RocketReviews.com - Estes - Hi-Flier (2178) [2003-]

Brief:
Hi-Flyer is a skill level 1 LPR made by Estes. Its main selling point is its potential apogee at 1700 feet.

Construction:
Three balsa deltoid fins attach to a BT-20 and NC20 combination. Motor retention is achieved by an external engine clip. The clip retention ring is also external. The fins have a small slot cut into the root to accommodate this ring. A sized engine block slips into the body tube. Recovery system is an elastic shock cord and vinyl orange streamer.

As a skill level one kit, this rocket was very easy to build. The external clip was odd and as far as I know doesn't exist on other rockets of this class.

I used Aves Apoxy Sculpt to fillet the fins. This did add weight and may have affected flight characteristics adversely.

Finishing:
I finished this rocket in a red rust and black, which in hind sight was a mistake. I did not use the "Hi-Flyer" self adhesive decal. I did add my son's initials to the fins using vinyl lettering then gave the rocket a light coat of clear enamel.

Flight:
Any Estes 18mm rocket motor is recommended for Hi-Flyer. First flight was on a B6-4. Wadding was used with a standard Estes igniter.

This flight CATOed. It corkscrewed in a wide arc immediately off the pad and hit the ground. Ejection happened at O altitude.

The second flight was on a B6-4. Again, the rocket also corkscrewed off the pad and flew downrange quite far and we lost sight of the model.

It took about a 1/2 hour to find the rocket, thanks to the rust paint job. The only distinguishing color was the orange streamer. We would not have found it otherwise.

Recovery:
Flight recovery for flight #2 was unseen, but the streamer was still crumpled and not fully deployed, due to the vinyl material Estes made the streamer out of. The rocket only sustained some scuffing on one fin. It is still flyable (although still probably has its stability issues).

Summary:
I can't give this kit an enthusiastic endorsement, mostly because of other reviews on this site suggest that this kit may be inherently unstable. I was attracted to this kit because of its advertised performance (flights to 1700 feet on a C6-5) and its price. As is, I plan to do a third flight on a C6-5 on a large field and then retire this rocket. A big con for this kit is the streamer deployment. My comment to Estes would be to abandon the vinyl (or rubbery plastic) streamer because they do not fully unfurl and perhaps do not supply enough drag on recovery.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2003-02-12	Bill Bill's Estes Hi-Flier	A3-4	-	Launched at a angle; wrapped tape around 13mm motor. Not very high. Launched into the wind; wind...
2003-04-06	Lance Alligood's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Horrible paint job. My first launch of any kind in almost 20 yrs. Went up ~200ft & then turned...
2003-04-12	Jason Vennard's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Maiden flight, quick little rocket, nice boost and flight, streamer recovery, no problems.
2003-06-06	Scott Oblander's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Weathercocked badly on takeoff. Burnt throught shock cord. Recovered w/o any additional damage.
2003-06-29	Scott Oblander's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Rocket went off at an angle downwind. Didn't see ejection. Lost in woods.
2003-06-30	Jason Vennard's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Light east winds, nice fast boost again, recovered under streamer straight back down, close to pad.
2003-08-03	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Built without motor hook. I didn't use enough tape on the friction fit, and the motor kicked out...
2003-08-12	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Finally got a good flight. Caught a breeze with streamer recovery and drifted quite a ways down...
2003-10-04	Warren Wattles's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Turned 30 degrees off vertical and went far off range. Was lucky to recover, even in barren...
2003-10-12	Will Samuels's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-7	-	i glued the nose cone to the tube. it got stuck in the ground then blew the engine out 20 feet....
2004-04-03	Warren Wattles's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Arced over to about 45 degrees and disappeared. Unable to find during 25 minute search - returned...
2004-04-16	Mike Kiss's Estes Hi-Flier	1/2A6-2	-	Good maiden flight in high wind, boost to about 400ft, ejection perfect, landed about 100ft. from...
2004-06-18	Frank DiMatteo's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Rocket went a couple of hundred feet and then turned horizontal all the sudden. Went about 700...
2004-06-19	Donald Laskey's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	almost lost
2004-06-19	Donald Laskey's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-
2004-06-26	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	My second one. NARTREK Bronze streamer duration qualifier. 41 seconds using a 3x30 mylar streamer.
2004-06-26	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-5	-	Tried for a 60 second parachute duration for NARTREK, only got 52 using a 16 inch plastic chute.
2004-06-26	Mike Kiss's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Good flight to about 700ft, good deploy at apogee, landed about150ft. from pad, Estes ding at end...
2004-06-27	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	NARTREK Bronze parachute duration flight. 76 seconds using a 12 inch plastic chute with a 2 inch...
2004-09-11	Chan Stevens's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-3	-
2004-09-19	Mark Watkins's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Gusty conditions, adjusted launch angle 5'. Rocket tracked straight up approx 800-1000, perfect...
2004-10-08	Mike Kiss's Estes Hi-Flier	1/2A6-2	-	Nice easy flight to about 100 ft., ejection at apogee, landed about 50 ft. from pad, no damage
2004-10-16	Mark Jones's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Beautiful maiden flight! Person next to me was amazed to hear that it was flying on an A8-3....
2004-10-17	Kyle Hancock's Estes Hi-Flier	B4-4	-	Great flight, but kicked motor.
2004-10-31	Chris Muir's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Nice high first flight. Long drift and hard landing on pavement but no apparent damage.
2004-10-31	Chris Muir's Estes Hi-Flier	1/2A6-2	-	Less drift than first. After recovery, discovered external engine clip ripped hole in tube about...
2004-11-11	Chris Muir's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Went up very fast at launch, hard to see. Went up about 800ft! Drifted about 500ft, though. No...
2004-11-11	Chris Muir's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Launched it and it only went about 200ft, (it curves because i glued the wings on weird) but it...
2005-02-05	Kyle Hancock's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	NARTREK Gemini streamer - 38.4 s
2005-02-20	Kyle Hancock's Estes Hi-Flier	B4-4	-	Ben's final NARTEK Gemini flight. PD 1:20.0
2005-06-09	Austin Flora's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Went perfect on an Estes A motor, came down 50 feet away. Decided to spice things up and used an...
2005-07-12	Willie Legg's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Went up, flew over 100 ft downrange, never saw again. :(
2006-02-19	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	A8-3	-	Great flight - recovery on streamer.
2006-02-19	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	A8-3	-	streamer wadded - recovered ok.
2006-03-05	T Muir's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-
2006-03-17	Jeff Hollenbeck's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Very quick off the pad, slight arc during boost. Landed about 1/2 mile away. No damage. Club...
2006-03-17	Jeff Hollenbeck's Estes Hi-Flier	D21-7	-	What a launch - worth the money! Very fast off the pad, only saw the red chalk puff at ejection. ...
2006-04-08	Richie Plye's Estes Hi-Flier	1/2A6-2	-	Ejection charge blew shock cord to pieces, but all parts were recovered.
2006-04-09	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	A8-3	-	Great flight!
2006-05-06	Chan Stevens's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-
2006-05-21	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	A8-3	-	Great flight!
2006-05-21	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	A8-3	-	Great rocket - zips out of sight!
2006-06-18	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	B6-4	-	NAR Bronze streamer duration - 37 seconds! Great flight!
2006-07-10	Brady Cutts's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Nice straight, fast launch. Started to spiral as it approaced apogee. Lost sight until it had come...
2006-07-16	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog I	B6-4	-	NAR Bronze chute duration attempt - lost after 120 seconds.
2006-08-19	Mike Morley's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	150-200 ft apogee; recovered OK
2006-08-19	Mike Morley's Estes Hi-Flier	A6-4	-	Apogee 200' -- winds blew past distant treeline -- landed in high weeds on far side of trees; not...
2006-08-20	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	B6-4	-	Popped shock cord mount. Repaired for next flight.
2006-09-17	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	B6-4	-	NAR Bronze chute duration - 56 seconds.
2006-09-17	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	B6-4	-	NAR Bronze chute duration - 70 seconds!
2006-09-21	Donald Laskey's Estes Hi-Flier	B4-4	-	32 sec.
2006-10-07	Mike Kimbler's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-7	-
2006-10-07	Mike Kimbler's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-
2006-10-07	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-	Nice flight, recovered on a 3x30 mylar streamer.
2006-10-07	David Logan's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-	Another good flight with a 3x30 streamer.
2006-11-19	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight!
2007-03-03	Karl Kalbaugh's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-5	-	We had high expectations if the Hi-Flyer. Flight one came cork screwing off of the pad and smacked...
2007-03-03	Karl Kalbaugh's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-5	-	Second flight, Hi-Flier corkscrewed a bit then went down range fast. Took a while to find. The...
2007-03-18	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight!
2007-05-20	Chan Stevens's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-
2007-06-17	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight!
2007-07-15	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight! Recovered on a streamer.
2007-08-19	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	1/2A6-2	-	Shock cord broke, but the rocket was recovered just fine. Someone found the nose cone and...
2007-09-21	Brian Yankee's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	2nd flight. Again it came off lauch pad at 80 degree angle but then flew straight and extremely...
2007-09-21	Brian Yankee's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	1st flight. Veered off pad at an 80 degree angle but then flew straight and very high. Streamer...
2008-02-17	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	1/2A6-2	-	Plastic streamer didn't fully deploy due to cold temps. Will replace with crepe paper for next...
2008-03-21	Tony Interrante's Estes Hi-Flier	A8-3	-	Two good flights on a8-'3. This is the leasts stable rocket I have from the estes line. There was...
2008-05-04	Chan Stevens's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-
2008-06-15	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	1/2A6-2	-	Great flight - recovered on streamer near pad.
2008-09-14	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Streamer got tangled in the shock cord, but otherwise a good all round flight. Came back within...
2008-09-14	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Flew straight up for 30ft. Did a few loops then lawn darted.
2008-09-21	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight - landed near the pad.
2008-10-17	Chris Rennie's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Flew this 5 times on a B6-4. Launch rod angled at 10 degrees for wind. Flew perfectly every time....
2008-12-14	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-
2009-01-18	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-5	-	Great flight. Almost lost it in the tall grass, but luckily it was found and returned.
2009-04-17	Mark Grisco's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-	the clouds made it hard to see the tracking smoke today. i heard the flight but did not see much...
2009-04-19	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-
2009-04-19	Gene Wolski's Flying Frog II	A8-3	-	Great flight but the shock cord broke. Last Flight of the FF2. To be retired.
2009-05-01	Billy Compton's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	I agree with everyone else on this one. Launch this puppy with a C engine and kiss it bye bye. It...
2009-05-17	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-
2009-06-20	Mark Traverso's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	It flew straight up and looked great but the wind took it away and it was never seen again. I...
2009-09-12	Eldred Pickett's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-
2009-09-13	Leigh Metzroth's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-6	-	Rod whip flicked it off at a 45 degree azimuth in a SE direction. Successful flight, but I just...
2010-01-23	Ken Tsai's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	First flight of the day. ~1000 feet, and a nice way to find out the wind conditions.
2010-03-13	Preston Hoover's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Very windy day. I have not launched for two months. Good flight nice altitude and recovery.
2010-03-18	Preston Hoover's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	Great flight, went around 1,000 ft. For the wind and the motor, I thought we lost it. Landed...
2010-03-25	Preston Hoover's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-7	-	Did you ever hear the one - I shot an arrow into the air, where it landed I know not where? Lost...
2010-06-02	Sam Moore's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	I had 2 successful launches on a C6-5 motor. During construction I trimmed the fins slightly and...
2010-08-02	Jeff Berger's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	I knew this one could be lost on C motor, so I placed call if found phone number stickers on nose...
2010-08-02	Jeff Berger's Estes Hi-Flier	A3-5	-	Jumped off pad and came down with two longer streamers for easy recovery.
2010-08-07	vincent penoso's Estes Hi-Flier	C6-5	-	i think the model needs to be checked for CG and CP when using the larger motors. The model...
2010-09-10	Tom Seemeyer+II's Estes Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Finally a good flight. Note, 5.32g nose weight was added.
2011-04-13	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	First launch of rocket with a streamer. Very high flight, but able to see orange paint throughout...
2011-07-04	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Light wind. Temperature 85 degrees. No clouds. Good launch. High flight. Rocket visible...
2011-07-13	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Good flight. Able to see throughout flight. Streamer deployed. Wind calm at ground level, but...
2011-08-25	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Temperature 77, no wind, clear skies. Rocket quick off the pad, lost to sight at apogee (but...
2011-10-01	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Temperature 54 degrees. Launched 6:20 pm. Good high flight. Visible throughout the flight. ...
2011-10-01	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Reloaded on site. Launched 6:31 pm. Very high flight in a similar trajectory to first flight. ...
2011-10-01	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Reloaded on site. Temperature 52 degrees. Launched 6:41 pm. High flight with similar trajectory...
2011-10-16	Glen's Hi Flier	A10-3T	-
2011-10-22	Kurt Knox's Hi-Flier	B6-4	-	Great flight.
2011-10-23	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Adjusted launch angle to straight up. Good flight. Very high. Lost to sight on ascent, but...
2011-11-30	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Low wind from the southwest. Temperature 33 degrees. Sun set, but still light enough to see. ...
2011-12-12	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Cloudy and dark. Temperature 41 degrees. Wind nearly calm. Launched 4:26 pm. Good flight -...
2012-01-06	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:25 pm. Temperature: 45 degrees. Wind blowing about 5mph from the west. Partly cloudy. ...
2012-01-10	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:35 pm. Temperature: 42 degrees. Clear skies. Wind blowing ~10 mph from the south. ...
2012-01-21	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:00 pm. Calm. Mostly cloudy. About 4 inches of snow covered the launch site. Good...
2012-01-30	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 3:57 pm. Temperature: 48 degrees. Wind: ^ 5 mph from the south. Mostly sunny. High...
2012-02-01	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:26 pm. Temperature: 40 degrees. Sunny. Wind blowing ~ 5mph from the north. High...
2012-02-04	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:45 pm. Temperature: 36 degrees. Wind calm. Mostly sunny. High flight. Lost sight as...
2012-02-20	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 5:00 pm. Temperature: 34 degrees. Wind blowing about 10 mph from the southeast. Cloudy. ...
2012-03-13	Bob Francis's Orange Blossom Special	A8-3	-	Time: 4:39 pm. Temperature: 71 degrees. Wind blowing about 5mph from the south. Sunny and...
2012-04-15	Brad Montgomery's High-Flier	B4-4	200 feet	Good Launch - High winds (15-20 mph), Drove 45 min. and couldn't resist the first launch of the...
2012-04-15	Brad Montgomery's High-Flier	C6-5	450 - 500 feet	Good Launch - High winds (15-20 mph). Angled the rod into the wind a bit. It went up, streamer...

Estes - Hi-Flier (2178) [2003-]

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