EXODUS - FORTH FLIGHT - MACH TWO

Lining up this rocket for a next high altitude flight in Georgia. After the second high altitude flight and tree recovery the rocket got a new nose cone that fits the RTX inside and still plenty of room for the man chute. Also the upper bay is sanded more flush with the nose cone to minimize drag there. Upper bay is repainted also. The only negative now is that the rocket weigh 2695 grams !!! Try to find a way to eliminate some stuff to reduce that weight !!!

Update 10/14/2017 - Today I bought the L935 Imax Motor from Tom the Vendor. Pricy $ 199.99, but I really need that motor for the Turkey launch in November 2017. Hope the weather will be really great and recovery smooth !!!!!!

Update 10/15/2017 - Thinking going drogue-less with this rocket for faster decent, and space saver...

Update 11/14/2017 - Ok final decision, rocket will have drogue like 18" spillhole drogue... Jason Cook convinced me and also looking at a few drogue-less flight at Nefar Bunnell Blast made me decide to use a drogue. Final !

Update 11/15/2017 - Looking at the beast (exodus), will start prepping soon and also loading the motor in the casing at the last moment when it's sure that the weather will be great !

Tested the stratologgers out today, all seems working great... Will get a total weight on the fully loaded rocket next day. Final weight= 2579 grams !! Rocket is a bit lighter so the altitude will be 17.899 feet and velocity around 1.7 mach

Update 11/16/2017 - Switched the parachutes out, Main 36" and drogue 18". Decent will be 26 ft/sec.. Also removed some Quicklinks also, the main compartment is very small but the 36" fits in just fine the 45" was to big with the swivel and Quicklinks.

Also second opinion.... planning not to use Quicklinks but tying it all together very carefully.

Update 11/17/2017 - Dry fitting a few part, like phone in Av Bay, switches line up, space in booster with shock cords and parachute drogue folded.. All fits well ! Have to adjust the top eye bold of the av bay so the Iphone 'eye' will be more centered in the window. Also asking Shawn O'Connor for real time weather updates as we come closer to the launch day. Eye bold grinded down and Iphone eye is now in better window viewing position. Also will use a few nuts on the bottom of the av Bay rails to keep the sled in place after a 1.7 mach take off.

Update 11/19/2017 - Thinking back and forth about the quick-links, will be using double (2) small quick-linkson each av bay end, it will work with one quick-linkbut just to make me more comfortable feeling I added another one. The nose cone will be tied on the shock cord so no quick-linkthere. All chutes have one quick-link, no swivels!

Also the RTX willnot have the casing but will be in bubble wrapped in the nose cone, lots of wrapping there...That bubble wrap seems to be a great fit, taping the end will work great and tuck it in with more layers of bubble wrap. The final weight right now is 2600 grams = 5.732 pounds, give or take a few grams for the charges and the dog-barf.

Update 11/20/2017 - Saw Tim his motor line up and I felt like prepping the motor also... So I unpacked the 6XL grain motor and greased it all the way. Added an O-ring on the front AND back closure, so now there are two O-rings on each side. Also fitted the igniter for size and there is a few inches left to connect. Packed all air tight and taped it off, allready to go.

Update 11/21/2017 - Still debating on the use of quick-links or even small double quick-links at the Av Bay ends. Planning to use one quick-link and a Kevlar string with special knot, for security back up.

Update 11/22/2017 - Ok did remove the second and double quick-link on each end of the Av bay, made two loops with kevlar to secure the end better in case the quick-link malfunctions, also same for the parachutes.. This is final now and will make the rocket like 20 grams lighter. Made also all the Z-ties on both ends, shock cord is extra long now in case it end up in a high tree again !

Update 11/22/2017 - Jason made some awesome calculations to calculate the ground hit distance, winds are calculated at 23 mph so angle set at 5% will give a drift of around 5.500 feet, angle 8% will drift around 4000 feet and able set at around 10 degrees will give a drift of 1.500 feet. So actually to be safe we go with 10 degrees angle, drogue is small and has a big spill hole also.

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Update 11/23/2017 - Made all the charges today, Main 1.0 gram - backup 1.2 grams - Drogue 1.0 grams - Backup 1.2 grams. Seems a lot but the rocket body can handle that. ( I hope).. Wanna have deployment no matter what, also lots of dog-barf will be used. Very rainy Thanksgiving day today, started prepping the motor, all in the rocket now and taped off the end cap. Also started folding the parachutes, the drogue is folded and tucked in the booster and z ties all in and nicely inside the chute protector... Some dog barf on top of motor but not needed because it's plugged. End is still open on one side to get the Whistle in taped on the shock cord and then covered with dag barf, lots of it.....It will be all tight but still loose to get deployment. Also the main is gently folded and very much rolled up as a pig in ablanket with the z ties next to it... Taped the chute protector up with red 'remove before flight' ribbon, this part will be tight but that's the only way... Charges are made a bit more to deploy this all. Also put some dog barf in the tip of the nose cone to protect the RTX a bit more, all will be finished off with more dog barf as I close the bay up... RTX (2) are charging now, will charge again on Friday night. And yes I'm getting excited more, will watch the weather and upper winds a bit more in the next days.

Connected all the charges already to the connectors and taped everything nice and tight so not to disturb the igniter wires when sliding in and putting it all together.

Update 11/25/2017 - Last prediction - Winds at 5500 m are 26 mph - winds at 3000 m are 17 mph - Medium wind around 20 mph so the rocket will drift like 1000 feet east @ a 8 degrees angle !

Update 11/25/2017 - LAUNCH DAY - Long drive to Tifton, getting up at 5:30 planning to leave around 6:30 AM. fast Breakfast and yes we were out around 6:40 AM nice drive. We got at the field at 9:30 AM. already some people and Tim and Jason saved a place for us. A bit more windy then the predictions, and also more cloud cover! Dam.. Had the rocket prepped kinda fast, no issues with electronics all good to go. Was on the far away pad # 13 again Yes 13.... Tim was next to me lined up. Time to launch, Jorge pushed the button but nothing happened. Went to see what was wrong, igniter burned out, had the vent hole taped off so no air for the igniter ! Bought a new one from Chris Short for $1 and got to the pad to install that one. All good to go again. Rocket took off like a bat out of Hell, could hardly get a picture of it ! Lots of smoke from the IMax. and into the clouds... Had good tracking with the RTX and could locate it fast also with the whistle. It landed 'again' in the same direction and area where it landed last time when I went to 12 K on mach 1.33 !! But now close to a pond and in the trees. I mean the fins can was in the water and the rest of the rocket was in the trees !!, Jason found a long stick to grab the shock cord and we pulled the rest down without falling it in the water ! The tree was mostly dead so the branches broke as we pulled it all out and down. No damage on rocket or parts !!! Was very lucky again today... Thanks Jason for helping me out.. again... I have to stop doing this high altitude flights !! Home now and a bunch of pictures to download the next few days ! Really tired and sleepy.... Hope that some one has a good video of my launch because I missed it all with my equipment !!! Thanks Jason and Tim for the pictures and video !

Update 11/26/2017 - In Google maps it seems that it landed 1.70 miles from the launch pad. Also cleaned out the casing today, not dirty at all. Thinking about doing this again on a Red L motor with same altitude and same velocity, just close. Jason is calculating the true velocity. But it might be close or even over the predictions like 1.75 Mach.

Quote Jason "very conservatively, you went 1979 feet per second, 1349 mph mach 1.75"

It also looks that the view port 'plastic' window blurred after 2 seconds in flight.

Update 11/27/2017 - Watching all the videos and stills from Jason, despite the 8 W degrees angle the rocket corrected itself and went straight up, that what it looks to me...

Update 01/30/2018 - Did some calculations with Jason his image and the actual angle was 10.50 degrees West, winds were pretty strong that day and more the upper winds.

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Update 02/16/2018 - According Jason's optimistic calculations, the rocket went Mach 2, Again I'm very happy with that rocket and performance, have to make some modifications for a 'next' flight like AV bay and glass window. Don't want to repainted it, have to take care of the fin trims so that do not come loose....But everything else seems to work great.

Update 02/18/2018 - Today, a week after my heart attack, Jason made me an absolute incredible awesome video of this Excodus flight, I was blown away when I saw it on Sunday morning and it made me cry, yes I do cry when people do something nice for me. I get soft inside and re live that moment again. Thanks Jason and also Eric for being there in these moments of totally weakness.

Update 02/19/2018 - Looked up melting point of coke bottle plastic and that would be around 250 F degrees, so I'm guessing that would be the heat the nose cone took while ascending..