Anyone had a cato with the new F21-4w Econojet. Saturday Oct. 18, 2003 I had my first Aerotech CATO in 11 years.
After ignition the nozzle and lower case section completely blew out. The rest of the case was severely fractured. But the fuel core, delay element and BP charge are intact.
I've flown over a dozen F21s with no problems. I like having a single-use 24mm with that much punch. -- Richard "glad the F21s are flowing in the pipeline again" Hickok
Joe I don't think the F21 have had the single molded case upgrade like the advertized F20 29 mm. So in that light they must be your "old style jet".
The way you describe the F21's they must have a colorful past. Reminds me of Estes attempt at E motors with the BP E15's. I've only used them since spring to replace the E9 and mod. rockets.
This is actually a common failure mode for AT motors, although I've seen it more on BT motors (E30, F50, G80). When the case fractures, the propellant is actually snuffed by the sudden drop in pressure. It can, as others have noted, be caused by an overly-aggressive igniter, but even a standard copperhead can result in the same failure mode.
[Note: I'm not saying failures are common, just that of the failures I
*have* seen, this is the most frequent.]
If you precision-weighed the propellant grain, I think you'd find that a small amount of it was consumed.
On bigger composite motors, such as 54mm, the same sort of 'snuff-out' failure can occur on a nozzle or rear closure failure. If it's a little way into the motor burn, there can be enough heat buildup that the fuel grain will actually reignite in a fraction of a second, and burn unconfined either inside the case or in mid-air if it happened to be ejected.
I have not seen one fail personally but there have been reports.
As always, important details are missing from the reports:
What was the igniter?
If it was "home-made" or "other than that supplied with the motor", was it so large that it could clog the nozzle on the way out? If so, that is your primary cause of failure.
-Fred Shecter NAR 20117
-- ""Remove "zorch" from address (2 places) to reply.
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