The fine weather has finally returned to Queensland and what a beautiful day it was for launching rockets! It was great to be out at the launch site again and seeing some great flights. It was a members only launch, although numbers were down no doubt as a result of the recent Williams "Wildfire" Winternationals launch held in Western Australia many rockets are still in freight making their way back home.
Well it has been anything but good weather for rocketry in Queensland in the last few months. Many have been affected by the tragedies and loss surrounding the recent events in our part of the world. We here at Ausrockets would like to suggest to all of our readers that you support those that have suffered most in recent weeks and do as we have done and donate generously to the Queensland Premiers Flood Appeal - http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html.
January 30th saw QRS hold its first launch of 2011 and we were joined by a large contingent of attendees from the linux.conf.au (http://lca2011.linux.org.au/) that was recently held in the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane. It was a pleasure to meet BDale Garbee, Keith Packard and all the other conference goers that joined us for our launch and launched a bunch of rockets they had been working on during the conference to highlight the usage of the OpenRocket (http://openrocket.sourceforge.net/) software.
There were a number of great launches on the day including Shirley's successful L1 and L2 certification flights and L1 Certifications for Nic and Mark. Congratulations to all of you!
I personally launched both my PML Mystic on a G76-7G and PML Sudden rush on an I154J - the were both great flights.
Check out the video below to see a selection of the flights from the day.
Unfortunately the Ausrockets team won't be able to make the February launch, but we will be back for the March launch and look forward to bringing you all the action from the first public launch of 2011.
What a beautiful Queensland winters day .. We could not have asked for better weather as we turned out at launch site 2 for the August members launch.
There were some great flights on the day, including a launch of a tribrid rocket, another MetalStorm launch and Bruce attaining his L2 certification on a "Matrix" flying on a J500G motor - congratulations Bruce! I took the opportunity to fly some of my smaller rockets that hadn't seen air time recently, launching my Deuces Wild, Lil Hustler and my always reliable Callisto.
All up there were 80 recorded launches for the day consisting of
Firstly, apologies for the late posting, there has been a bit of a delay in getting the photos from our new photographer.
June was a cold start to the launch day but it turned out to be a perfect day for launches with a large number of members showing up to launch their creations skyward.
I personally got to launch my Sudden Rush on an I motor. It was a great flight landing out in one of the nearby fields.
There were plenty of great flight in the day which you can see in the photos and short video below. Click on the photo for a bigger version and be sure to check here for plenty more photos from the day.
The 11th of October saw another Queensland Rocketry Society monthly launch, this time it was a members launch. Without the large crowds of a public launch it made for a more relaxed day for most and a chance to try out some new rockets and there were a large number of TRA certifications planned by various members for the day, including my L2 attempt.
Arriving at the site, the weather was looking very variable, with a lot of cloud cover, but that didn't phase most and the day got off to a great start with lines to the LCO desk starting early. Meanwhile all up and down there were certification motors being built under supervision and people preparing to fly.
There were a huge number of flights in the day and I believe all flyers who attempted certification achieved it before the day was out. Some of the other notable flight included a J motor drag race and Ari's rocket on a K550 which was a fantastic flight to see.
One of those who are newly certified following the October launch is QRS's own treasurer, George who was a great help to me in my L2 build and testing and so a great congratulations goes out to him for his new L2 certification.
Unfortunatly for me, with my L2 attempt expected to reach upwards of 4500ft the cloud cover was just too low to make my attempt, however I was able to complete and pass the L2 written exam with a 100% passing mark and it gives me one more month to ensure I am ready to go. Fingers crossed next month will be the big day for me.
Don't forget to check out additional photos on the photo page.
Yet another fantastic day of flights and fun with QRS!
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 9:15PM ;)
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