What a magnificent day it was today at our "Flames, Smoke & Noise" Spectacular launch! We could not have asked for more perfect conditions with next to no clouds, cool dense air and absolutely no wind until almost lunch time. Conditions were so perfect for flying in fact when we arrived on site to setup there were EIGHT hot air balloons aloft! We’ve not seen that many up before.

There were large numbers of public in attendance with vehicles lining both sides of our access track all the way out to the gate as well as down the side of the road, and with 108 launches for the day, the many members that attended did not fail to entertain!

The Fly it Take it program was once again a big hit with all 50 rockets selling out quick and there was a good spread of motor sizes for the day with 50xA, 5xB, 24xC, 8xD, 1xE, 3xF, 10xG, 2xH, 4xI, 2xJ, 2xK and 1xM. The largest motor for the day was Ari Piirainen’s “Oz Thunder” on an M1500 Mojave Green to 4500 feet and the smallest motor for the day (excluding the 50 FITI) was actually a draw between five members with B6-4’s.

Jim Lawes launched his “Katana 3” on a J357 Blue Streak for a picture-perfect Level 2 certification flight. Well done Jim!
Thanks to Australian Rocketry for kindly donating a “MFR Model Rocket Set” that was raffled off and won by lucky spectators Gia and Hugo, their dad will soon become a rocket scientist helping them assemble it.

Phil and Julie were surprised when they were called up to LCO table and presented a plaque each in appreciation of their continued support to the Queensland Rocketry Society. Congratulations Phil and Julie and thank you!

Thank you to all members for ‘showing up and showing off’ and making todays launch a fantastic success! Also a big thank you to those members that tirelessly worked behind the scenes at the gate, on the barbeque, manning the FITI stand, running the raffle and those that arrived early to help setup and remained behind to help pack up.

See you all next launch!

Despite very wet conditions with intermittent rain all morning, we had over a dozen members in attendance along with a small handful of spectators and it turned out to be a good day for rocketry with 31 launches for the morning.

Due to the low cloud cover and healthy winds it was predominately a LPR day with motors being — 9xA, 4xB, 7xC, 4xD, 1xE, 3xG, 2xH and 1xI.

Mark O’Donoghue launched a small fleet of spectacular shaped odd rockets including a conventional flying saucer shape, various cubes, a pyramid, a pentagon, a shuttle cock and even a toilet paper roll.

Mark Johannessen's “Big Daddy” suffered a spectacular motor CATO on an Estes E9-6 before even clearing the rod, luckily the rocket appears undamaged and will fly again!

Smallest motor for the day was Mark O’Donoghue’s “Cubit” on a 1/2 A3-4 and the largest for the day Jim Lawes’ “Katana 3” on an I303 Blue Streak.

Thanks to members who attended and helped setup / pack up despite the weather.

What an incredible day it was today at the launch. There was "pea soup" type of fog all night and also in the morning but as I left my home on the south side of Brisbane the fog was lifting fast.

By the time I got to half way to the launch site there was fog again and same at the launch site. We could only launch LPR till about 10am due to it and finally it cleared .

Amazingly also for so called club launch, we had around 100 people present. Two Scout groups came with parents and many other visitors. The quiet launch turned out to be real busy. There were many new members join on the day. 😀

Awesome day of rocketry indeed and LPR launch count must be fairly high.

A small but enthusiastic rocketry crowd was greeted with perfect weather for launching rockets at QRS today with clear skies and little wind. Although numbers were small, launching started late and was consistent throughout the entire morning. A number of specatators also enjoyed the launch and we had some new members join the club.

There was a total of 25 flights for the morning:

11 Low Power
6 Medium Power
8 High Power

Mark was again the most prolific launcher with eight flights ranging from 1/2A motors all the way up to an I280 Dark Matter in his Midnight Lightning rocket. Closely behind Mark was the tag team duo of Rob and Robbie with four flights: 3 HP and one D12 two stage rocket.

Congratulations to Rob for successfully achieving his L1 certification with his Small Endeavour flying on an H123 motor to 2400 ft.

Congratulations also to Patrick flying his Xiao Feng's Fury on an H135 to 1900 ft for his successful L1. Patrick was up from Sydney University and is planning on competing in the University Rocketry Challenge in the US later this year.

Other notable flights included Sarah's fantastically finished Dark Star on a G83 motor to 1100 ft and Saige's Crayon-sational Estes crayon rocket to 1000 ft on C power. The 'scalded cat' award for the day went to Matt and his Darkstar Mini on a 'blink and you'll miss it' F240 Vmax motor.

Largest motor of the day was Blake flying his Snot Rocket to 2600 ft on a J465 Green Tornado motor.

With fairly warm weather and little cloud cover the March advertised open day launch attracted a slightly smaller crowd than normal. Despite this there were still 62 launches for the morning including 29 launches with the increasingly popular Fly it, Take it program. Almost no wind until right before pack up provided ideal flying conditions.

Impulse ranges for the day were — 8 x A (+29 FITI), 2 x B, 4 x C, 5 x D, 2 x F, 4 x G, 6 x H, 2 x K. It was also good to see two clusters and three staged rockets.

Aldo Tummarello achieved his L1 certification with his rocket “Phobos”, flying on CTI H410 V Max. Well done Aldo.

Mark O'Donoghue was once again the most prolific launcher with 6 flights, also having both the smallest (A3-4) and largest motors (K675 SK) of the day.
Mike Ritter launched his unique single finned rocket “One Zee” on an Aerotech G-64 for a successful second flight.
Caelum Niejalke successfully launched his unique “X-Wing” in a new cluster setup with four B6-4 motors complimenting a central C6-5.

It was good to see students and teachers from two of our educational memberships, with five launches from Loganlea State High School and five launches from Lutheran Ormeau Rivers District School.

A big thanks to all of the volunteers who attended to help setup, pack up and operate the BBQ.

With the prospect of a very hot day, it was decided to start earlier and finish up around 11am. There was a great turn out and a few new member signups. There were 29 launches in total, consisting of mainly LPR/MPR motors.

James and Jack had a drag race with their AMRAAM2's on H410 V-Max motors which left the pad so fast it was declared a draw. Additionally, after a slight modification (aka removal of the canards), Jack's flight was also a successful L1 Certification. Well done Jack!

Warren tested out his new rocket 'Sky Burst' which loaded the sky with fluorescent pink and green streamers.

Caelum flew his X Wing on a D24 with a perfect boost flying dead straight to Apogee.

Adam's Callisto flew perfectly, but became 'hung up' requiring the assistance of Energex to recover.

Mark pulled out some old faithfuls, flying his Patriot and Big Daddy.

After a few years away, Aldo returned (last month) and was quickly back into it. This month he brought along a newly made Phobos flying on a G126 and an AMRAAM2 on a G250.

Father and daughter team Rod and Sarah, saw launches of Sarah's Flyin' Lion and Mystic on a G83. After a spectacular G80-13T motor CATO last launch, Rod had his Bull Puppy repaired and ready to fly again. Unfortunately it sustained some damage to the canards which made for a spectacular flight.

Blake managed three flights on a Fever, MFR and 'Green with Envy' on a H73 which has recently returned from the MARS launch in Victoria.

The QRS supplied water bottles were well received and as the temperature ventured into the high 30's a few of us managed a trip to the pub for some well earned drinks and lunch.

Wild conditions for the launch today with very high humidity at the launch site. There were clouds throughout the day with patches of blue sky. A small but hardy crowd turned up and enjoyed a continuous stream of launches throughout the morning.

The ceiling was never threatened with only four High Power launches, all H motors from: Rowland (Mini BBX), Riley ('You'll cean that up when you're finished': PML Intruder), Adam (Callisto) and Mark (Spitfire).

The remainder of the launches were: 9 Low Power (including two 2-stage launches) and 7 Mid Power (all G motors).

Highlights included: Sarah's Mystic flying to 1300 ft on a G80 skidmark, Aldo flying with the club again after 3 years away with a perfectly straight flight from his Cruise Missle on a G88 to 1500 ft, Matt's beautifully crafted X-Wing on a D21-7, Andrew's classic Alpha III on a B6-4 and Harry Potter's (aka Warren) Golden Snitch for multiple flights on B and C motors.

A fun launch day with a reasonable turn out for the last launch of the year. December launches are traditionally quieter but we still had 29 flights for the morning.

Interestingly, of the 14 Low Power launches, six were old hands breaking out their older rockets for some low power fun. Jeff flew his "Big Sharky" on a D12, Phil flew his "Eliminator" on a D12, Warren flew a "Junior" and an Alpha 3" on A8's and Matt flew his 25 year old "Optima" on a D12 and "Viper III" on a 3 motor D12 cluster. Sometimes, it's hard to beat the simplicity and quick prep time of a simple black powder rocket.

Biggest motor of the morning was Ole Kirk's rocket Tomahawk on a J337 to 4300 feet.

Jack Leat achieved his L1 on his rocket "Waka Atea" (Maori for space ship) on an H125 to 2800 feet. His initial attempt on ended badly when his his motor case burnt through causing a parachuteless landing. However, a field amputation of the damaged section allowed Jack to successfully try again with a slightly shorter rocket. Congratulations Jack.

Father and son, Rob and Robbie Newton were presented certificates for the completion of the "Lift Off" section of the "Blast Off" program. There were also another two trial flights for the morning, Bam Bam launched his "Big Green Frog" twice on B6's and Mahmood Nekooee launched his "Sand Storm" on a C6. Hopefully we will see these families back again.

A great end to the year, Merry Christmas to everyone.

Another great launch day, a slow start but ending up with 30 launches for the morning with 17 Low Power, 3 Medium Power, 6 High Power and and 4 water rocket launches.

Some of the highlights:

Warren's maiden flight of his retro "QRS Rocket" which was modeled on QRS's logo rocket. It had smoke canisters on the four fin tips which were air started at 50 feet once the central H225 had lifted the rocket off. These will be replaced by 4 motors once Warren has ironed the bugs out which should make for an interesting future flight.

Mark O'Donoghue also had a maiden flight of his new 6 foot tall, 8 inch diameter V2 called "War Rocket Ajax". It was a spectacular flight to 4500" with a 5 foot flame from the K675 Sparky.

Other interesting flights in the fast department were Ole's "Mini Hawk" flight on a J317 and Robbie Newtons "Cyclone" which flew on a F240 Vmax. The Vmax burn was so quick it was like a loud cough.

So, in spite of the ridiculous humidity from the recent storms, it was another great launch day.

A huge public launch day with launches continuing until after 1:00pm. The weather was perfect, the wind not picking up until late in the morning and the crowd didn't start thinning until lunch time with the final launch count finishing at 75.

Also a successful day for the Southern Cross Rocketry "Fly It, Take It" program with all 40 FITI rockets gone by 10:30am, Warren, Andrew & Phil flat chat dealing with junior rocketeers. Some bought more motors to fly again with total Low Power launches at 55 for the day.

The biggest launch of the day was David Bell's 1/2 scale Patriot Missile which flew on an M1830 to 4500 feet, a very spectacular flight made more so by again flying with "Lisa" who gave a real time commentary on speed, altitude, etc. Thanks for making the long trek up here again David.

There were also two K launches, Ari flew his "Intimidator 4" to 3500 feet on a K550, the motor kindly donated by Nic Lottering. Mark O'Donoghue also flew a K, his new rocket, "War Rocket Ajax" flying on a K675 to 4800 feet. There were also two J flights, two I flights and five H flights for a total of 12 high power launches.

There were also two successful certification flights during the morning. Ole Kirk achieved his Level 2 flying his "Hawk" to 3000 feet on a J285. Dex Fortescue attained his Level 1 flying a "Callisto"to 2500 feet on a H123. Congratulations to you both.

Probably the biggest advertised launch day we've had for a long while and based on positive feed back, enjoyed by everyone there.