AeroPAC's XPRS II launch meet, Sept 26-28, 2003

The rocket on Pad 11 spit out its nozzle and burned all its propellant without leaving the ground.


Sometimes you just can't get a picture of the rocket coming off the pad. They're too fast.


This is the Weber Barbecue that flew on Friday. Notice that the mock wheels are actually fins. :-)


Here's another one I tried to photograph off the pad that got away from me.


Ouch! This was an Aerotech Initiator...


The owner of the rocket poses for some pictures before everyone helps him pick up all the scraps before any get carried away in the wind.


This is my rocket "Mr Mach".


At the night launch there was very little wind, just like all day. This rocket landed under chute between two camp sites in the entry way behind the RSO table at the flight line center. Everyone has done a good job of teaching the kids not to try to catch a rocket. (That's strictly forbidden in the safety rules.) But once it's on the ground you can't keep them away. :-)


April Sutchek got her Level 1 certification on a night flight (which requires extra equipment like strobe lights) with an I motor. H is the minimum for L1, and usually what most L1 cert flights use. So she proved her ability well beyond the minimums for certification.


My rocket "Mr Mach" is prepped and ready to fly. Note that the igniters are taped to the outside of the rocket, and won't be put in the motor until it's at that pad.


Jamie Clay's "Poor Vanishing Act (Redux)" launches from Pad D in the 500-foot (far) row. This rocket carries lots of electronics including in-flight video.


Uh oh. Jamie Clay's Poor Vanishing Act (Redux) experiences an in-flight failure. He recovered all the parts, and said the electronics were all still in working order. There will be a "Vanishing Act (Redux (Redux))" next year. :-)


Jamie Clay's Poor Vanishing Act (Redux) lands on chute near the hybrid pad after its in-flight failure. Crews loading a hybrid rocket at the pad pay close attention until it's on the ground.


Owen acts as Range Safety Officer (RSO) on Sunday in the late morning and during some of the early afternoon as the launch starts to wind down. We had several volunteers chip in to help keep the launch going as long as people still had prepped rockets ready to fly, well past 1PM. In this photo, Owen talks with John "JP" Powell of JP Aerospace from Sacramento.


My rocket "Mr Mach" is ready to go on Pad 26.


A large blue rocket launches from Pad A.


My rocket "Mr Mach" was too fast off the pad for me to take a picture.


Some of the crew from Tripoli Idaho pose by one of their rockets. On the left is Frank Ross, VP of Tripoli Idaho who was very helpful as assistant LCO during my first LCO shift.


Another rocket too fast to take a picture. All of them on that row were flying J350 motors.


Bill Earls from Corvallis, OR stands by his rocket where he recovered it. It wasn't far from where Mr Mach landed.


Mr Mach's landing site was about 100 feet past the 500-foot pads. It shows how light the winds were that day, since it went so high that everyone lost sight of it, even with binoculars. (Simulations said to expect apogee at 7000' above ground level with a climbout at Mach 1.0 for a J350 motor.) Yet it landed 400 feet from where it was launched.


Mr Mach's landing site, with Black Rock Point and the Black Rock Range visible 9 miles in the background.


Owen steps in as LCO for a while... and gets to launch his own rocket.


A rocket launches from Pad 14.


The same rocket as in the previous frame started tumbling while still under power. It seems to have lost a fin in flight.


After the launch was over, a medevac helicopter came and landed at the JP Aerospace camp on the far east end of the flight line. One JPA member presumably didn't drink enough fluids and suffered from heat stroke. In this picture, the helicopter is flying along the south side of the flight line past where I'm tearing down the Stratofox camp. I stopped when I saw a helicopter coming, and recognized it as a Bell Jet Ranger, which is large enough to be a medevac.

Owen and I watched with concern at this point, wondering if the reported case of heat stroke had turned more serious. Fortunately, it was a mixup that didn't really require the helicopter, since the ambulance had already made it there. But the helicopter transported the patient to Reno once it was there anyway.


The medevac helicopter circles the JP Aerospace camp before landing.


The medevac helicopter circles the JP Aerospace camp before landing.


The medevac helicopter lands at the JP Aerospace camp.


The medevac helicopter takes off from the JP Aerospace camp.


The Gerlach Ambulance returns to base.


Hmmm... This definitely isn't what Stratofox usually recovers. :-)

Owen had volunteered to haul one of the four outhouse trailers needed for the event from and back to Sparks.


I convoyed with Owen and Gabe, who were each hauling outhouses back to Sparks. I left late and caught up with them (they can't do 80 with a trailer) so I could wolf down a sandwich for lunch before the drive. In this picture, I'm following their dust trails still several miles ahead of me.


In the center, the Black Rock playa is criss-crossed with tire tracks which have accumulated all season. They'll be erased by Winter storms.


A view of the Elephant Back, a trademark mountain of the Black Rock Desert. You can see the speed smear since I'm doing 80 across the desert (and holding the camera sideways into the window while I watch where I'm driving.) There is opposite-direction traffic about 1/2 mile to the east. It's about 5 miles to the Elephant Back.