Flight Log - 2012-04-01 - Rich DeAngelis's Ricochet

The Ricochet: The Ricochet is another design inspired by air defense missiles.  It has a reducer to a long, thin payload section.  It is an easy, modern kit. Instead of regular gloss, I used a metallic blue paint, and painted some silver rings around the tube heads, and clear coated the entire model after the decals were added. The payload section has vent holes for use with a barometric altimeter. I like this bird, it's tall but pretty light, and it travels pretty far on smaller motors. This rocket has flown higher than the Time Warner Center Towers in NY, and the Bell Atlantic Tower in Philadelphia. From sea-level it could have flown over the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Flight Date: 2012-04-01
Rocket Name: Ricochet
Kit Name: Estes - Richocet {Kit} (003208)
Flyer's Name: Rich DeAngelis
Motors: B6-4
Launch Site: Penn Manor School Lancaster PA
Actual Altitude: 258.00 Feet

This light rocket took off straight and true and with a slow roll with a 8/10 second burn time, accelerating at 10.6Gs off the pad and averaging 4.4 for the burn, too fast for the wind gusts to bother it. It reached a speed of 80 mph, much lower than expected, (about 95 expected). After the burn it coasted for 3.5 seconds to an altitude of 258 feet, about 80-100 feet lower than expected.

There was a just slightly long, 4.2 second delay before the ejection charge fired after the rocket turned over and fell 10 feet in 0.7 seconds. The timing after apogee was as good as can be expected. The rocket descended more than twice as fast as normal at 13 mph for a flight time of 18.2 seconds, although I expected more like 30 to 40 seconds. It was obvious in the descent that there was something wrong with the parachute, you could see it spinning very, very fast.

Upon inspection after landing I could see two shroud lines ripped off. The four remaining shrouds were so severely twisted in knots from the spinning that the parachute quickly closed shut. I believe it was only the very rapid spinning that kept the descent speed slow somewhat like a helicopter-type recovery.  I still don't know what may have caused the ripped plastic damage to the chute, since the ejection was well enough timed. The chute was not melted or burned.

StageMotor(s)
1Estes B6-4

 

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