Welcome to Tripoli-San Diego
May 2009 Launch Report
This month I arrived at the site between 2 and 2:30 Friday afternoon. There
was no wind and nobody there. Later I heard Larry had come out early Friday
morning and must have left less than an hour before I arrived. I picked up
the club trailer, people started arriving, and we activated the waiver.
Jack even got there about an hour before sunset. Unfortunately, the wind
started soon after Jack got there. By dark we also had Troop 713 from Del
Mar camped on the west end.
Saturday morning started out too windy to launch, then dropped below the
limit. We gave the scouts their safety briefing and they started launching.
The wind continued to go down and we got some high power rockets up. About
11:30 the wind changed and kicked up over 20 mph and we stopped launching.
Good time for a lunch break. Then after an hour the wind dropped again.
This time it went down enough for some I, J, and L motor flights. Chris
Sparta decided not to fly his 6" Saturn V, and wait for a calmer weekend.
Joe did launch his silver and black Raider on an L. It was a very
impressive flight.
The rumor was we had a forecast of low wind on Sunday. In anticipation,
Sparky & crew prepped Ballistic Bob's final flight and Bill Crabb prepped
his Level 3 certification rocket. Mid-afternoon I saw a truck towing a
flatbed trailer with some long wooden box. We couldn't figure out what it
was and only found out hours later.
Saturday we had an excellent Italian pot luck. Thanks to all the great
cooks. The night entertainment was provided by Troop 713 and an
unaffiliated Y group to the east of us. The Y group started with some low
level fireworks. We stay away from fireworks because we don't want to lose
our last good launch site in the area. Troop 713 then started want can only
be described as a pillar of fire, much more than a simple bonfire. We were
chatting after the potluck and suddenly the horizon turned orange. It was
at least 16 feet high, maybe more. They had erected this wooden box, staked
it down, and started it on fire. Needless to say, that attracted the
attention of the BLM rangers. The Troop leaders assured the Rangers they
would clean up after the fun, including any remnant hardware. So the
Rangers headed east and busted the Y group for fireworks. The half moon
seemed pretty tame after all that activity. When it set, we all went to
bed.
Sunday was the Ballistic Bob event. Wind was below 10 when the waiver
opened. Carroll lost no time and had one of the first high power rockets
up. The DART folks finished up prepping Ballistic Bob for his final flight
and made the calls to interested parties. About 9:30 Ballistic Bob's level
three flight took off from the M pad and had a picture perfect flight. The
first apogee charge separated the rocket and deployed tracking smoke and
Bob. The black rocket was easy to track against a high overcast. Dual
deploy worked as planned.
Bill was waiting to use the motor case from Bob's flight, with the rest of
his rocket ready to go. We loaded up his M and checked the wind meter.
Unfortunately, it was well over 20 Mph, so we postponed Bill's cert flight
attempt until June.
Just as we were packing up the last of the range the wind went down enough
for Russ to Put his Nike Smoke up on a very respectable flight. Sorry, I
can't remember the motor.
Thanks to Mike W. for arranging the waiver again. Thanks to Robert, Don,
and John for helping to set up tear down the range. Thanks to Bonnie for
collecting dues and launch fees. And thanks to Bill for returning the
trailer on Sunday.
OTHER NEWS
PLASTER BLASTER has been MOVED TO NOVEMBER this year. It will be held
November 6, 7, 8. Please help us by passing the word to anyone who might
attend.
Paul
About Our Club
Tripoli-San Diego is a Prefecture of the Tripoli
Rocketry Association(TRA). Tripoli-San Diego was formed in the late 1980's.
Tripoli-San Diego works closely with DART promoting rocketry in the San Diego area. Both clubs are non-profit organizations
comprised of individuals and their families from all walks of life. Club members
are committed to conducting rocketry related activities and instructing groups
in the sport of Rocketry.
Tripoli-San Diego conducts monthly launches from September through
June at the Plaster CIty launch site in the desert near El Centro CA. The club,
in cooperation with DART, conducts an annual regional launch, Plaster
Blaster
Monthly launches are open to spectators. Rocketeers wishing to
launch must be certified by either NAR or Tripoli for high power launches. Certification
is not required for sport rocket launches. A launch fee of $5 is charged for
each family that is launching rockets .We operate in compliance with BATF, FAA, CPSC, Tripoli Rocketry Association, and California State Fire Marshall regulations. This means the maximum motor size you may fly is an “M” (10,240 N-sec), and the maximum total power of all motors is an “N” (20,480 N-sec), as long as the altitude waiver is not exceeded.
If you would like to become a member of Tripoli-SanDiego you can download a membership application
in .pdf.
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