December 2023

Very interesting weather day on December 9th, 2023. The day started off dead calm with ample sunshine, clear skies, and very comfortable temperatures in the upper 50s. As the morning went on and afternoon came, the clouds moved in, the wind came up and we had on and off drizzle that caused us to shut things down early. Even with all this we had 52 flights take to the sky ranging from B to M power. We had a total of 25 low/mid-power flights and 27 high-power flights. Of the high-power 4 were L1 certifications, 1 was a junior L1, and one was an L3, congratulations to all!

A few pictures of the rockets from this launch:

Pads 1-4 hold L1 cert rockets. Each of these was first flown on a 38mm G67 to get the flyer comfortable with motor assembly and flight operations.
The “Pink Panther” lifting off on an Aerotech G67 Redline for a perfect flight with an JLCR controlled recovery.
A WildMan Rocketry Piercer lifting off on an Aerotech J500 Mojave Green.
A beautiful extended LOC Precision T-Loc on an Aerotech J315 Redline.
T-LOC recovery as perfect as the liftoff!

A full scale Aracs on a 54mm EX K600. Beautiful flight to 2,500′.

Picture perfect liftoff of “bigger rocket” on an Aerotech J425 Redline.
This LOC Precision Ultimate got going QUICK on 4 Aerotech G80 Blue Thunder motors.

Fantastic Flight of a 7.6″ LOC Precision Goblin on an Aerotech J540 Redline.

A Formula 150 clearing the tower powered by a CTI K711 White.
Virginia Tech flew an SLI sub-scale rocket dubbed ‘Creamsicle” on an Aerotech K805 Mojave Green. The ride up was perfect as was the recovery.
Beautiful liftoff of a Goblin on a CTI I218 White Thunder.
Virginia Tech’s second SLI sub-scale rocket of the day also flying on an Aerotech K805G. Like the first sub-scale rocket, this had a perfect flight and recovery.

Below we have a beautiful liftoff of a very large L3 rocket flying on an Aerotech M2225. This rocket stood over 12 feet tall and had a successful recovery earning the flyer a Level 3 certification. Congratulations!