cause long retrieval walks although Warren did end up in a tree on the other side of the road!

Yet another fantastic day launching rockets!

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