Estes Ventris Certification Level 1 Flight - TTRA Launch 21 May 2016 - raw video
WARNING: THE VIDEO GETS LOUD AT 0:45 AS THE CAMERA SLIPS AND THE MICROPHONE IS UNSHIELDED! This was the second flight of my Estes Ventris, and as the first flight went so well, I decided to make this my Tripoli Level 1 Certification Flight. She flew to 2432' on a Cesaroni 168H87-12A Imax reload. The launch and flight were flawless, the ejection charge went off about 20 feet after apogee, and my Jolly Logic Chute Release let the parachute loose at 300', with full deployment less than 40' later. The crazy spinning during the descent was caused by some interesting wind gusts. The Ventris even missed all the cow pies when she landed. The paint job, and her name, the USS Delaney, were inspired by the Gulf Oil Racing livery on the Porsche 917K's, as well as the Steve McQueen film "Le Mans". The color scheme was chosen because I've seen a few Ventris videos wherein the rocket wiggled on takeoff in a similar fashion to the way a 917 wiggles under extremely hard braking. This is the first time I've used a U-838 video camera, and I haven't yet figured out all the settings, which is why the date stamp is wrong, the frame rate is slow, and, for better or worse, the motion sensor was activated, thus cutting out everything before ignition (which is basically a bunch of nothing). Regarding that spin... I'm not sure if the camera mount imparted the spin, if a fin is slightly warped, or if I somehow planed and sanded the leading edge(s) of the fins unevenly enough to cause it. But I'll say this - it sure was a straight flight! I counted approximately 12 rotations, which means there was only one revolution approximately every 202'... THAT'S how fast she climbed to altitude! And I really can't believe how many cow pies it missed!

 Rocketry Product: Jolly Logic - Chute Release {Component}

 Rocketry Product: Estes - Ventris {Kit} (009701) [2012-2018]

 Rocketry Club: Tripoli Tampa Rocketry Association

Author Mike Barnett
Duration 111 seconds

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