Towards the end of each school year, Mr. Deller of Ashland Middle School (Ashland, Oregon) would have his science class launch model rockets. It was a fun way to end the year.

In 1983, I was in his class, and we built our rockets. I had a Spin Fin that I had gotten in the class, as well as a Stiletto that I had made from a kit I bought with my allowance. This was my very first time launching model rockets with solid fuel engines, rather than the boring old water rockets we did in summer.

On launch day, he'd pull his truck up onto the field, pop the hood, and the launches would begin.

My rockets did admirably despite the lack of skill I displayed in making them. But one kid's rocket really flew well. After recovery he was being patted on the back by all the guys for the nice flight and recovery of his kit. He was only paying attention to the admiration instead of the next rocket being launched. While he was joking around with the guys, he repacked the parachute for his next chance to launch. I however was watching the rocket that the kid who had a reputation for trouble had just launched. A nicely built Nova Payloader.

Rocket goes up, and the we could see the smoke climb up straight, then it stopped, no sign of a parachute deployment. We quickly grasped that the rocket hadn't deployed it's parachute, and was now heading straight down, and I mean STRAIGHT down!

Mr. Deller, starts yelling, as does the rest of us to look out, as it's falling, and FAST!!!

The kids around the previous launcher hear the alarm, and all look up, then scatter. Suddenly sensing that something was wrong (like the teacher and 20 boys yelling at him to look out), he finally looks up from his rocket, sees the incoming missile, and falls backwards.

It hit, right where he had been standing. We all rushed to him and the earthworm seeking missile sticking out of the ground between his feet.

The rocket was pulled out, and Mr. Deller inspected it carefully to find the source of the malfunction. It wasn't a malfunction though, it was sabotage. The bad news kid had removed the parachute, and superglued the nosecone into the body tube without anybody catching on. All launches were subsequently stopped, while he was marched into the principals office. He was immediately suspended for two weeks (thus preventing him from advancing w/us). This incident could have seriously hurt someone, and gotten the program banned in our school/city, who knows perhaps even state.


The takeaway from this:

ALWAYS be the one who does the final inspection of the rocket before school sanctioned launches, you should NEVER trust the kids in this matter. If necessary, find another adult to assist you with the launches, I'm sure there's one out there with enough of a kid inside him to still want to help.

Be Safe Out There!
Jim

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Dreaming of making the rockets I dreamed of as a kid (and then some).

"The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack."
"The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

Launching is Optional... Landing? That Depends on Trees.

There is preventing a problem resulting from malice and a more common situation with beginner error. At our outreach launches, we have someone checking that there is wadding, that it is not toilet paper or paper towel, the nose cone is not too loose or too tight, the parachute is reefed if it is a windy day, the fins are securely attached, the motor is properly retained, etc.


Bill

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If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

WHen my kids were in elementary school I did a model rocket week for the 6th grade science class. A 2 day lecture, 2 days to build the rockets and a Friday morning launch for altitude. We either did Alpha III's with an A8-3 or a gnome with a 1/2 A3-4. When #3 son was in 6th grade, the oldest son, who was a Junior in HS came to help.

Every kid was to get 2 launches and #1 son was helping to prep. BY mistake he reached into the wrong drawer and got an old A3-0 booster engine and did not look at it when he shoved it into the rocket.

When that rocket was launched it went straight up and arced over right at my head. I only avoided being clobbered by a yell from my son.

A lil' rocket sabota-gee can be funny if nobody hurt.
The ol' whack the engine on the side solidly with a hammer then slip into someone else's range box used to be a favorite in the club when we were kids. Insta-BOOM M-80 style upon ignition. In other words, what one got with a F100 about 60% of the time anyway.
I started marking my engines at home so I would not be fooled.

No real M-80 atop the engine in the rocket with the cone glued on deliberate ? Whutt a gypp !


I still to this day use toilet paper or paper towl as wadding atop one square of non-flammable wadding in my BT50 and under rockets. It works and is FAR cheaper than using all non-flammable stuff. "Dog Barf" Cellulose insulation is better than anything in the paper format. For BT55 and above, I use baffles and throw in a little toilet paper for insurance.

Back in the day, FSI actually packaged FIBREGLASS insulation for wadding, which I find to be anti-enviro HI-LARIOUS !!!!

The 'older son' from the previous posting should have grabbed a more interesting 'mistake' engine like a C6-7, old Cox D8-3, B4-6, 1/2A6-4 or a B14-0.

In my experience, in smaller rockets using a booster engine usually results in ejection right at burnout, not a non-ejection. A B14-0 would probably get an ejection at about 40' moving upward RAPIDLY. Would make for a HI-Larious flight.

I used to like to launch my old Astron Avenger on an A8-0 to B14-5 combo for a funny flight. It would take off slow, stage at less than 50', then rapidly and loudly streak off under the quick and fast burn of the B14. A B14-0 to a B4-6 flight was also interesting in the opposite way.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Til you launched it on my farm, and got BANNED from the premises and "escorted" off the property (willingly or unwillingly, either way)....

Later! OL JR

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I launch toward a 500 acre farm that bordered my 2 acre backyard that is leased to the farmer by the land owner. Pretty sure the land owner would not be concerned. Neither is around almost ever. No chance of being banned. Never used fibreglass anyway, but see no big-deel with it either...actually kinda funny !

I have no problem with environmental standards and regulations as long as they are no stricter than those observed by Automotive and Insecticide corporations in the early 1950's. Those are MORE THAN PLENTY.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Nice double-standard, GH...

You say "you should be able to do whatever you want on your land" and with that I agree... but then you talk rather cavalierly about doing whatever YOU want on your NEIGHBOR'S land...

True, they might not care... the tenant farmer probably doesn't really give two hoots, especially if he's row cropping corn and beans... livestock is a different story when it comes to stuff like fiberglass wadding raining down on the field from some YAHOO over the fence... (I'm having some trouble with irresponsible neighbors and their d@mn dogs right now... I've talked to them about it but they're A-holes and won't fix the problem, so I guess it'll fall to me to figure it out). The absentee landowner may be SO absentee that he or she isn't around enough to care... BUT all this is beside the point...

The point is, you CANNOT "claim" the right to 'do whatever you want on your own land' when that's having a DIRECT effect on SOMEONE ELSE'S land... IOW, you should clean up your messes when they impinge on someone else's property... If you want to turn your place into a junkyard, that's your business, so long as it doesn't impinge on the neighbor's rights...

Good fences make good neighbors... that's true. Also having a little respect and taking care of your business goes a long way too...

I hear ya on the enviro-regs... "common sense" was good enough for DECADES, until suddenly common sense wasn't so common anymore, and folks figured out they could make a TON of money without lifting a finger off of enviro-regs... that was the "Katy bar the door" moment...

At any rate, I have NO problem using something for which no GOOD substitute of substantial equivalence (in price, efficacy, or availability) exists, but lets face it... there is NO good excuse for using fiberglass or pillow ticking for rocket wadding-- there are TONS of MUCH BETTER substitute products that are cheaper and easier to use and MUCH more responsible choices, better for the rocketeer and for the landowner of the field he's flying from (or adjacent to) and better for the environment too... win/win/win...

Later! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

The farm adjacent to me alternates between soybeans and corn every other 2 years.
Soybeans are great for recovering rockets from, Corn not so hot.
I would never use fibreglass for recovery wadding, but had a hard time figuring out why it would cause a farming issue. I was NOT thinking about livestock roaming in huge amounts of acreage like it is common out west....around here that is very uncommon. Cattle are usually penned up and allowed to roam in only very small areas. Large areas of acreage in my parts are almost exclusively for crops.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Okay... not busting your chops specifically, just trying to make a broader point to whomever else is reading this at some time...

Fiberglass, being SPUN GLASS, will simply not deteriorate in the environment... it's basically sand. The stuff hits the ground, and unless it's picked up, it'll lay there til doomsday. Grass or crops will grow over it, and rain will wash it down against the soil surface and mat it out pretty flat, but there it will remain, soiled but intact, for DECADES if not centuries... on farm fields, it'll be disked under or plowed under (assuming some level of tillage is done) or even on no-till fields, it'll eventually be squashed into the dirt by machinery tires or planter disks or residue wheels or whatever, where it will be impregnated with soil particles and remain stable in that condition for decades or centuries...

The only thing that would really break it down is weathering/erosion... like broken glass at the beach which rapidly gets the sharp edges worn off by the sand being moved by waves, fiberglass would slowly be weathered away by the impact of sand grains... in a field being tilled, it would slowly be broken down from the 'erosion' of moving soil particles... on the soil surface, by "weathering" from soil particles impacting it during rainstorms or windblown particles... (assuming the surface isn't COMPLETELY covered with vegetation to the extent that it prevents raindrop impacts or wind from reaching the surface...)

At any rate, the stuff is just terrible from that perspective...

For livestock it's even worse... livestock can eat the stuff while grazing, especially if it's not quite settled down to the soil surface and is still suspended by plant material slightly above the soil surface where the animals are grazing... once in their gut, the fiberglass continues to embed itself and break off the ends of the fibers throughout the digestive tract, causing perforation, infection, and perhaps death. IT can ball up and plug up the intestines or stomach and kill the animal. Nothing good comes from fiberglass in a pasture or meadow...

Later! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!