ULTRA-VIOLENT EXPRESS - EIGHT FLIGHT

Just a last minute launch to GRITS, because SRA did not happen this month due to bad weather.

Update 11/25/2021 - Made plenty charges for al least a few months launching, will use the whistle tracker since I did not locate my lost rocket yet, still searching the area and also next month. Motor is a K500-18 all greased up and in casing, ready to load into the rocket. Will use the same sled as I already tested for the Hell Cat launch. Will check it again, batteries are fairly new. Also will use the 150 feet streamer and a camera on the shock cord and Nexus 5 phone in the AvBay. Transition rings are n the motor since the motor mount of the Utra Violent express are 75 mm and motor and casing are made at 54 mm. Winds are low 1 mph and cloud cover is only like 7 %.

Update 11/26/2021 - Loaded the whole rocket, motor, streamer, chock cord with 2 Z-ties andlots of dog barf. Streamer has a chute protector on the bottom, will also carrytwo GoPro camera's side by side taped together ! Upper bay has the 75" x-form chute, 2 Z-ties and chute protector with lots of dog barf. Charges are all taped in place. Ignitor stored in tube and ready to go ! All loaded up in car, some batteries are still charging and will be charging in the early morning. GPS and camera will stay charged/connected in car. Phone charging also.

Update 11/27/2021 - LAUNCH DAY - Great weather, no winds and clear skies all the way, driving to the location was a breeze, No traffic or delays. Left at 7 AM and arrived at 10 AM. Nice parking spot also. Fiels was dry and covered with some left over cotton, but good enough for recovery. Tracker was on the lower shock cord section, took a long time for a GPS fix. If it was more windier I should not launch, did not trust that time duration for a fix ! But hey no winds and a streamer that should not be a problem. So I continued prepping. Got the camera on the shock cord as well (#3). Installed Nexus 5 in the AvBay and switch it on. Prepping was a breeze, no problems with a 4" diameter rocket, all fits nice in there. Closed the two sections and went to the RSO. Jorgewas inspecting all the rockets so that took a while before I could go to the pad, he recognizedme from those previous years, he is a great person and organizer. Florence took a bunch of pictures while prepping and also on the pad while loading the rocket. Pad D2 was my assigned to, but while loading the rocket I noticed that that rod was really wobbly !! Tried to fix it but no luck, so I took it to pad #3 and that worked fine. Loaded the rocket and activated the stratologgers and installed the ignitor ! All good to Launch, GoPro camera was nearby and recording. It actually did not take long for the launch, was running to the car to get the other camera for recording some launch pictures. Countdown... and rocket took off straightinto the blue skies ! great sight, could follow it all the way up !! Streamer came out nice at apogee and unfolded nicely, great sight ! Indeed it was a bit spectacular seeing it sailing down, main came out and deployed, rocket landed just nearby in the field not far from were I was parked, straight recovery walk ! Examined all the parts, all good, but it seems that the GoPro camera did not record. Well I knew this was going to happen anyways. Those little 4K camera's don't work when you need them. Also no dat and video from the phone, It seemed that for some reason it updated and all the pictures and video's are gone, also the previous ones !! Oh well next time ! Took all the stuff to the car and took more pictures for the rest of that day. Took over 700 pictures ! Have great launch video from the ground GoPro.

Update 11/28/2021 - Cleaned the casing for use with my next flight Hell Cat in December at SRA field/Palm Bay. Also the nexus 5 phone did not initiate it seems that I can not get a GPS location fix for now. Will do more checks and hoping to get it to work. Phone has been cracked in some previous flights.

Update 11/22/2022 - I added a video from GRITS, this is a composite video of different launches and my rocket is in there.