RocketReviews.com - Estes - Super Alpha (3216)

This rocket really doesn't have many cons. I would say the only one is that you have to make the shock cord mount out of paper.

Pros are very high, with easy assembly, fun for beginners along with experienced rocketers, and doesn't take very long to build (took me 3-4 hours including paint drying). It includes good building components.

Construction Score: 5

Flight

i think this is probably the best rocket in the world for those who have very limited space to launch a rocket. All I had was a small baseball field. Equipped with a B6-4, this rocket can easily hit 450 feet from my best guess (it would hit 600 ft with C6-5). On the day I launched it there was probably a wind speed of about one mph and I had equipped the rocket with a 12-inch parachute instead of the 18-inch one. The rocket flew pretty high and was fun to launch.

Recovery

The rocket hit apogee and began to fall for a split second when the 12-inch parachute deployed. With the smaller parachute the rocket falls very quickly, but slow enough to prevent damage. Mine landed about twenty feet away from the launch pad. And, for someone like me who has had rocket hit by cars because they drifted too much in the wind, this was a sigh of relief. With the 18-inch chute, I'm not quite sure how far it would have drifted. But overall, it was the best flight and recovery I've ever had.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2010-08-14	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	(Apogee 12 inch 'chute rather than stock). Good boost - fairly straight. A bit late ejection. Good...
2010-08-27	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	D10-7	981 feet	Took three tries to get lit. Deployment way past apogee. 'Chute departed (swivel failed). Even so,...
2010-08-27	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	504 feet	Nice flight all the way around. Good boost, deploy, landing. AltimeterOne aboard.
2010-09-11	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	A nice easy flight. Good timing on 'chute and landing nearby. Forgot to put an AltimeterOne...
2010-09-18	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	AlitmeterOne timed out, so no altitude recorded. Otherwise a decent flight. No other details...
2010-09-19	Chan Stevens's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Hung on rod a tiny bit, arced over (some weathercock), but otherwise fine flight.
2010-10-09	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Dead straight boost. Good deploy and good 'chute (a 14 inch Quest 'chute). Again near landing in...
2010-10-09	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Super straight boost with no roll at all. 'Chute deploy at about right time (hard to see against...
2011-04-09	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	-	First flight of skill level 1 rocket. Good first flight. Very stable, little spin. Parachute...
2011-04-13	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Good flight. Rocket visible throughout. Good parachute deploy and open. Rocket landed on...
2011-05-04	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	-	Good flight. Parachute deployed, but did not open. Rocket crashed in the grass about 15 yards...
2011-07-29	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Great flight. Initially stuck the landing, but fell over when a breeze caught the chute.
2011-10-23	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Temperature - 64 degrees. High winds delayed the launch about 30 minutes. Weather station blew...
2011-11-20	Kurt Knox's Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Super flight
2011-11-30	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	419 feet	Wind blowing from the southwest. Partly cloudy. Launched 4:16 pm. Temperature 34 degrees F. ...
2011-12-16	CHRIS HERZOG's Super Alpha xlt	c6-3	-	flight was excellent and straight 3 seconds left it pretty high and the 18 inch chute let it glide...
2011-12-16	CHRIS HERZOG's Super Alpha xlt	C6-5	-	This was the second flight for the Super alpha XLT it again flew nice and straight but the delay...
2011-12-20	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Textbook flight. Launched very straight. Didn't fly very high. Deployed parachute perfectly....
2011-12-24	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Launched correctly. Ejection charge fired, but failed to deploy parachute, resulting in broken fin...
2011-12-29	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Launched perfectly, parachute deployed and drifted down safely about 120 feet away from launch pad.
2012-01-06	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:13 pm, Temperature: 48 degrees. Wind blowing lightly from the west. Partly cloudy. ...
2012-01-10	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:30 pm. Temperature: 42 degrees. Clear skies. Wind blowing ~10 mph from the south. ...
2012-01-21	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	A8-3	-	Time: 3:40 pm. Thermometer was broken. Mostly cloudy. Calm. About 4 inches of snow covered the...
2012-01-30	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:22 pm. Temperature: 45 degrees. Wind ~ 5 mph from the south. Mostly sunny. Angled...
2012-02-18	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	162 feet	Time: 4:55 pm. Temperature: 23 degrees. Sunny. Wind: calm. Skyhawker failed to launch 3...
2012-02-19	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	428 feet	Time: 11:35 am. Temperature: 44 degrees. Wind ~ 10 mph from the north. Launched with the...
2012-03-13	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 5:05 pm. Temperature: 70 degrees. Wind blowing ~ 10 mph from the south. Clear and...
2012-03-17	Hans "Chris" Michielssen's Super Alpha	Estes C11-5	-	While you would expect a higher altitude from a 24mm C engine, it was as high as a 18mm C6-5 would...
2012-04-03	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Fantastic flight. Flights like this are why I call this B6-4 Field.
2012-04-03	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	B6-4	-	A second perfect flight, this one on video. If I can ever figure out how to get it out of my...
2012-05-07	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 7:10 pm. Temperature: 64 degrees. Wind: calm. Partly sunny. Good flight. Landed in the...

Estes - Super Alpha (3216)

Brief

Components

Construction and Finishing

Flight

Recovery

Summary

Flight Log

What You Can Do