SoM-5 Contest results!
SoM 5 / COSMOS 27
Perry, Georgia
September 18 & 19, 1999
I'd like to begin this by thanking the sponsors of this event, without whom we could NOT
of pulled off such a great "Playing in the
Clouds" Hobby Shop Top Flight Recovery
contest and to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude - and BUSINESS. Please remember these folks and grace them
with your purchasing dollars!
Duluth, GA
Click on any of the pictures below for a FULL SIZE version.
A view of the canopies going up Saturday morning.
Mike Scheider's "4x Der Red Max" in the foreground, Dave Fountain
with his
battle weary Tethys over his shoulder, Andy Jackson of Aerospace Specialty Products
walking towards the camera.
The "management" still preparing the field for the day's events.
The clouds look ominous as the hard working crew of folks continue setting
up and testing
pads, public address system and laying cables.
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!
Dale Windsor (TARA Prefect and SoAR Section Advisor) conducts the flyers
meeting under the LCO tent.
The waiver has been called in for the Perry, GA 'CFA' and the weather report shows a ceiling of 8000'
and 40% chance of rain. Winds are not real cooperative at 10-15 MPH from the East and blowing
directly towards the Interstate highway.
Rock and Roll
We're ready, there's a V2 loaded on the high-power rack and Jack Kale of SEARS is performing LCO duties.
The contest range is located to the left, behind the young fella in the yellow shirt and SoAR's own VP, Dan Hamilton.
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ...
No, I didn't see Superman, but the V2 leaped off the pad and everyone was looking up at it's flight. In the distance
you can
see that the number of fliers is increasing steadily as the line of cars stretches on for what seemed like miles.
Prep, prep, prep. When do we fly?
Dave Fountain prepares his Tethys for a flight on a honking I-435. Can you say, OUTTA HERE? And believe
it or not, he walked less than 100 yards to retrieve it. This guy has unbelievable luck... Immediately to the right
of Dave
and under the blue canopy is Dale Windsor opening up the Lawn Dart Rocketry shop for the first time. Dale is the
new
owner of the Seattle Rocket Works designs and a genuinely great guy. Steve Bellio of SoAR, who put in a tremendous
amount
of effort to make this a successful launch, walks between the green canopy and Ron Stancil's incredible rack-o-rockets.
Whazzat!?
Andy Jackson (Aerospace Specialty Products) and Dale Windsor look at a flight on the field. Obviously it took some
of them by surprise,
as we also see Doyle Tatum (SoAR President) on the far right.
Where can I plug this thing in?
Jeff Willis and Mike Schneider discuss his unusual cluster of NINE F20s
wired up with an 18AWG electrical cord whip.
Since the igniters will draw 90 amps, it's gonna need a juiced up battery! Off to the FAR AWAY cell, Mr. Willis.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Notice the flags at attention. Fortunately the winds were much lighter aloft
and over 200 flights went on Saturday ranging from 1/4A to K.
A launching we will go, a launching we will go ...
Jim and Sharon Skeen and Martie Hamilton take their Big Daddy/Big Momma
rockets to the 3/16" rods
for a side-by-side launch as other folks stand about to load or watch their rockets for later launch and retrieval.
Back from that lonnnnnng walk
Actually, it was more like 25 feet, and hubby Dan had to get in on the action - what a camera hog that Dan is!
And aren't
they all looking spiffy in their NSL '99 commerative attire? Immediately atop Dan's left shoulder you can see Jeff
Willis at
the FAR AWAY cell loading up his ____ F20 cluster.
Oh, that's just great Mom!
Now all the kids back home will see that YOU helped me load the igniter. Dad! Make her stop!
Whatever - it's long gone
Jeff Willis' 9 F20 launch
Jack Kale with his AMAZING GRACE behemoth
Amazing Grace - What goes up, MUST come down!
Isn't it great when dual deployment works perfectly? After a flight to 3100 feet,
this big honking rocket came down within a few hundred
feet of the pad powered by 2 altimiters and a nice juicy 54mm K700 Aerotech reload. Jack says this was a "K.I.S.S."
flight since he didn't
airstart anything like he did at LDRS.
Dave Butcher and the BEASTLY BullPup
Dave had every intention of finally getting this bad boy in the air, but the wind and the rain didn't cooperate
once again. This shot was taken of him
when I arrived back at the field at 8:30AM Sunday where he had apparently camped out. Dave tells us of a 30 pound
Jack Rabbit that came to visit
him in the middle of the night. I'm not sure who was more startled - the rabbit, the rocket or Dave! (You coulda
bashed him with the L1120 motor!)
Sunday - and the rains came
More of the same
All photographs displayed on this page were taken by Roger Sligar, NAR 74668,
SoAR 098.
Please ask for permission before using them and consider them a copyrighted work.
©1999 Roger Sligar and Southern
Area Rocketry