IIRC, the FPOD guys were from Florida. Seemed like nice guys. IIRC, they said that it (or a smaller scale one) had flown successfully before they brought it to LDRS. I was doing range duty at the time of their flight, but I wasn't the LCO so don't blame it on me! I also remember a pretty big V-2 with a scale ballistic flight path that ended across the road with an approximately 200 mph to zero deceleration in about 0.003 seconds.

I only made one commercial flight on a hybrid motor for certification purposes, so I spent a lot of time helping my friends (and a few strangers) with their big projects along with range duty.

The rest of my flights were on EX day. I really only remember flying my 4" Cherokee upscale on a red propellant J-300 motor and my 1/2 scale (about 12.5 ft tall) Aerobee Hi (single stage) on an L-1000 sparky motor that echoed off the tree lines. These were not motors from the motor making class. IIRC, Jim had them make a fairly low smoke orange flamed propellant he called Diamondback and they were either two grain H or three grain I motors. I borrowed chutes from everybody I knew cause I didn't have any big ones. Each half of the Aerobee came down with dual deployment, a single "drogue" and then two more at the second deployment. Six successful chutes!
BTW, I am not Jim Mitchell if you watch Earl's video again. I had to fly under his EX paperwork so my rockets were announced as his. That's ok cause I used his 76mm case (long before it became a commercial product) and I made the propellant at his shop a few weeks before LDRS.

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I love sanding.