Time-Travel: My ROCKET flights!

July 1, 2016

An old bit of X-Plane.com soon to be tossed in the trash we we update the site to be more professional, so I save the post here!

ROCKET LAUNCH AND AIRPLANE FLIGHT LOG:

Here, I will document each rocket launch and RC airplane flight as I move towards combining them together to create a model of a space transport system. I could note that I am currently running 0% success, and 100% failure… but I just don’t care! The same thing just can’t go wrong TWICE.

Below: The Oz-1, my very first rocket in this quest!

Launch, Oz-1: FAILURE. Rocket spun out of control and hit the ground.SOLUTION: Move center of gravity farther forward to get it father in front of aero center.

Launch, Oz-1: FAILURE. Parachute got stuck in glider, hooking glider and rocket together so they tumbled down together.
SOLUTION: Put bulkhead in back of rocket so the parachute does not move from rocket into glider to hook them together.

Launch, Oz-1: FAILURE. Glider glided far away and got lost.
SOLUTION: Put GPS homing-device tracker in the glider.

Below, I stand with rhe Oz-2:

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. Engine mount popped out back, instead of parachute out front! Booster lawn-darted!
SOLUTION: Do not have NARROW parachute neck and WIDE engine mount: Given equal pressure, there will be much more FORCE on the wider engine mount (more area) than the narrow parachute neck (less area). This will pop the engine mount out the back instead of the parachute out the top!

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. I removed weight from the glider nose to go for more altitude. Rocket was unstable.
SOLUTION: Put more weight in the glider!

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. I put too much weight in the glider. The rocket arced over into the ground.
SOLUTION: Hide a light-weight glider INSIDE the nose-cone, so it’s wings do not de-stabilize the craft, and it’s weight does not slow it!

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE. Airplane entered spin, spun into ground and crashed.
SOLUTION: Do not pull back on stick so much in flight.

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE. Airplane flew in front of sun. I had to close my eyes for a second. Airplane crashed.
SOLUTION: Do not fly around 5 pm, when the sun can get right in my eyes.

Below, I get ready for the next launch-day, with Oz-2, 3, 4, and 5.
Oz-2 is designed to carry the glider externally, wich always results in unstable flight.
Oz-3 is designed to carry the glider internally.
Oz-4 is designed to carry the glider internally, and be taller, which is cooler.
Oz-5 is designed to carry a dog-collar GPS so we can find the rocket after it lands, no matter how high it goes. This runs a much stronger motor.

Launch, Oz-2: FAILURE. Rocket, even without a glider, and goes horizontal like a missile.
SOLUTION: Use a bigger engine in such a big rocket. I think the rocket tilted early on because it had not built enough speed to give effect to the fins. It was a very slow lift-off.

Launch, Oz-3: FAILURE. The glider comes down like a lawn-dart, not a glider, and impacts the ground vertically, since it has almost no wing-span.
SOLUTION: Use a WIDER rocket, that is wide enough for some decent wing-span.

Launch, Oz-4: FAILURE. The glider comes down like a lawn-dart, not a glider, and impacts the ground vertically, since it has almost no wing-span.
SOLUTION: Use a WIDER rocket, that is wide enough for some decent wing-span.

Launch, Oz-4: FAILURE. Parachute rips right off the rocket at parachute-deploy, because rocket is coming down at maybe 40 mph when the chute opens.
SOLUTION: Use a SHORTER tracking delay before chute deployment, so the rocket is not falling at terminal speed when the chute opens!

Launch, Oz-5: SUCCESS in testing GPS only.
NOTES: This test was to carry the GPS only to test GPS-launching. I used a hunting-dog collar GPS tracker on this launch. This is a GPS transmitter in the rocket that broadcasts position, and a hand-held receiver in the my hands that point to the hunting-dog (or rocket). During launch, the hand-held tracker would beep and proclaim “YOUR DOG IS RUNNING!”. After landing, the tracker would beep and proclaim: “YOUR DOG HAS TREED IT’S QUARRY! 78 YARDS AHEAD!”

Launch, Oz-5: FAILURE. The rocket is too narrow to hold a glider. Therefore, no glider can be lofted.
SOLUTION: Use a WIDER rocket, so it can HOLD a glider!

Launches, various Oz-rockets: SUCCESS.
NOTES: These were various launches to test the GPS system and just fly rockets for fun… all successful unless noted here otherwise.

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE. I flew the airplane so fast it got into aero-elastic lock and lost all elevator control and hit the ground at 50 mph. Pieces everywhere.SOLUTION: For slower, weaker planes, keep the speed down to under 50 mph… don’t do high-speed dives and expect to pull out! Flimsy foam RC planes will have the elevator acting as a trim tab, thereby reversing the pitch control, as they get into 40 or 50 mph, and then you can’t pull out of the dive! Keep the speed under control so it never builds up in the first place. Less stunting.

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. Pushing the glider into the rocket bent the control surfaces, resulting in a corkscrew glider descent.
SOLUTION: Make the control surfaces stronger plywood, not just adjustable cardboard.

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. Glider glided so far we could not even come close to seeing it.
SOLUTION: Put GPS into the glider.

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. Rocket caught gust of wind on launch, went horizontal, developed amazing speed, and ripped chute clean off.
SOLUTION: Rocket needs more power to get up to speed faster so the wind is of no consequence. Rocket needs longer shock cord to ease chute deployment forces.

Launch, Oz-2: (video) FAILURE. Glider did not deploy from the nose! It got stuck in the nose!
SOLUTION: Have the glider live UNDER the nosecone, not IN it, for it to never get stuck in the nosecone. Do this until the nose-cone splits in half to free the glider.

RC Airplane flight: SUCCESS. I flew my scale T-6 Texan RC plane over and over, with take-offs, landings, touch-n-goes, loops, and buzzing my friends, until I went through 3 batteries. I now have the RC flying part of this game basically down! Next will be on-board cameras transmitting to goggles that I wear on the ground, flying by telepresence! This will let me fly at very, very high altitudes, as will be needed when the gliders are put up to altitude on a rocket! Bottom line: RC airplane flying is really fun!

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE.The elevator rested nuetral just a LITTLE BTI nose-down. The plane would no tlift, and ran off the road and crashed.
SOLUTION: Even a LITTLE nose-down deflection does a LOT! The plane would not raise the nose!

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE.I adjusted the elevator to rest nuetral just a LITTLE BTI nose-up. The nearly stalled, I pushed the nose down, and the canopy flew off under the negative g-load, and the battery came right out with it!!!!
SOLUTION: Even a LITTLE nose-up deflection does a LOT! The plane would always want to stall!!!

RC Airplane flight: SUCCESS.
NOTES: Buzzed friends.

RC Airplane flight: FAILURE. I flew the airplane too close to the trees and it hit the trees and got caught in them and I could not get it down.
SOLUTION: Stay away from trees! The depth-perception is nearly impossible to tell from far away!!!

Many RC airplane flights and rocket flights: SUCCESS!
NOTES: I am now getting fairly reliable at launching little unguided gliders… this is getting good!
Below, the Oz-5 launches on a perfect flight.

Launch, OZ-9: SUCCESS!
The performance-predictor program I wrote (it worked perfectly).
The pressure and G-Load altimeter that measures rocket performance (it worked perfectly).
The in-flight video camera ( link to youtube video here) worked perfectly.

Launch, OZ-10: SUCCESS!
NOTES: This was to test:
The performance-predictor program I wrote (it worked perfectly).
The pressure and G-Load altimeter that measures rocket performance (it worked perfectly).
The glider-deployment (which worked fine)
Here is the Oz-10 on the pad:

Here the Oz-10 balsts off, with the video camera visible on the side of the rocket. A glider is packed inside.

Here, the Oz-10 is making good time…

Now running down-range…

And here we see chute deployment, with the glider breaking free as well for it’s glide down!

Launch, OZ-10: SUCCESS!
The in-flight video camera ( link to youtube video here) worked perfectly.
NOTES: This was for my level-2 certification test, which lets me buy big engines.
Launch, OZ-10: FAILURE!
NOTES: The rocket flew perfectly, but the glider glided off into the far distance… could not find it! From here on out, all gliders will HAVE to be guided! This will be the hardest leap in the project, perhaps…