How Many Flights?
 

I'm curious about how many flights minimum most rocketeers like to log on each of our birds. Any set number of flights before a model gets 'retired'?
For myself, I try to go for a least ten on each model. I figure most of my fleet models will have had enough at 50 flights.
I've read of many modelers having rockets that have flown 100 times and much more .

If it is a Scale rocket with a complex escape tower, it is lucky if I fly it more than 3 times.
I don't like repairs nor busticated scale models.

This is a good question. I haven’t ever planned to retire anything at a set limit. I have 304 rockets that could be flown, but many of the models from the mid to late 70s have bad shock cords and it is not a small task to replace them. I have 33 damaged that could be repaired and 32 that were lost, about half of those lost were replaced or will be. The number of damaged rockets is always growing, but they do get repaired over time. There are terrible flyers like my Astron spaceman and Crossfire ISX, they may never fly again unless I attempt to modify the rockets to fly straight. I have a High Power dual deploy rocket with 103 flights, it and another HPR with 50 flight should be retired because of accumulating damage, but they get flown because I haven’t replaced them yet. Some rockets (like yours) get flown often so I have a few mid and HPR with 20-50 flights. I have many with fewer than 5 flights. Finally, I am not sure I will ever fly my Maxi-Xwing or Mars Lander built in the 70’s. They are both sentimental favorites that can have flight problems. I can build an NCR Xwing or Semroc Mars lander if I want to get a similar experience.

For my high power two stage scale sounding rockets, I've been trying to get two good flights before moving on to the next.

But it's taken me 4-5 flights to get to two good ones.

In the early 1990's I flew an AstroCam 110 with a 24 exposure cartridge in it 22 times. On the 22nd flight it managed to land in the ONLY body of water in the area. I retrieved it a stick. The 110 roll was ruined and I stomped the model into the dirt while swearing heavily. I then drank much beer.

I wonder if it's even KNOWN how many times Vern has flown his iconic "seasoned" Big Bertha.

I am so sorry to hear that, I’ll repeat the story here for anyone still flying film cameras. I had an AC in a tree for 6 months through an entire eastern winter. The homeowner returned it when it finally fell down. I had a photographer friend who told me that water doesn’t damage the film, he encouraged me to develop the film. I dried the cartridge out for a few days, got it developed and got decent pictures.

I think the beer was a good idea though.

Jim Flis retired his Astron Sprint after 500 flights.

Thanks for the replies.
Sorry, I meant for this thread to be posted in the free for all forum.
My cel phone fumble fingers hit the wrong one!
If one of the moderators is able to facilitate a move, it would be appreciated.🤔

DANG! Maybe I shouldn't have stomped the camera section into the dirt!