Seanys+Rocket+Diaries+from+New+Zealand.

Well folks it’s that time again to put pen to paper or should I say finger to keyboard. Rockets is still a passion of mine after, I would say 15 or so years. The like of my Thunderhawk and PITA have been around for a few years now, flying in England, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia I reckon that makes them truly international rockets and me an international rocketeer. February down in the southern hemisphere brings about our National Launch Day, I suppose it’s the equivalent to UKRA or Klob as we used to know it or IRW as it still is. This season hasn’t been very eventful for myself as the first three meetings where cancelled due to adverse weather conditions and the days that the meetings have taken place on I was in work. The rocket fraternity strikes me as being very similar here as come the last few days before a big rocket meeting there is always a lot of scurrying around for bits and bobs and motors, last minute touch ups and repairs, me being one of these afore mentioned people. “How long have you had to get ready, how long have you known about the meeting?” would be Sues comment. I don’t want to hear this I need positive encouragement. This February has been a little different in the way that we held a members launch day before the National Launch Day. Joe public is invited to the NLD the gate entry is minimal but it helps the day become self sustainable. Saturday I packed up the car and packed it in, until I was leaving things behind. You can never take enough stuff with you to the events, tools, glue (lots of), spare parts, balsa wood, batteries, sun cream, sun hat, chairs. Plenty to drink in these parts is a must so lots of that too. There were a few guys there already when we got to the field. They had been camping overnight and there were also some guys from Australia there too. The range had almost been completely set up, a few pads needed putting in place but the ropes and layout was near enough done. Saturday was mainly to test my nitrous oxide filling system ready for the Sunday. I had also taken “Oh What The Hell” with me too for a bit of fun ( or those who don’t know it is very similar to Mr Darren Longhorns Tintinique). I drove up to the launch pad that I would be using and off loaded my gear for the hybrid. I kept the NOS bottle in the back of the car with ice tablets on it to help keep it cool in the ever increasing temperatures of the midday heat. The wind was quite blowey, I think in years gone by I would have ducked out of launching. But travelling down there with all my gear and with the girls too, Sen Ling our Chinese student and Fanny who is Oriana’s au pair’ the heat was on. First up was “Oh What The Hell” on a G125T, this is an awesome little rocket that is made from a time capsule that was full of sweets back in the millennium days. Supposedly filled with keep sakes and buried for years to come then dug up to see what times where like in years gone by. Oh no not me I fill it with a parachute and Ammonium perchlorate. The parachute was playing on my mind a little with this wind as from the previous launch I know that when the chute is deployed the rocket will just hang on the chute and take an age to descend. The button was pushed and the motor ignited, it flies straight as an arrow, the motor burns for all of 0.9 of a second and the little thing disappears from sight. After it is spotted slowly drifting in the wind hanging on the chute I try running and keeping up with it, bad idea, I knew I should have jumped in the car. The girls catch up with me and we have a long walk, praying it isn’t in the corn fields as the chances are it wouldn’t be seen again and may end up in you Cornflakes on the breakfast table. I did have a good bearing on where it had gone and if need be I did have my quadcopter with me too for a spy in the sky. That seems to be the only reason people have quadcopters/ multirotors so that they can spy on people. Arent the media and Joe Public easily led and narrow minded, not to think of the photography or enjoyment side of things. After a good walk it was spotted in the field beyond the corn border which was a relief. It doesn’t matter how small or big your rocket is it is always a big disappointment if you lose one. Luckily I haven’t lost too many over the years. Oriana was let in the field first under the fence she didn’t like that idea as she ended up getting little spikey things in her feet. “Where are her shoes?” you ask. Well, my little Peanut is a proper Kiwi now and she goes many a places without her shoes on, the soles of her feet will be like leather. The rocket was recovered very soon after with the help of Fanny, on returning to the fence they kept a close eye on the cows that were ever decreasing in distance away from them. I had my NOS bottle filled not long ago so there wasn’t going to be an issue with not having enough to fill the flight tank in the rocket. PITA was as good as prepped so all that had to be done was set up the ground support / filling system and put PITA onto the launch rail. PITA like my Thunderhawk has flown in England, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, the thing I like about this rocket is that it has flown on so many different size motors. Some day when I have a couple of hours to spare I will try and list them, the only other thing is I wished I kept a log of my flights. Back to the launch, with PITA on the pad and the NOS all piped up I did a pre flight check on all the solenoids and electrical system, and made sure the bottles had enough Nos and Oxy pressure and not too much either. All looking good I confirm with Evan who is the range safety officer for the day that I am ready for flight and run through what will be the filling and firing sequence. All systems are go, I start to fill the flight tank, all sounds and looks OK, I can hear the noise of the Nitrous filling inside the rocket, it has a strange humming, reverberating sound, the pitch of the sound changes and I suspect it is near full, the liquid Nos starts venting from the vent tube about 12” up from the bottom of the rocket. I signal to Evan that the rocket is full and I require a 5 count. I move swiftly away from the launch pad, and Evan confirms the range is clear and the sky is clear, “5,4,3,2,1, fire” I rotated the sequence switch, lifted the safety cover and depressed the power and fire buttons, and with a thunderous roar PITA was on her way for another walk in the park. After a few seconds we all lost sight of her and it was only when the main chute had opened at 800ft the she was spotted, luckily with the stiff breeze she hadn’t drifted too far, coming to rest about 150meters up range from where the launch was. Time to put her back in the car and get ready for another flight on the Sunday.

Sunday 7th February 2016. NZRA National Launch Day. I was an hour later than planned getting to the launch field in Taupiri, but we were still fairly early. A few launches took place as I finished prepping PITA and Thunderhawk. The Nos was kept in the shade again today as the temperature steadily rose to around 28c. In between the launches with the help of some friends I managed to get all my gear to the launch pad. Running through the pre flight checks I was getting no power out of the remote relay module. With the national news camera bearing down on me a quick fix was the order of the day. Off with the cover, blown fuse easily found, why did it blow? I don’t know, and still don’t. Quick fix as it also has had a circuit breaker fitted since the original build by my old friend Andrew Issott. All lights are go, just have to wait for clearance from the Range Safety Officers. The Nos is in a plastic picnic box with a bag of ice keeping the pressure down to around 900psi. Same as yesterday, all clear to go, seemed to take a little longer on the filling, and whilst the countdown is going on a short burst on the fill button for a quick top up on the flight tank, FIRE and its off again, WOW the fat lady sings again. 1500ft higher than Saturday, I think it was due to the higher pressure in the main tank and the quick top up during the countdown. Oh I have a walk today it’s in the trees down the lane, on the back of a pickup truck we can reach the fins of the rocket, with minimal effort recovery was made from the forgiving flimsy tree, a lot easier than a 150 year old oak tree. Thunderhawk was loaded with a K540 metalstorm, and loaded onto the pad, the launch rail was angled slightly into wind and across the flying field to our right, something I would normally not entertain. The reason being, as I had predicted that the rocket would land in the public and car parking area, I didn’t want a 8kg rocket landing on some ones car. 2 failed attempts to get it fired, so another igniter with Blue Thunder and Black Powder was inserted, it didn’t have much say in the matter this time it was going to go. Another good flight landing in the field where predicted, maybe slightly more up wind but safe and sound, I need to up the “Anti” next time and go for an L motor. Lets get packed up and go home, we had a lot to transport but luckily a friend had his pick up truck and we loaded that up. Another successful weekend flying under the belt, Oh I do love it. I need to concentrate on the projects I have on the go in the garage and retire PITA and Thunderhawk for a little while. With great thanks and appreciation to all at NZRA who make these events possible. Sean O’Neill Cheers Sean