dwmzmm
05-04-2008, 10:13 PM
I know it's been a few weeks ago this event occured, but here it is. I was asked several
months ago by Jeff McClanahan, Assistant Cubmaster of Pack 641 here in Houston, TX to
participate in their annual rocket day launch at the George Bush Park. They've held launches here (along Westheimer Parkway/Barker Cypress) for several years now.
The launch took place on April 13, 2008 and was held between 2 - 4 PM. The weather was
absolutely gorgeous, except the winds was pretty strong (around 12 - 15 MPH) for much
of the afternoon.
All of the Pack 641 leaders were present:
Cubmaster Phil Lebkuecher
Asst. Cubmaster Jeff McClanahan
Committee Chair Tracey Stewart
In addition, a new and fantastic launch pad for the Cub Scouts was built by Pete Lajoie.
I've never seen a pad like this. You can see pics of this pad in the assembly of photos that
follows. The pad has the Cub Scout colors, includes four push buttons and (most importantly) a single safety key switch. Pete ALWAYS had the safety key chain around
his wrist and inserted (and turned) the key only when all the models were ready and
it was clear for launch. These Scouts launched their models simultaneously (for the most
part) for maximum "WOW!" effect.
From what I could tell, this group got most all of their models and supplies from Quest.
More importantly, all of the motors had the igniters and plugs pre-installed to ease the
preparation for launch. They had a safety officer at the table where the motors were
checking each model before flight. The name Nettie Hunsicker (of Quest) came up during
the afternoon of flying; she was the "go to" person at Quest that helped in assisting this
group in their rocket day launch project (thanks, Nettie!!).
They also had a chef/cook who came to furnish everybody with great tasting hot dogs
and drinks, Andrew Scherfenberg.
One reason I was asked to participate was because they wanted to see "large" rockets
flown. By large, I assume they wanted something that could use/fly on a D12 (the park
was really not suitable for anything larger). I brought my Hawks Hobby Super Mark (flown
with a C6-3) and Estes Blue Ninja (D12-5). I was concerned about launching these models
(some of my favorite demos) since it was windy and the wind direction was right toward
a group of trees downrange (see pics). Both models flew fine, but appeared to narrowly
miss the rocket eating trees! Had no problem with recovery, as the excited boys were
more than happy to retrieve them for me.
What really surprised me was the most "popular" model I brought with me was one that
doesn't even fly: The Estes Phantom clear seethrough model. They thought it was really
cool that a model once existed where everything could be seen on the inside. Again, the
pics below (and possibly several postings in this thread) tells the story.
I want to thank Jeff McClanahan for inviting me to this launch. I really had a lot of fun!
Now the pictures: Some were taken by me, some were taken by Committee Chair
Tracey Stewart. All below were taken by me.
months ago by Jeff McClanahan, Assistant Cubmaster of Pack 641 here in Houston, TX to
participate in their annual rocket day launch at the George Bush Park. They've held launches here (along Westheimer Parkway/Barker Cypress) for several years now.
The launch took place on April 13, 2008 and was held between 2 - 4 PM. The weather was
absolutely gorgeous, except the winds was pretty strong (around 12 - 15 MPH) for much
of the afternoon.
All of the Pack 641 leaders were present:
Cubmaster Phil Lebkuecher
Asst. Cubmaster Jeff McClanahan
Committee Chair Tracey Stewart
In addition, a new and fantastic launch pad for the Cub Scouts was built by Pete Lajoie.
I've never seen a pad like this. You can see pics of this pad in the assembly of photos that
follows. The pad has the Cub Scout colors, includes four push buttons and (most importantly) a single safety key switch. Pete ALWAYS had the safety key chain around
his wrist and inserted (and turned) the key only when all the models were ready and
it was clear for launch. These Scouts launched their models simultaneously (for the most
part) for maximum "WOW!" effect.
From what I could tell, this group got most all of their models and supplies from Quest.
More importantly, all of the motors had the igniters and plugs pre-installed to ease the
preparation for launch. They had a safety officer at the table where the motors were
checking each model before flight. The name Nettie Hunsicker (of Quest) came up during
the afternoon of flying; she was the "go to" person at Quest that helped in assisting this
group in their rocket day launch project (thanks, Nettie!!).
They also had a chef/cook who came to furnish everybody with great tasting hot dogs
and drinks, Andrew Scherfenberg.
One reason I was asked to participate was because they wanted to see "large" rockets
flown. By large, I assume they wanted something that could use/fly on a D12 (the park
was really not suitable for anything larger). I brought my Hawks Hobby Super Mark (flown
with a C6-3) and Estes Blue Ninja (D12-5). I was concerned about launching these models
(some of my favorite demos) since it was windy and the wind direction was right toward
a group of trees downrange (see pics). Both models flew fine, but appeared to narrowly
miss the rocket eating trees! Had no problem with recovery, as the excited boys were
more than happy to retrieve them for me.
What really surprised me was the most "popular" model I brought with me was one that
doesn't even fly: The Estes Phantom clear seethrough model. They thought it was really
cool that a model once existed where everything could be seen on the inside. Again, the
pics below (and possibly several postings in this thread) tells the story.
I want to thank Jeff McClanahan for inviting me to this launch. I really had a lot of fun!
Now the pictures: Some were taken by me, some were taken by Committee Chair
Tracey Stewart. All below were taken by me.