No idea where to start - Today was... well...  BALLS....

Perfect weather brought out everyone!    

The waiver opened at 9am with the high altitude guys (FAA class 3 projects limited to 9am-1pm). The waiver closed at 5pm.  

No idea how many flights flew but certain it was around 100 or so.

But you need to understand about BALLS, even the H and I class launches here are EXTREME.  Example:  I impulse rocket launch was a Tripoli Record attemp to well over 10k'.  There were no MODROCs, MIDROCs, etc.  Even spectators are severely limited and typically no kids whatsoever (but I did see a few yesterday).

Black Rock is a harsh environment.  The playa is a huge dry lake bed. You have a 10+ mile drive on the playa surface once you leave the tiny town of Gerlach NV.  There is no electricity, resturants, gas stations, or freakin anything on the playa.  You are at the mercy of Mother Nature.  A rain storm here will turn the playa to a mud bath and trap you for days before it dries out.  Wind and dust storms are the norm and can occur out of nowhere.  yes, it's tough place but we are here en mass to celebrate extreme rocketry.  

So here's the run down on today's launches!   Chris attempted to start the day off with his 3" rocket on a CTI M3700 motor.  Antenae issues forced him to reschedule the launch until this afternoon. Once it flew, I can only say WOW!  A 21lbs rocket with a motor pumping out 40x more thrust.  It pulled 57G off the pad and essentially disappeared into the sky. Telemetry stayed solid and showed Mach 2.2 and over 23k'.  The tiny canards on the front of his rocket actually showed some serious signs of aerodynamic induced heating.  Yup!  So fast, the fins started melting!  Perfect recovery 2.4 miles downrange.

Eric was up next with his 2-stage.  A few false alarm launch attempts before it leaped off the pad into the sky on an EX N motor booster going to an CTI N sustainer. Both motors were BIG 98mm cases. Booster stage looked great but the separation and ignition of the sustainer had some issues.  Both halves were eventually recovered.  Data from the altimeters showed at max alt of 66,800'. Not a perfect flight but an improvement from last year as well as an altitude record for any Tripoli Houston member.  He is already planning improvements needed for next year.

Next up was Randy with his minimum diameter 4" flying on a long burn N motor.  The boost was perfect until burnout and a few seconds later, one of the altimeters appeared to fire the apogee charge as it was still rapidly ascending.  Max alt was 14k' which was far below what it should have been.  Recovery was completed but the beautiful metal fin can and motor case are stil missing.  Search teams will resume tomorrow morning.

Last flight was my EZI65 (my old L1 and L2 rocket) flying on a n EX K765.  I remember my L2 cert flight hit just over 5k' and with a J. This flight took the bird up to 7,400' with a perfect recovery just over a half mile away.  Did I mention how AWESOME Eric's buggie is?  Fat old guys shouldn't walk that far out into the desert...  Just sayin...

Additional flights of note.  Steve Heller had multiple folks here flying his motors. All of them looked to be excellent motor burns! Ken Overton's huge 6" P powered motor had a GREAT BOOST!  But he lost data transmission almost immediately and has been unable to find the rocket.  Definitely a shame as it likely hit 100k' or better.  The project EVERYONE is waiting for (inluding the FAA) is the tag team of Stu Barrett and Jim Jarvis with their boosted 2-stage.  This should go tomorrow morning, flying a research 6" P motor to a 4" M long burn motor.  Estimated altitude is above 200k'.

And finallly, tonight is the legendary "Party on the Playa".  All of the flyers share war stories, alcohol and of course burn old propellant.  The party kicked off with a 90lbs box of bad Loki propellant which is still freaking blinding me. It burned crazy bright for almost 5 minutes.  Just imagine lots of hoots and hollering as people dump their propellant into a LARGE iron burn barrel.  Somebody had quite a few sparky grains they donated!    Quite a good time and lots of awesome fellowship with some legends of the rocketry community. And the multitude of sky lanterns was very cool! Thanks to Eric for bringing some!

We have a final flight tomorrow which is my L3 bird on a big research M motor.  Packing up and departing by 2pm with arrival back in Houston on Wednesday if all goes well.

Cheers to everyone from Black Rocket Desert Nevada!

Randy, Chris, Eric and Andy