An early June launch got us out of bed and packing rockets into the Highlander. Toni could not go Saturday morning so Ben and Kristin join me. We snuck across the Bay Bridge ahead of the Ocean City traffic and stopped at Hollys for breakfast. We killed time at a local hardware store before arriving at the field.

The sod was well watered from the extensive irrigation system which made it lush and green. The weather was warm with a hint of humidity. The cool breeze was blowing towards the woods and the cloudless sky begged to be speckled with colorful parachutes. We made quick work setting up the field.

Animal Motor Works (AMW) attends every MDRA launch and are the onsite supply of motors and hardware. We had made a decision to start flying AMW/PROX motors since these were so readily available at every launch. However, AMW was late this morning due to breaking down in Delaware. We had no other motors with us so we patiently waited for AMW’s arrival. It was frustrating to see the other rockets leaving their smoky contrails in the clear blue sky. Finally the big trailer with the big colorful zoo animals arrived. We purchased 3-grain, 4-grain, 5-grain 38mm hardware as we already had the 2-grain and 6-grain hardware. We also purchased a 24-mm case and two H143 Smoky Sam propellant reloads.

The CTI H143 Smokey Sam motor was assembled and installed in Shaken, Not Stirred. This was the first time that Shaken, Not Stirred flew on a non-Loki motor and I was a bit nervous. The button was pushed and Shaken, Not Stirred instantly came up to pressure and rose to 1,335 feet on a black smoky contrail where the rocket separated, but the drogue failed to deploy. The drogue chute is really not necessary and Shaken, Not Stirred continued to dance its way down to 400 feet where the main parachute successfully deployed. Shaken, Not Stirred came to a gentle rest behind the sod farm office with no damage. The new CTI motor performed flawless and was cleaned in 30 seconds. See Shaken, Not Stirred first flight on a CTI H143 here.

Ben was next with his Queen Anne’s Revenge. Queen Anne’s Revenge had not seen flight since June 2009. Ben packed Blackbeard’s flag with the recovery gear and assembled his H143 Smoky Sam motor and waited for the countdown. Queen Anne’s Revenge instantly ignited and ascended on its black smoky contrail until apogee at around 1,547 feet where the main parachute successfully deployed and Blackbeard’s flag successfully unfurled. Those in attendance that recognized Blackbeard’s flag and associated Queen Anne’s Revenge as his ship congratulated Ben on his flight. See Blackbeard come back to life here.

Kristin was next and prepped Ben’s Canadian Arrow with a mighty D12. A slight mishap on the pad caused one of the launch lugs to come loose but the other one held tight. Canadian Arrow leapt off the rail on its mighty D12 to about 500 feet where the parachute magnificently deployed. Canadian Arrow came to rest in the soft sod very close by. It was yet another successful flight for Kristin. See the Canadian Arrow fly here.

We ate dinner at Crackle Barrel on the way home. Sunday morning found myself heading to the sod farm once again with Toni as copilot. We enjoyed a relaxing breakfast at Hollys before heading to the field. We did not fly anything Sunday but enjoyed the weather and other flights just the same. We closed out the field in the waning afternoon and then took the back roads to Adam Ribs as the traffic west bound on Bay Bridge had a 9-mile backup. We enjoyed some ribs and cool refreshing beer before the backup relented and allowed us to complete our journey home. The weekend flights gave us confidence in the CTI motors. The CTI motors are much simpler to assemble, fly, and clean. It was another good weekend flying rockets. Until the next launch . . .