The rain has stopped, lets fly some rockets! An early start at 10am as it's officially winter, so I'm told! I got up and the sun was shining, the sky was blue and there were only a few clouds with a light breeze, that was at 8.00am. Mark Perman was the first at the farm followed by Dave Beeton, John Davis and Mel Sharpe. I arrived shortly after to discover a sheep filled water logged site with one rocketeers car stuck firmly in the mud! The marquees were being erected, there was a pad or two set-up and the cloud was just beginning to role in. 20 minutes later the heavens opened up and we all huddled under the marquees waiting for the rain to disappear, very depressing! After about an hour the rain finally stopped and the cloud base broke up and when all was said and done we managed to get a total of 20 flights in. Not bad considering the number of flyers was half that of our last launch.

Once again, Mel Sharpe was the RSO responsible for checking all rockets and ensuring that flight reg cards were written. Mark Perman was Range RSO and he ensured all rockets got onto and off the pads safely. Many thanks to both Mel & Mark for their range management, for without them we would not fly! We did have a few problems with the rocket gods, there had simply not been enough chanting. :-) Mel was the first for this site to loose a rocket to the characteristic tree in the Middle of the launch field. A good flight otherwise. It was also a first for Joshua Ingram, who flew his Big Rage on a B6-2 under the Black Knights buddy scheme. The launch was straight as an arrow but the chutes did not open fully and the rocket came down with a bump. No damage this time and his plans are to launch on a C class at the next meeting. I also had a similar deployment problem following my launch of the Thing on a G80. The chute got tangled around the cord on the beeper and the rocket came down with a thud. Again, no damage due to the soggy field and a glassed body tube! :-)

John Davis put in another good show with a raft of flights, 7 in total ranging from the Orange Blob on an A10 to Aspire on a G38J. I know John was planning to launch something much bigger but unfortunately the wind was blowing in the wrong direction (towards the pond) and then the damp caused problems with the CPR pistons. I'm sure it will all be sorted for Decembers launch and I hope the weather will be on his side. Dave Beeton also had a few good flights with his Phoenix putting in what can only be described as a true flight on one occasion and a slight cruise style on the second. :-) When Dave launched his Eliminator he had not envisaged a change in career to that of Geologist! The flight was excellent, straight up, but the recovery failed when the shock cord snapped. The nose cone could be seen drifting away on the light breeze and the main body could be seen coming straight down! With a shout of heads-up and a sci-fi whistle & whoosh the body tube landed vertically into the field about 20ft from the marquees. Dave's rocket took an 8" soil core sample of Brooklands Farm, another first! Despite a fall of some 1,200ft with no chute it remained intact with only minor damage, the benefits of a water logged field. Dave assures us that the Eliminator will return....

There was a batch of other flights too with both RSO's, Mark and Mel, being able to get in some good flights. Mark launched his Nike Smoke and Falcon both of which flew well and had a good deployment. Mel was in practice mode for the egg lofting competition and he put in a couple of nice flights and recovered his egg intact - well done Mel. Dawny Beamian ( not sure if I spelt this correctly, sorry ) also managed to get a true flight from his Falcon on a B8-5. It was the 4th time that it had flown and it reached a height of about 800ft. Christopher Key was planning to do a 2 stage launch with a J to I but unfortunately the site and conditions did not permit it. However, he quickly re-planned his flight and put in an excellent performance on an I284 with dual deployment (Altac powered), CPR and onboard camera. What a flight, it was perfect! A huge roar from the motor and just a slight arc into the sky with a text book deployment of drogue and main. It's flights like this that make it worth turning up to the launch meeting. With a bit of luck the airborne photos will turn out well and I hope to see Chris fly for us on a regular basis. Truly enjoyable.

I thinks that's it. I've covered most of the flights and flyers. Although the day started off rather wet and the field was seriously water logged and muddy it turned out to be a great day with some memorable flights. :-) There's just one more item of interest, the sheep! It seems that they are getting used to us and I suppose we are getting used to them. However, there is a boundary that should not be crossed.... today the sheep decided to eat the parts of the RSO's car, the plastic orange nose cones, the launch pads and the launch controller cable. Innovative solutions are required... answers on a postcard please! :-)