Before going any farther, I'd like to personally thank Mike Jerauld of DART for going above and beyond the call of duty in assisting me with my Level 2 Certification flight today. I'd also like to thank his son, who had to postpone going off to another area while his dad was assisting me .
Well, I traveled out to Plaster City for the first time today. I took my old, beat-up Windstar that has 200K+ miles on it, which was a mistake, because I didn't know about the elevation changes from San Diego to Plaster City. There is a good, solid length of 4000 ft elevation (a plateau or mesa) between San Diego and Plaster City, and my old beast does NOT do well on extended up hills, especially in warm weather (which we had today). I'll definitely have to use another vehicle for NSL next month.
All the folks there were very friendly and helpful. However, because of work constraints, travel issues, overheating, etc., I only had time to drive out, review/prepare/launch/recover my cert rocket, and then head back. My butt is SORE from about 8 hours of driving today (FYI, I don't even live in San Diego County, so I had to drive south FIRST).
All that having been said, the flight went great. I launched my PML 1/4 Scale Patriot (naked--I've painted my Black Brant Vb, but haven't had time to do the Patriot yet). I used an Aerotech J420R-M, and it hauled butt off the pad. My eyes aren't even remotely what they used to be, but several folks helped keep an eye on it, and it landed just a few hundred yards away from the launch pad. Completely undamaged, and barely any charring even on the piston. I used the 54" chute for this flight (the rocket is heavier than the specs indicate), but it was a might slow coming down (on the other hand, I'm all for soft landings ).
Anyway, it went great, I'm now level 2, so I look forward to seeing folks out at the NSL next month. My whole reason for certifying this quickly is so that I can assist with NSL, and I'm hoping to put some faces to names for those who will be there.
I did find one aspect of getting a certification that was quite puzzling, though. Andy Woerner of What's Up Hobbies was there, and I went to visit him after my certification flight. However, I discovered after certifying that there was a hole in my wallet! Has anyone else had this happen?
David Erbas-White NAR 77073 LEVEL 2!!!