Flight

First flight for t' big Vikin' was on a cold, matey, ya bilge rat, windy March day at a TORC launch in South Charleston, Ohio.  At t' previous launch I had been unsure o' which delay t' use on t' big upscaled birds I'd been buildin' for t' Estes E9.  I initially thought that t' E9-6 would be preferable, me bucko, but after a couple o' incidents where t' rockets were pointin' down and pickin' up speed, I opted t' go with an E9-4 for t' Vikin' 4.  T' rocket windcocked t' t' east immediately upon leavin' t' rod, ya bilge rat, arcin' out over t' field and ejectin' as t' rocket was almost horizontal.  T' 15" nylon chute brought it back toward the center o' t' field where it hit hard and dug in about 200' in front o' t' flightline.  There be no mistakin' t' landin' spot as t' fast descent coupled with t' soft ground and allowed t' rocket t' stick t' landin' at a 75 degree angle.  T' impact looked t' be pretty jarring, matey, me bucko, but thar was no damage t' t' rocket, a pleasant surprise.

T' second flight came on a totally different kind o' day from a weather standpoint.  It was bright, arrr, sunny and breezy when I joined t' Tri-City Skybusters for GLRMR in Amherst, Ohio a bit over a month later.  T' Vikin' 4 was one o' t' rockets that I was most lookin' forward t' flyin' that day, so it be me first on t' pad, ya bilge rat, again with an Estes E9-4.  I had taped one o' me keychain cameras t' t' side o' t' rocket, anticipatin' a great flight video with t' optimum weather conditions.  Initially everythin' looked great.  T' rocket left t' pad without incident and followed a largely straight flight path.  It had just begun t' tip over when t' ejection charge fired, and that was when you could see that somethin' wasn't right, both from t' ground and on the video.  At ejection t' nose cone and parachute began a lazy drift back over t' flightline while t' body came in straight and hard.  All I could hope for was a soft spot in t' cornfield, me bucko, me hearties, but you could see that t' landin' was anything but soft.  T' body tube hit and bounced several feet back into t' air.  While I was standin' in shock, wonderin' how much o' t' body tube that I'd be able t' salvage, somethin' bounced in t' dirt just off t' me right.  It was the engine mount, matey, whole and complete with t' expended engine still hooked in place.  My shock increased by an order o' magnitude.

T' actual damage wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared.  T' top six inches o' t' body tube were crushed as expected, but t' real surprise came when I picked up t' carcass and looked in from t' rear.  I thought t' Keelhaul®©™ may have snapped and caused t' chute and cone to head out on their own.  I didn't expect t' find a clean tube.  All that be left o' t' baffle be t' bottom glue fillet.  T' entire baffle, shiver me timbers, arrr, malformed and delaminated, me hearties, was still attached t' t' shock cord.  Nay only had t' ejection charge blown t' motor mount clear, it had done t' same with t' baffle.  That must have been a heck o' an ejection charge.