lost rockets and a reflection on costs

Don't think of it in such terms. Like all genres of model building; the non-modelers "just don't understand". And they are also usually the type who will blow $100 for a ticket to a concert, or a night of alcohol-induced debauchery. Next time they question your spending $100 on a kit...tell them "Unlike your concert, and boozing up.....I will still *have* this rocket the day after I buy it!"

:o)

But not, necessarily, the day after you launch it...

David Erbas-White

I mostly fly M motor rockets. $70 won't even cover the tank on the Hypertech M.

I had a M powered rocket not deploy the drogue last year so it crashed. Total loss was around $1000. $450 worth of fiberglass tubing, two $100 (or more) altimeters, $100 parachute, $250 Hypertech M motor.

I also had a rocket lose the fins at BALLS last year. It cost about $400 to rebuild that one.

Brian Elfert

Yeah, I usually don't think too much about the cost of a rocket until it gets lost or destroyed, then I can't think of anything else. Losing 'em is much worse than crashing them too. At least when they crash, you can salvage stuff from it, and you don't have to waste time looking for it or worrying about it. But when it's lost, you can't get anything back, and you know that it's just sitting out there somewhere in good condition, taunting you. ;)

I lost two complete rockets with camera payloads in the badlands last year. That's four parachutes, two sets of motor hardware, two cameras, two servo mechanisms, two tail sections that even after a year may only need to be cleaned up and repainted, two kevlar shock cords, and two rolls of film which probably still have some cool photos. I've spent many days and nights looking for them, no luck at all so far. It's really frustrating!

I watched as a 70-90lb level 3 attempt nosed in from 5000 and then a way heavy Hyp-M with 2 air-start outboards fail to gain enough speed to arm either alt (failing to ignite the outboards). I really like the idea of a remote controlled backup with enough power to blow that chute out any which way it can.

Or motor ejection.

An F20-7 would have saved that flight.

Memories.

Tell me about the last time YOU got very drunk.

...

If you fly them long enough, you expect to lose or break them. But it really sucks when you lose them on the ground. I've got more than one that is just MIA...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

My rocket already had dual altimeters with seperate charges. I'm not sure a wireless backup would have helped in my case.

Brian Elfert

Motor ejection clearly would have.

Frankly, Jerry, that's got to be several decades ago. While I still hoist one or two on occasion, the need to get drunk went away about the time I stopped getting worried about getting carded.

David Erbas-White

The worst (IMHO, and I've done it more than once) is getting something ALL READY for a big launch, brand new, put all sorts of care into it, got all the engines / recovery systems for any possible launch conditions, pack it carefully, get to the launch, and break it when removing it from the car...

David Erbas-White

Ditto.

We are boring!

Failing to detect apogee by both would have been saved by a manual button push. Or was it out of sight at that point? Having a large backup charge would have saved in the event of too small a charge.

Hypertech motors don't offer motor ejection. Neither do Aerotech 75mm or

Brian Elfert

Simply putting a 29mm tube on one or both sides of your rocket and putting a SU motor in it and ejecting ANY parachute would reduce damage substantially when these other failures regularly occur.

Is that the motor ejection on the Hypertek (which doesn't have it) or the outboards that didn't light?

Something seems to be missing here.