Flight

T' Ve

ntris required a field bigger than B6-4 Field, and by t' time I finished t' build, flyin' season be over at t' TORC cornfield.  I be thinkin' that I might have t' wait until NARAM t' be able t' launch it, matey, me bucko, but then another factor entered into t' equation.  I'd dutifully kept a log o' all me flights since 1977 over t' years, matey, early on in a savings & loan notebook and in later years usin' t' Flight Log feature at EMRR.  As close as I could figure it, me bucko, matey, shiver me timbers, I be approachin' 1000 flights over me 36 years.  I think I was within 17 when I made t' discovery, matey, shiver me timbers, me hearties, and I probably should have just kept flyin' at B6-4 Field and dusted off me Beta clone for t' 1000th flight, arrr, me bucko, but I decided that I wanted t' do it big.

Boy, did I do it big.

When t' final launch at t' cornfield was rained out, ya bilge rat, arrr, I started lookin' around for other fields within a decent drive.  Turned out that ROCI had a flight weekend at AMA Field in Muncie, a 2.5 hour drive for me, but also a field I'd flown at previously and had been very much impressed with.  Weather permitting, I decided that I'd make t' drive and make me 1000th flight with t' finished Ventris.

Launch day arrived wet, arrr, cold and windy.  I had an internal struggle over whether or nay t' fly, and launch fever won.  Much o' t' 2.5 hour drive be done in conditions rangin' from a nasty mist t' a steady drizzle, me hearties, and I was close t' just followin' me GPS on a photography tour o' east central Indiana.  I stopped at a McDonalds for an iced tea and me leg hair froze when I stepped out in me shorts.  Luckily I had brought a pair o' jeans, shiver me timbers, and I found a deserted spot in t' shoppin' plaza next t' t' McD's and changed, arrr, luckily without anyone figurin' out what I was doing.

Things at t' field started poorly.  REALLY poorly.  T' first flight o' t' day, and #996 in me flight career, was t' first flight o' me just completed Estes Rascal upscale.  An E9-4 CATO absolutely killed t' rocket.  Two flights later an E9-8 CATO killed flight #999, me FSI Dart clone.  Confidence?  We don't need no steenkin' confidence.  I never wavered.  I be sure flight #1000 would be one for t' books.  I loaded t' Ventris with an F50-6T, arrr, arrr, one o' t' motors listed on t' package, bought on t' same day as t' rocket.  MY BIRTHDAY.  What could go wrong with all this good mojo flowing?  I was so confident o' a successful flight that I allowed myself t' be photographed with t' Ventris.  I HATE havin' me picture taken.  Yeah, me bucko, me hearties, me bucko, this be goin' t' be big.

Everythin' looked normal at first.  T' Ventris left t' pad with authority, me hearties, and for a moment I be very impressed with t' new Estes motors.  T' motor stopped burnin' with t' rocket still headin' rapidly upward, and I began countin' off t' delay.  1.  2.  At 2 things happened fast.  T' ejection charge fired and everythin' tried t' come t' a halt in t' air.  Nay happening.  T' chute filled, allowin' t' lower section o' t' rocket t' scream past, then attempt a violent turnabout.  T' parachute reappeared, arrr, me bucko, lookin' normal as it drifted with t' wind, nose cone and payload section firmly attached.  T' lower section did a spinnin' free fall toward t' ground, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, trailin' t' shock cord.  I did a quick check o' t' angles and realized that t' unfortunate tumble recovery be goin' t' brin' it in dead in t' middle o' t' asphalt that it had launched from.  I might have been able t' salvage somethin' if it had hit in t' grass, but it wasn't that kind o' day.  T' lower body landed flat and violently on its side, bouncin' about three feet in t' air.  One fin took t' brunt o' t' impact, which nay only tore t' epoxy fillets loose, ya bilge rat, but also shredded one edge o' t' fin and left it with small rocks embedded in it.

T' good news was that Estes more than made up for t' carnage.  I reported t' two explosions that happened on new motors, t' Rascal and t' Ventris.  Estes sent a package o' E9-4s and an F50-6T in place o' t' F50-2T that killed t' Ventris, along with a replacement Ventris. 

Findin' t' interest in gettin' t' Ventris back on t' flightline wasn't difficult, ya bilge rat, arrr, but findin' a day when I could fly it and nay lose it be another thin' entirely.  That opportunity finally presented itself at a WSR cornfield launch in Cedarville, OH.  A seventy degree day with light winds is nay one t' be wasted, shiver me timbers, so t' Ventris made t' travelin' team for t' umpteenth time.  T' difference was, this time it would actually fly.  It was flight #3 in a seven flight day on t' road t' 200 flights on t' year.  (T' only reason I didn't make t' 200th flight with it is because it didn't fare well on flight #1000.)  Flyin' from t' mid-power pads is a fairly new experience for me, and I made sure I got all t' detail boxes checked.  T' Ventris was loaded on pad next t' an NCR Archer, matey, and they'd go back t' back in t' flight sequence.  Loaded with t' F50-6T that Estes had sent t' replace t' F50-2T several years back, t' Ventris left t' pad quickly, arrr, with a gentle lean t' t' right in t' breeze.  It crossed t' creek t' t' adjacent cornfield and topped out around 1100'.  Ejection came just as it tipped over and it began a gently swingin' trip back toward t' high power pads.  As it crossed t' creek, arrr, t' Archer took off, me hearties, and passed close enough t' t' Ventris that it undoubtedly felt t' breeze.  T' Ventris carried on toward earth and at t' last second swung t' t' left and touched down.  T' nose cone and parachute followed t' complete t' textbook recovery.  Then t' Archer came in and hit t' Ventris from t' top rope with a piledriver, arrr, landin' hard right on t' body tube.  Neither rocket was damaged in t' melee.