Launch reports are available for the following months

[Jan] [Feb] [Mar] [Apr] [May] [June] [July] [Aug] [Sept] [Oct] [Nov] [Dec]

Launch Summaries

[2001] [2002] [2003]

Archived Launch reports from previous years

[2001] [2002]

December Launch Report

The Southern Arizona Rocketry Association held its final launch of 2003 on Saturday 12/20 at the TIMPA site with a FAA waiver to 4500 feet AGL in effect. The weather was magnificent with only a brief period of moderately high winds, nice temperatures and there were fewer than the usual number of holds for aircraft. The launch activity got off to a slow start, however, the launch became very busy.

Forty one (41) fliers made 124 flights of which 106 (85%) were nominal. There were 9 separations, 3 tangled recovery devices, 2 lawn darts and one each: CATO, shred, no chute and unstable flight. The most active flier made 9 flights and the other activity was (# flights each-# fliers): 7-3, 6-3, 5-2, 4-7, 3-2, 2-9 and 1-14.

There were many nice flights including several with a Christmas theme. A 'penguin' made a spectacularly unstable flight, there was 'wooden soldier' and a 'candle' flight. A nice flight was made with many holiday treats (and notice of prizes to be claimed) descending on mylar streamers. The children present especially enjoyed this colorful flight. Five (5) cluster flights were made and 4 staged flights (3 2-stage and one 3-stage); all were successful. One of our young members had two nice first flights of rockets he had designed (his first) and scratch built, including a cluster. Several starter kits were donated and given by raffle to the group under age 18. A break was taken at the end of the launch for the annual business meeting.

We had a vender on site for the first time in a while; 'Just Rockets' was present and indicate he would try to attend in the future, perhaps alternate launches.

Once again thanks are due to all who helped with the range, your efforts are appreciated.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 15 other flights.

November Launch Report

SARA held its monthly sport launch at the TIMPA site on November 16, 2003. A FAA waiver to 4500 feet was in effect. The author was unable to attend the launch and this report is prepared from only the flight cards.

The launch was moderately busy with 25 fliers making 75 flights of which only 58 (77%) were clean or nominal. There were 5 separations, 3 shreds, 2 lawn darts, 2 no deployment of a planned recovery device, and 1 each: CATO, 'motor failure', tangle, unstable flight and a glider which did not fly with its booster. The most frequent flier made 8 flights and other activity was (#flights each-# of fliers): 7-1, 5-3, 4-3, 3-4, 2-8, and 1-5.

There were 4 staged-flight attempts with 2 two-stagers being successful and 1 each 2- and 3- stage not so. A Thanksgiving Day theme flight was made 'giblets of the wonderbird'.

Thanks are given to all who helped with the range.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 4 other flights.

October Launch Report

SARA held its monthly sport launch at the TIMPA site on October 18th with a FAA waiver in effect. The weather was nice even if breezy for part of the launch and pretty hot and dry by the end. There were few holds for aircraft.

This was an active launch with 34 fliers making 102 flights of which 85 (83%)were nominal. There were 8 separations, 4 tangled recovery devices, 2 unstable rockets and 1 each early ejection, no ejection and no recovery device deployment. The busiest flier made 9 flights and the other activity was (#flights ea.-# of fliers): 7-2, 5-1, 4-10, 3-2, 2-10, and 1-8.

The launch was quite busy with a number of visitors and fewer than usual 'regulars'. A 4H group was visiting and actively flying. There were 2 cluster flights and a 2-stage flight. A Halloween theme flight of a Jack-O'lantern was made and there was a successful dual -deployment flight.

Once again thanks are due to all who helped out with the range. A few more volunteers to take a spell at LSO and/or RSO duties would help relieve the burnout potential of the 'regulars'.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 7 other flights.

September Launch Report

The Southern Arizona Rocketry Association held its monthly sport launch at TIMPA on September 21 with an FAA waiver to 4500 ft AGL in effect. The weather was cooperative with warm-hot conditions, clear skies and low winds. There were few aircraft holds. This launch was considerably busier than the recent ones.

Twenty eight (28) fliers took advantage of the launch to make 104 flights of which 81 were clean (78%). This is well below our usual success rate. There were 14 separations, 3 tangled chutes, and 1 each: early ejection (with a stripped chute), no ejection, lawn dart, kicked motor, no chute and a probable motor block failure (resulting in a burned up rocket). It appears as though increased vigilance of recovery devices, especially shock cords, would be desireable. Our most frequent flier made 7 flights and other activity was (# of lights each-# of fliers): 6-4, 5-3, 4-9, 3-4, 2-3 and 1-4.

There were 2 flights using clusters of 2 motors and 2 staged flights with 2-stages each and all were successful. A very nice flight was made by an Estes Saturn V. We had many new faces and a large number of young people at this launch. We hope that all had a good time and will be frequent participants in the future.

Thanks are due to all who helped out with the range. Special appreciation should be expressed to Doug Forester for his work on both the range (the new board fencing saves much time and trouble with flags) and the launch equipment.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 13 other flights.

August Launch Report

The SARA monthly sport launch was held at TIMPA on August 23, 2003. It was a bright, sunny day with fairly brisk winds early which then moderated to nearly still conditions and it became hot. There was evidence of considerable rainfall and it appears that the fire danger is now much reduced.

Sixteen fliers made 54 flights of which 47 (87%) were clean. There were 4 separations, 2 no ejection and 1 lawn dart. Three people tied at 8 flights each for most frequent flier honors. The other activity was (# flights each-# fliers): 6-1, 4-2, 2-6 and 1-4.

There were 3 successful 2-stage flights and one successful flight of a 3 motor cluster. A few of the failed flights were rather spectacular with beautiful rockets being severely damaged.

Many thanks are due to all those who helped out with range duties as well as set up and tear down. Your effort is much appreciated.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 8 other flights.

July Launch Report

SARA held its monthly sport launch at the TIMPA site on 7/20/03. The writer of this report was unable (a long boring saga) to be at the launch, this report is based on information from Doug Forester and the comments on the flight cards. It apparently was pretty hot with low winds.

Activity was fairly low with 19 fliers making a total of 46 flights, 40 (87%) were nominal. There were 2 lawn darts (one caused by the launch rod flying with the model), 1 early ejection, 1 no ejection, 1 failure of chute to open, and 1 lost 2nd stage. There were no separations for the first time I can recall and no tangled recovery devices although I do not know the circumstance of the failure of the 'chute to open'. The most acitve flyer made 5 flights and the remainder were (# flights-#fliers): 4-4, 3-3, 2-5, and 1-6. Motor use was: A-9, B-6, C-11, D-4, E-8, F-5 and 11 others.

There were 3 flights of rockets using 3 motor clusters and all were successful. Staged flights were 2, one successful and one with a lost 2nd stage.

Thanks are due to all who helped with the range. Special thanks to Doug for bringing me the flight cards and his comments on the launch.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

and 11 other flights

May Launch Report

The monthly sport launch of SARA was held at the TIMPA site on 5/18/03 with a FAA waiver in effect. Conditions were excellent with nice skies, generally mild winds and no more than the usual number of holds for aircraft.

Thirty (30) people took advantage of the launch to make 87 flights of which 69 (79%) were clean. There were 6 separations, 3 kicked motors (a higher number than usual, perhaps more attention to motor retention is needed), 2 no ejections, and 1 each: CATO, no chute, no deploy, no stage, shred, tangle and unstable. The most frequent fliers were Jay Dickhous and Michelle Burch each with 7 flights. Other activity was (# flights-# fliers): 6-1, 5-2, 4-6, 3-1, 2-12, and 1-6.

Notable flights include Jay Dennis successfully achieving a Level 2 certification with a nice flight of his scratch built Kozmo Extreme on a J350. There was a beautiful V-2 flown on an I357 for a level 1 certification attempt, but unfortunately no ejection occurred despite the delay charge burning. There were 3 successful cluster flights and 2 staged flights; one very nice the other a second stage failed to ignite resulting in the expected lawn dart that occurs in this circumstance.

Doug Forester has made some range improvements and new cables for the range. These cables should help greatly with reliability and ease of handling, as well as decreasing the tripping hazard. Let's all express our appreciation to him for his efforts.

The fire hazard is again increasing at TIMPA and this may place some limitations on our next few launches. Once again thanks are due to all who helped with range duties, setup and tear down.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

April 2003 Launch Report

The monthly SARA sport launch was held a TIMPA on April 19, 2003 with a FAA waiver in effect. The launch conditions were very nice with clear skies, a pleasant temperature, low winds (although a couple of thermals) and relatively few aircraft holds.

This launch was our busiest since I have records (Oct. 1998). Forty two (42) fliers made 140 flights with 111 (79%) of them clean (nominal). Failures were 12 separations,4 tangled recovery device, 2 each unstable flight and no ejection, 1 each lawn dart, shred, CATO, kicked motor and 5 flights with various other modes of failure. Dan Shinkel was our most active flier with 13 flights, other activity was (# flights-# fliers): 10-1, 7-1, 5-5, 4-7, 3-6, 2-18, and 1-3.

There were many interesting flights. A Estes model of the full stack Columbia was successfully flown---these are pretty uncommon now and were never known as outstanding fliers. There were 2 NARTREK Bronze streamer duration attempts. Chris Choffat and Kevin Houser both flew video rockets. There were 4 2-stage flights (all successful) and 2 3-stage attempts with the 3rd stage not igniting on one and the other a very successful flight. A 3 E-motor cluster rocket had a nice flight. The Bens Nead, Jr and Sr flew 2 drag races. Jay and Jacob Dennis brought the Easter spirit with 2 each large and small flying eggs. The smaller eggs had a nice drag race and the 2 larger ones were in a drag race with Jay Dickhous's large egg. The race was spectacular with a good flight, a minor shred and a unstable flight. The launch finished with a 'St. Louis Arch' flight with a long crepe paper streamer.

Even though the launch was extremely busy there were only a few brief delays to fly and they were pretty much caused by the usual problem---holds for aircraft.

Once again many thanks are due to all who helped with the range.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

March 2003 Launch Report

SARA held a sport launch at TIMPA on March 23rd under really nice conditions with a FAA waiver effect. The author was not able to be present at the launch but has good notes by Ben Nead from which to make comments. The weather was fabulous without much wind and aircraft were cooperative although the field was apparently buzzed by an ultralight.

Thirty four (34) people took advantage of the launch to make 98 flights with 85 (87%) nominal (clean). There were 6 separations, 2 no ejection and one each: CATO, tangled recovery device, no chute, unstable and a partial glider wing deploy. The most active flier was Dan Shinkel with 7 flights, other activity was (# flights each-# fliers): 6-2, 5-2, 4-8, 3-4, 2-8, and 1-9.

There were several notable flights. Eric W. Burch, Sr. had a successful Level 1 Certification flight using a PML Io with a Cesaroni Pro 38 H motor-Congratulations. There were 4 2-stage flight attempts and all were successful; Bryon Cheselka, Sid Clarke, Mariah Houser and Sandra Thompson all deserve acknowledgement as 100% success is rare. There were 3 successful 3-motor cluster flights with Sid Clarke achieving 2 and Jay Dickhous one. Eric,Jr and Michele Burch had a drag race with a 'photo finish'. Peter Riddell of SMS did a quick build of a Quest Astra at the field and had two clean flights.

Thanks are due to all who helped with the range and to Ben Nead for providing the anecdotal information for this report.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

February 2003 Launch Report

The Southern Arizona Rocketry Association held its monthly sport launch at the TIMPA site on February 22nd with an FAA waiver in place. Flying conditions were excellent with very clear skies, pleasant temperatures and minimal winds. There were a few holds required for aircraft in the area (including one which stayed close by practicing aerobatics). The PA system was most erratic and did not operate much of the time making for interesting unaided loud announcing of the launches (stressing vocal cords).

Thirty fliers made 86 flights with 78 (91%) of them nominal although there were a few interesting events. There were 2 separations and 1 each tangle, early ejection, CATO, unstable flight, kicked motor and a cluster flight with only on motor igniting to cause a far, fast downrange flight path. Vince Hagerlin came all the way from Pierce to be our most active flier with 12 flights. Other activity was (#flights-#of fliers): 8-1, 5-1, 4-5, 3-5, 2-9, and 1-8.

There was a large group of visiting parents with children who were active fliers. Dan Pendergrass had a nice flight of a Comanche III staged D-C-C, straight up and nearly out of sight with good staging. There were 3 cluster flights, 2 of them very nice and one with just one of two motors lighting. Kevin Houser flew his video transmitting rocket on a Pro 38 I 205 for a really nice flight.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

January 2003 Launch Report

SARA held the first launch of 2003 on January 26th with a FAA waiver in effect. The launch conditions were excellent with nice temperatures and only mild winds except for a microburst near the end of the launch which sent papers flying.

This was a very active launch with 22 fliers making 102 flights of which 83
(81%) were clean (nominal). There were 6 separations,4 lawn darts (an unusually high number), 3 tangled recovery devices and 2 each CATO, no ejection and rockets not recovered ('fly aways'). Anrew Barnett was the most active flier with 12 flights and the remaining activity was (# flights ea.-# fliers): 9-1, 8-2, 7-2, 5-4, 4-2, 3-5, 2-3, and 1-2.

There were several successful nice 2-stage flights. There was a spectacular lawn dart of a very nice rocket which occurred after the motor ejection charge went off (determined on motor inspection later), but failed to generate pressure in the rocket body cavity and no deployment occurred.

We wish to welcome our new members, it is the beginning of a new year and time for SARA membership to be renewed.

Once again thanks are due to all who helped with range duties, set-up and tear down.

Below is a breakdown of the motor used during the launch

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updated 1/24/08

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