Last weekend, I flew my Executioner on an E9-4 engine. At ejection, the nosecone popped off but the chute was not blown out. After about
10 seconds of tumbling, the drag on the nosecone finally pulled the chute out, it inflated, and the rocket landed safely. None of the wadding (1 square of Estes paper + 2 inches of dog barf) had ejected. The parachute was scorch-free, and the shroud lines showed no sign of tangling.
On the previous flight with a D12-3 using the same recovery setup, the parachute and wadding had all ejected quite vigorously so I don't think the wadding or the packing was a problem.
Upon post-flight inspection, I noticed that the cap on the ejection charge had not blown through completely. Less than 1/4 of the cap had been blown through.
My question: Should I file a MESS report with NAR for this? Should I report it to Estes? If so, what address should I send the information to?
-- Bob Cox