We had dress rehearsals on Thursday & Friday night that lasted for 2 hrs. There were 17 acts with a finale number.

I had a great time seeing all the performances, and talking with everyone again! It went a lot more smoother this year and took about two hours including intermission.

I’ll add more details & photos later.
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Itinerary:
Monday – 3/14/2011
Depart:  USA

Tuesday – 3/15/2011
Arrive LHR
Depart: LHR -> CDG
CDG -> Gare Du Nord

Wednesday: 3/16/2011
Buy Museum Pass
Buy 2 Day Zone 1-3 Metro Pass
Tour the Louvre
Grey Line Tour: Paris By Night with Seine River Cruise & Eiffel Tower Tour

Thursday – 3/17/2011
Orsay Museum
Notre Dame Cathedral
Arc de Triomphe
Avenue des Champs-Élysees
Eiffel Tower

Friday – 3/18/2011
Basilica of Sacre-Cœur
Montmartre
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Depart: Gare Du Nord -> CDG
CDG -> LHR
LHR -> Paddington Station

Saturday – 3/19/2011
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben
Houses of Parliament
Imperial War Museum
Meet Friends for DinDin at 7:30 at Paddington Station (Garfunkel’s Pub)

Sunday – 3/20/2011
Buckingham Palace / Queen’s Palace
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Tower Bridge / London Tower
Kensington Palace
Westminster Abbey / Big Ben Night

Monday – 3/21/2011
Buckingham Palace – Changing of the Gaurds
Windsor Castle
London Eye/Big Ben Night

Tuesday – 3/22/2011
Depart: Paddington Station -> LHR
LHR -> ORD (Chicago O’hare)
ORD -> USA

More details and pictures later!

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River Walk, San Antonio TX

I didn’t fly anything this time because I wanted to focus on taking pictures (also gave me some time to  chat with people). Definitely will try to next time to put my L1 abilities to good use.

Recap as below: (Thanks to Ken S. for the technical rocket details.)

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Saturday:

Winds were calm and the weather was awesome (80F)! There were 2 large projects that launched in the midst of all the others:

The Orange/White rocket (seen as a hyrbid previous launches) flew on a Cesaroni M Skidmark. I missed the countdown for this one since I was out with Mo, Rick and the rest of the Big O crew. I did the spontaneous “oh-crap-its-going” aim and shoot. I think I did pretty well, but it would have been nicer to catch the launch cloud at the bottom. Sparkies are so purty! The motor lit immediately, while the drogue chute didn’t deploy at apogee, and on the way down the rocket hit Mach before the main deployment at around 1,000 feet. The parachute and a body section were destroyed, the motors and electronics survived.

Orange & White Rocket

“The Big O”, flew on Cesaroni’s largest 150mm “O” motor (needed 3 tries before lighting the motor – they had to replace the battery on the launcher.) Central body tube was zippered, but the rest of the rocket survived.

"The Big O" - Hillbilly Camp

Night Launch:

Terry G started the 1st HPR launch with his Glow Light Express on a J Skidmark.

Dan P followed suit with his Aurora on an I Redline and Mack on his Night Patriot on an I Skidmark also.

Terry G's Glow Light Express

Dan P's Aurora

Mack's Night Patriot

Sunday:

Winds kicked up a little and it was a bit noticibly hotter than the day before. As I arrived, I saw Terry O’s executive launch and Guy S’s Crayon.

The major projects for this day were:

Rick McKee’s L3 Cert dedicated to various members of his family & friends who have passed on.

Superfluous on an M.

I’d like to give my thanks to:

• The Discovery Channel team for using my images
• My buddy, Tasty Chicken, for getting me into this Explosive hobby and waking me up early on weekends to go to these events!
• The PRS team for letting me be their official rocket stalker-azzi
• The AZ Rocktery team for letting me hang out with them
• SARA & SSS members for being such a great rocketry family
• My dad to giving me my very first DLSR and getting me started in all of photography stuff

DC Photo Credit

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Main Page: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/
Photos: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/photos/
Categories: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/rocket-categories/
Drag race: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/photos/drag-race-photos.html
Experimental Division:http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/photos/rocket-launch-photos.html
Low Altitude: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/rocket-categories/low-altitude.html
Why It’s Awesome: http://science.discovery.com/tv/ldrs-rocket-ships/rocket-categories/experimental.html

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Friday:

The 1st day we were there was still really windy with a few brave fliers. It was the first time in LDRS history that no flying was done on the first day of LDRS, due to 50+ mph wind gusts (we felt it driving into CA that night). We just wandered around looking at people’s projects that were laid out. A Cal Poly Architecture class was out attempting to finish their final projects – successfully complete 2 flights & recover their architecture models (Dubai Tower, Taipei 101, Russian Tower, etc).

Never knew Taipei 101 could fly!

We decided not to go back for the night launch, since the RSO had mentioned that the odds of the range opening again were slim (later heard that only a couple of small ones went off and the PRS team decided to play around with light painting).

Saturday:

Most of the fun & large projects went on this day. The 29 Mass Squat launch at 7AM, was pretty nuts with squats flying everywhere. One panel ended up not firing, so there was a take two for them. Too bad not everyone went with skids, that would have been fun. There was a drag race between seven N10,000 Skidmarks which proved to be quite a sight (it had been postponed from Friday due to high winds and rail button issues). We saw Kari Byron from the Mythbusters show on the Discovery Channel throughout the weekend. There was another mass launch (Sweet Sixteen Drag Race, on J1999N motors) that ended CATO-ing right above Kari while she was filming. She didn’t seem phased at all.

29 Mass Squat Launch

13 CATOS

Kari Byron, Photo Credit: Tasty Chicken

7 N10,000

AZ Patriot team had another great performance with their Patriot battery.

1/2 Scale Patriot Battery

Punk Rocket Scientist team with their Interceptor had a great up and suffered repairable damage on the way down.

PRS Interceptor

Delta 2 team had an unfortunate accident due to the triggering of the staging circuitry causing the separation charge to discharge and lighting the 2nd stage motor. 3 people were injured (2 of which were spectators), causing the range to be shutdown and two had to be air evac’d. Last I heard, they were OK and were due to be released Monday. Range was later re-opened, but spirits were dampened.

Delta 2 Team

The night launches were somewhat conservative and limited, but still cool to watch. I think many of the rocketeers were at the LDRS banquet that was also taking place at the same time. I don’t blame people for not wanting to navigate through the trenches in the middle of the night looking for their rockets. 

Night Launch

Sunday:

Much of the weekend crowd dwindled when we were prepping to leave. Galactica flew in the morning. Jack (Whats up hobbies) had a N10,000 Drag race with another person with a Patriot. We caught the main event for Sunday, Wildman project on an O Skidmark before having to leave to return to reality on Monday.

Wildman Darkstar - O Motor