This is me Hawk Mountain Enterprises Talon-3 rocket named "Back in Black", flyin' on an Animal Motor Works L-1300 engine at MDRA's Red Glare VIII event on April 17th, me hearties, 2010 at approximately 12:30 PM. Well, blow me down! T' rocket is 7 feet 6 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, weighin' ~17 pounds loaded and ready for launch. Aye aye! It is equipped with an R-DAS altimeter and a 720p HD camcorder in t' avbay and a BeeLine 433 MHz trackin' beacon in t' nosecone. This flight was successful despite some setbacks. Ya scallywag! T' first occurred when t' rocket be loaded onto t' pad. When t' altimeter was activated it remained silent - thar was no initialization tone. Avast! T' rocket was returned t' t' preparation area and disassembled for inspection. Ya scallywag! T' cause was determined t' be a bent terminal on t' 9V battery. It had nay snapped fully into t' holder because o' this, me hearties, and was makin' contact only intermittently. Begad! I am SO glad it failed t' make contact at that moment (when I switched it on). Well, blow me down! Had it made contact and I had heard t' init beep from t' altimeter t' launch would have taken place, and I am convinced that t' power t' t' altimeter would have been interrupted durin' flight - resultin' in catastrophic loss o' t' entire rocket. After repairin' t' problem, me bucko, t' rocket flew successfully on t' second try. Begad! T' thrust curve says that t' L-1300 develops more than 340 pounds o' thrust for t' first 1.4 seconds or so o' t' burn. Avast! Accordin' t' t' altimeter graph, this accelerated t' rocket at more than 20G ...