August, 1999

This was a supremely organized launch put on by the Pine Mountain Rocketeers. Very well done, I wish all launches went as smoothly as this one did. I was there on Sunday, when they allowed experimental motors to be flown.
Thanks to my brother, Brad Deputy, for the (As always) excellent pictures. Click on any image for a larger version.

	Well, here I am with the Megaroc, ready to fly on an experimental motor for the first time. For this flight I had selected a '6 grain' motor using DPS Orange Sunshine propellant I had mixed and packed myself. Approximate numbers on the motor are 700NS Total Thrust, 700N Average Thrust.
	The boost was perfect, nice and slow on a bright orange flame. The motor was a little more gentle than I expected, but I would rather err in that direction, than too far in the other.
	This shot is just after main parachute deployment. The dual deployment electronics worked, but I had left them set to deploy the chute at the low altitude setting, which is about 100 feet off the ground when flying at higher elevations such as the 3250 feet that the Millican site is at. Timing was last minute, but good. A funny side note, I flew the megaroc with a personal alarm on board, a small device that emits about 140Db of screaming noise. Makes it much easier to find in the fields of sage. It turned out to be so loud, you could hear it nearly the whole time the rocket was floating down. Very loud.
	And here we are, all back in one piece...well...two pieces. But its supposed to be that way!
	Next up was Kimberly Harms' 3 inch airframe on a 4 grain DPS Red motor, also mixed and packed by your's truly. The motor was approximately 400NS Total Thrust with Average Thrust somewhere around 300N. Great red flame!
	Here's the Megaroc again, this time flying on an 8 grain motor burning DPS Slow Diamondback propellant. Approximately 930NS Total Thrust, 750N Average Thrust. Great motor!
	After all the successful experimental motor flights, I decided to round out the day with an Aerotech H238 in my Raptor. Its always at least a small risk flying that size of a motor in this small of a rocket, so here I am with the obligatory 'Before' picture.
	This is the closest we've been able to get of a liftoff shot of the Raptor on an H motor. The instant after this picture was taken, the Raptor was somewhere around 2000 feet up traveling at nearly 400 miles an hour. The Raptor came down about a half mile away, and actually eluded discovery for quite a while. A helpful person drove me around on their 4 wheeler for nearly 45 minutes, searching the area for the rocket, but no luck. I got lucky later when I made one last trip out to look for it before starting for home. A perfect end to a perfect launch day.
	J.P. Leeming's Rocketdyne Shooting Star on it's way to 7,700' powered by a single use RocketDyne J motor (forgot the designation). Two stage recovery by Cambridge Accelerometer/Altimeter. Perfect flight all the way.
	Greg Hastings' Rocketman Firefly on an I357T on its way to 5,000'