One wouldn’t have thought that it was an overcast and rainy start to the morning, with conditions turning the complete opposite to blue skies and sunny during the first 30 minutes of proceedings.

36 rockets took to the skies on the following motors: 6xA, 7xB, 11xC, 3xD, 2xE, 2xF, 3xG, 1xH and 1xK.

Some notable flights include Stacey launching “The Big Pineapple” on a C6-5 to 1000ft. Phil launched his “Big Daddy” on an E22 to 1000ft from his fantastic vintage Aerotech launch pad. Mackenzie had a few good flights of “Bumble Bee” on C6-5 before it sadly spiraled out of control and struck the ground on its last launch.

Stacey and Jason brought two ex- Fly it-Take it rockets back, this time painted in fantastic liveries and named “Fred” and “Dave”. They were both launched with huge thrust margins on B6-4’s sending “Fred” to tickle the moon. Unfortunately, “Dave” took a turn (quite literally) and ‘came in hot’ on a perfectly horizontal trajectory.

Sebastian launched “Kim Jong Fun” on a D12-7 to 1200ft and Havana launched her “Rainbow Sparkles Unicorn-1” on a C6-5 to 700ft, two successful unique designs, well done guys.

What a fantastic day we had for our Flames, Smoke and Noise 2018 launch. Nice still conditions with light cloud clearing by 10am were ideal for building the 250-strong crowd up with some low powered rocketry before breaking out the big guns.

There was a whopping 145 flights in total, with 95 pyrotechnic launches and 50 water rocket launches. Motors for the day were a brilliant spread of all but L3 impulse (6x1/8A, 48xA, 5xB, 8xC, 7xD, 3xE, 2xF, 6xG, 4xH, 1xI, 1xJ, 3xK and 1xL).

Joseph Turner achieved his Level 2 Certification with a successful dual deployment flight of “March Fly” to 3740ft on a K940.

Aidan Clarke achieved his Level 1 Certification with a successful flight of “MK4 Rocket Propelled Companion Pod” reaching 2719ft on a H135. Congratulations to you both!

Proceedings were temporarily halted for a special announcement of QRS’ newest Honorary Member - Ole Kirk.
Ole was a much-loved member of QRS and his passion for rocketry was inspiring to everyone in the club. This passion was reflected in his determination to achieve his Level 2 Certification in HPR which he successfully accomplished in October 2016 flying "Hawk" to 3000ft.
Ole was entered onto the QRS Honorary Member Roll posthumously on the 18 March 2018. Matt Barton and Ari Piirainen presented a plaque to Ole’s four children in commemoration.

Blake and Kaleb pushed the launch button on the ‘big finale’, launching the four-metre-tall rocket; “Taking Out The Trash”; to 2764ft on a L900.

A big thank you to:
The Scenic Rim Astronomy Association for bringing along two of their solar scopes and generously allowing both QRS members and the public take a look at the sun up close.

It’s Rocket Science Adventures for bringing along all your water rocketry equipment for the kids (the big ones too).

The FITI volunteers for working tirelessly and assisting visitors to launch 46 rockets.

Our volunteers that looked after all the hungry tummies at the barbeque, the volunteers that manned the gate for ticket sales and those that help set up and pack up the site.

With the mercury topping the 30’s, another exceptionally hot and humid day didn’t stop a respectable 35 launches and even a few members of the public coming along for a look. Almost exclusively a low and mid powered day, motors used were: 2xA, 8xB, 8xC, 4xD, 2xE, 2xF, 7xG and 2xH.

There were many spectacular launches, unfortunately including six abnormal flights, ranging from undersized motors to CATOs.
Rob kicked things off launching his “Cyclone XC” to 1700 feet on a G127 followed by Oliver with “The Dartty Dad” on a C11-3 that unfortunately only reached an altitude of approximately 50 feet before lawn darting just before the ejection charge deployed.

Blake launched his “Sighter 65” to 1200 feet on a G80 and Rod launched his “Pitt Bull” to 1200 feet on a H42. Andy drag raced himself, flying his “Rocket from Hell” vs “Ferrari of the Sky” on C6-5’s (Andy won).

Robbie had an unfortunate G79 motor CATO that saw airframe separation on the pad followed by the motor casing being jettisoned, leaving burning propellant grains inside his rocket. The quantum tubing rapidly succumbed to the flames and was sadly destroyed. Keep your head up mate, we look forward to seeing what you build to replace “X-Caliber”.

Rob and Mark had a mid-power drag race, launching the “Cyclone XC” vs Mark’s “Callisto” on G100 and G53’s respectfully. Mark was a clear winner.
Warren brought along a highly sophisticated prototype for a test launch on a H175 that unfortunately was not as stable as he may have liked, we wont reveal too much as it’s back to the drawing board for Warren to use todays test flight to further the special project.

Lachlan brought along the world’s most unstable rocket, “FUIC” (an empty iced coffee carton with an 18mm motor mount glued into it) and flew it on an A8-5 to approximately 20 feet before it submitted to gravity.

Paul flew his “Blizzard” a respectable four times in quick succession on B6-4’s to 400 feet.

As usual thanks to our setup / pack up volunteers and see you next time!

Traditionally our quietest launch month for the year, this January was no exception with a small turnout of passionate members managing 23 flights, an improvement of 3 on this time last year.

Windy conditions led to a predominately low powered day with impulse ranges being 1xA, 2xB, 11xC, 2xD, 2xF, 2xG, 2xH and 1xI. It was also quite warm with the temperature peaking at 38’C and complimentary bottled water was supplied for attendees.

Some notable launches include Stuart’s “Nerf” flying on a G76 to 2000ft. Jim launched his “Katana 2” on an I566 to 3500ft with a picture-perfect dual deploy flight, landing within 100 metres of the pad. Simon flew his unique looking “Red Rock” to 570ft on a D15 and Matthew launched his awesome looking “Magnum” on a C6-5 to 1000ft.

A respectable member turnout for our final launch day of the year saw 42 launches, followed by our AGM and a complimentary BBQ. There was a perfect balance of low and medium-powered flights with impulse ranges being: 1xA, 9xB, 10xC, 5xD, 1xE, 4xF, 4xG, 5xH and 3xOther.

Warren got us into the festive spirit with his highly decorated “Christmas Angel” rocket flying to 1000ft on a H125. With several meters of tinsel attached to the airframe and an angel decoration atop the nose cone, the fantastic looking rocket glistened all the way to apogee and back again. Catalina also brought along a festive rocket; “Santa’s Hat”; that was red in colour and sported a pom-pom atop the nose cone.

Alex launched his “Now You See It” into low earth orbit on a D21-7. With a lift off weight of only 58g, it almost teleported to its apogee of 1800ft!

Mark and Matt Parsons had a spectacular V-Max drag race that required a video referee to determine the winner (Congratulations to Matt!)

Calum brought along his “T-65 X-Wing”; this time sporting fresh decals; for yet another successful flight.

Mark O’Donoghue has really taken his ‘odd rocs’ to the next level, bringing along his new “DDC 629.4” (a ‘skeletal’ framed rocket with no ‘skin’) and the “Mega Spinning Blades of Death” (a 3 grain 29mm CTI case with a three-bladed rotor attached to base). They both flew perfectly for their maiden flights, well done Mark.

In a first for a QRS launch, Tharn brought along his “Fizz Rocket” that utilises an acid/base neutralisation reaction as it’s form of propulsion. The diminutive rocket stands 3 inches tall and only reaches an altitude of 16ft but was very unique in that the fact that it utilises bicarbonate soda and white vinegar as propellant. A measured amount of the soda was placed into the launch pad and a larger amount of vinegar placed into the plastic rocket. The rocket and launch pad were then pressed together and within a few seconds a chemical reaction had produced enough gas to force the two apart, launching the rocket.

Thank you to all who attended the launch and AGM and to our BBQ volunteers: Julie, Talina and Petar.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from QRS and See you all in January!

A small crowd was greeted by clear skies but moderate winds at the launch site. Despite the winds continuing through the morning a respectable number of launches were recorded: 16 low power, 7 mid power and 4 high power. Motors ranged from 1/2A through to an I212 in former "el presidente" Jeff's 'Callisto Revenge' for a perfect flight.

A number of Fly-It, Take-It launches were recorded that couldn't take place last month. Despite arriving approximately two minutes before the end of proceedings, most prolific launcher was again awarded to Mark with 6 flights in quick succession from 1/2A to D21.

Other notable flights were Nicholas sending up his "Pyongyang Express" on a G120 and the "HR Twinkletoes" on an H90 and Amelie flying her "Sniffer Seven" on a G80 then a G64. The scalded cat award goes to Blake flying his "Green With Envy" on a G75 metal storm motor.

Finally, the rocket gods were unhappy and demanded a rocket sacrifice be made to the corn fields: Matt's Viper III on 3 x F32 motors was happy to oblige... Keep your eyes peeled for pieces in your Weetbix...

See you next month for the December Christmas themed launch and AGM!

Very warm and humid conditions, combined with the unfortunate re-scheduling of the event due to inclement weather saw smaller than usual crowds at our October Skies launch. Our Launch count was also below average with 27 member flights and an additional 20 Fly It Take It launches.

Motor ranges for the day were: 1xA (+20FITI), 7xB, 4xC, 5xD, 1xF, 2xG, 1xH, 1xI, 1xJ and 1xK.

Returning to us today was Gia and Hugo, who were the lucky winners of the “MFR Rocket Starter Kit” at our July Flames, Smoke & Noise Spectacular Launch. Only this time the MFR was a beautiful, fully assembled rocket with a lime green airframe and red fins! “Christmas Rocket” as it was named, flew perfectly to 400ft on a B6-4.

We also had a member reach a very special milestone today with Sarah Miller celebrating her 100th launch with QRS. Sarah launched her “Dark Star” to 1000ft on a G250 V-Max, landing only several metres from the launch rail. Congratulations Sarah!

The smallest flight of the launch was Samuel with his “Blood Missile” on an A8-5 to 200f and the largest was Rob with his “Dragon Fire” on a K360 to 4947ft (talk about scraping the ceiling!)

A big thanks to our volunteers tirelessly manning the barbeque and as always to those who help setup and pack up.

What a fantastic day of rocketry we had today with non-stop flying from the 8 AM start until almost 1 PM! Our launch count was well above par for a non-advertised event with 52 flights in total. We had a fantastic array of beautifully designed and finished low powered rockets that outnumbered high powered flights by three to one. Motor ranges for the day were: 3 x A, 12 x B, 18 x C, 4 x D, 2 x F, 4 x G, 6 x H, 2 x I and 1 x H2O.

Two of the 19 high powered flights for the day belonged to Robbie Newton and Brad Thompson both of whom successfully certified in L1 HPR. Robbie Flew his “X-Calibur” on a H125 to 3500’ and Brad flew his “Callisto” on a H90 to 2100’. Congratulations Robbie and Brad!

Very lucky birthday girl Havana was surprised to have everyone present sing her happy birthday before a scratch built rocket shaped like a giant candle was launched. To add to the surprise the rocket deployed a six-meter long rainbow streamer for recovery.

The title of the most prolific flyer for the day was seized from Mark O’Donoghue (with 6 flights) by almost double with a mammoth effort of 13 flights from Aidan Clarke. Mackenzie Bradford followed closely behind Mark with 5 launches.

Rob Newton launched his “Small Endeavour” on an I800 Vmax which could have almost been mistaken for a small explosion rather than a rocket launch with motor burnout after just 0.52 of a second! The rocket once again became visible after an event at apogee and was recovered safely.

Glen Magarry joined the rebel alliance and launched his X-Wing on a C6-3 to 1000’ (You’ve started something Mat!)

Another fantastic rocket was Warren's amazing "Skyburst" that carried a special payload of six ping pong balls to apogee where they were deployed and individually recovered on multicolored streamers. A very interesting idea Warren and well done.

Cran Middlecoat joined us again with a fantastic water rocket constructed from PET drink bottles and 3D printed components designed to loft an egg within the nose cone. Cran’s son Andy also brought along his RC plane and treated us to some fantastic flight and stunts as we packed up for the day.

Thanks to all who came along to fly and thanks to members that helped with setup and pack up.

See you all next month!

A light breeze that rather rapidly became a respectable wind didn’t deter our handful of members that came to fly and we even got over our average launch count with 53 flights, 10 of which were water rockets! Thank you to Cran and Sarah from “It’s Rocket Science Adventures” for bringing out and setting up your water rockets for the kids to launch and learn (it didn’t take long for the big kids to start playing with them either leading to a water rocket drag race!)

We also had some Aerospace Studies students come along from Mueller College with their teacher to launch the rockets they had built. They were all keen to learn and asked many of our members questions. Thanks Mueller College for coming along and we hope to see you again next time.

Alex Helbig wasn’t about to let a ‘little breeze’ stop him from tickling some air space, flying his “Rainbow Warrior” to 2,400’ on a H120 Red Lightning for a successful Level 1 certification flight. Well done Alex and congratulations!

Aidan flew one of the more unique rockets of the day named “Break Away”, being a beautifully detailed 890mm long rocket that breaks into 6 tethered sections at apogee and tumbles its way back to the ground like a Chinese dragon. Each section is painted a different colour to form a rainbow coloured rocket on the pad.

Lachlan flew another of the unique rockets for the day that is a non-conventional design with one large conical ‘fin’ and a cluster of four motors mounted two thirds of the way up the airframe on a canter rather than at the base.

Today’s launch also marked two special occasions: the first being QRS signing on its 200th member and the second belonged to Warren McKay who had his 100th flight with QRS. To celebrate the occasion Warren replicated his Level 1 certification flight launching the same rocket “Tethys” with the same motor (an H125 classic) for a picture perfect ‘re-certification’. Congratulations Warren and QRS!

See you all at the next launch!

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!