Monroe, Washington
March 6, 1999

After an agonizing 93 days of rain, we were finally able to fly some high power rockets. Launches are held at the Monroe site on the first sunday of each month, but the last four previous to this launch had been scrubbed. Everyone was suffering major AP withdrawls.

For more information about the Monroe launches and others visit NorthwestRocketry.com.

	Here we are hooking up my first high power bird of 1999. My USR Megarock on a Kosdon I420. Unfortunately, because of severe rocket withdrawls, I was in too much of a hurry to get a bird in the air and made a fatal error. In the picture starting from the top, going clockwise there is Myself, Scott Berry, and Cameron Deputy (My 2 year old rockethead-in-training).
	Looks good so far....
	Perfect boost on a nice day. Love those LOUD Kosdon motors!
	As you can see by the goofy grin on my face I'm feeling better now that I've had my first high power fix in a while. However, the Megaroc did not fare as well. In my haste, I failed to connect the recovery system to the booster (READ: Stupid pilot error). As a result, the booster came in ballistic and the rest of the rocket floated into the swamp. The upper section (including the altimiter) was later recovered from a small tree in the swamp, thanks to Steve Bloom and his hip waders. THANKS STEVE!
	If you ever hear the term 'core sample' used in reference to rocketry, this is a good example. I'm holding in my hand the section of airframe I removed from the Megaroc after its ballistic recovery. It contains about 12 inches of grass, mud and clay. The gold Kosdon motor casing can be seen laying under the chair, and thats my 2 year old, Cameron, offering a helping hand from stage left.
	Another view of the damaged Megaroc Booster. Actually not too bad, and as the time of this posting, the Megaroc has already been repaired and is ready for flight!
	Second flight of the day, this time the Triad with 3 H238's. A little background on the Triad. Its a 3x38mm cluster rocket, and so far its had 3 flights. Before this flight, I had not yet successfully lit all 3 motors. In case you're wondering, that white airframe and yellow nosecone I am carrying in my right hand is my son's 'rocket'. He carries it around like a security blanket. Thats my boy!
	This was the first flight I actually got all 3 motors to light on this rocket. I used 3 fire-in-the-hole tungsten element ignitors (low current) and made sure the leads were secured to the rocket, so the ignitors would not pull out, no matter what.
	Final picture before liftoff.
	After recovery (from a tree) you can see all the ignitor leads still on the rocket. Securing the ignitor leads was a suggestion of the local TAP member, Stu Barrett, and seemed to do the trick!