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Old 02-26-2011, 08:52 PM
Peter Olivola Peter Olivola is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2011
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This is really not relevant to small rockets under parachute recovery. Think about the force vectors involved. A sub one pound rocket descending at 18 ft./sec vs a full size hot air balloon with a "crew" of probably 1000 lbs. And the upper limit on wind velocity is lower for launching a balloon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
I can't agree with that, because I've seen it done in support of manned balloon flights. The owner of a local hot-air balloon rides company uses precisely that method (tracking the movements of small toy helium balloons) to determine whether to fly his passenger-carrying balloon (I flew with him in 2008). He takes off up to 30 minutes after tracking his small "pilot balloons," and he flies at a maximum altitude of about 2,000 feet AGL (Above Ground Level, as opposed to Sea Level), which is the altitude zone in which model rockets fly.
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