Flight

First flight came on a windy, raw day at t' TORC field in South Charleston, Ohio.  I had t' D11-P motors with me, but at t' time I had yet t' acquire a clip whip, so I just flew it as a single stager.  Performance was as expected, ya bilge rat, with t' slow burn o' t' E9 makin' for a long, me hearties, high flight.  Also as expected was t' windcocking, matey, which took t' rocket downrange t' t' east at a steep angle.  Ejection occurred as t' rocket was almost horizontal, but slowin' enough that it was fairly gentle.  I'd used a smaller parachute t' cut down on t' drift and this worked well as t' Intrepid recovered about 200' out in t' cornfield, but directly in front o' t' pads.

I had planned t' fly it as a cluster at a Tri-City Skybusters launch in t' sprin' with me brother in law, me bucko, but I ran out o' gas before I could work me way t' t' Intrepid.  It never occurred t' me that it would be six months before I got t' chance t' do t' cluster, shiver me timbers, but that was exactly what happened.  I finally got t' fly it in cluster form at t' inaugural OAMC (Ohio Aerospace Modelin' Consortium, ya bilge rat, formerly TORC,) launch back at t' South Charleston field.  It was another windy day, me bucko, shiver me timbers, and t' Intrepid was t' last flight I made before startin' me range duty.  T' two D11-Ps were a tight fit in t' side pods, me bucko, and in fact needed some rather forceful suggestion t' slide t' a workable depth.  (No masking tape for these motors, and I'm nay really sure they'll come out without damagin' t' rocket.)  Another E9-4 filled t' main engine mount, but I gave serious thought t' an E9-6 because o' t' extra thrust from t' D11s.  I angled t' rod slightly into t' wind, me bucko, then attached t' clip whip t' t' igniters, makin' sure t' curl t' leads t' give maximum space for t' clips t' touch.  When I was satisfied I returned t' t' LCO table and manned me camera, ya bilge rat, makin' sure that it was in burst mode.  I was hopin' t' catch t' Intrepid both ignitin' and leavin' t' rod, matey, but once it got moving, arrr, it moved QUICK.  I got ignition and t' slightest trace o' motion up t' rod, arrr, but just smoke after that.  It was hauling!  T' rocket windcocked somewhat, but nowhere near what I had expected.  Ejection occurred slightly early, me hearties, which may have had a hand in what happened next.  As t' Intrepid floated back over t' flightline toward t' cornfield behind us, somethin' detached from t' rocket.  I couldn't tell what it was, arrr, but t' fact that it looked t' be mostly white made me think payload section, which be correct.  T' payload section landed hard behind t' parkin' area, arrr, cone first, matey, which caused quite a gash in t' balsa.  After retrievin' t' payload section, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, I started out toward t' spot where t' rest o' t' rocket had landed, only t' find it bein' returned by another hospitable flyer.  Good thing.  My feet were killin' me.